I'm Just Sitting Watching Flowers In The...Dry!

 Of course everyone knows that the Move's song Flowers In The Rain was the first song to be played on Radio 1 when it launched in 1967, but as I was photographing lots of flowers recently the song came to mind - with an appropriate change of lyrics. With just one day's rain in the last month we could do with a good load of precipitation to freshen things up a bit.

A lovely display of Cowslips (Primula veris)

Garlic Mustard and Red Campion

Close up of Garlic Mustard (Allaria petiolata)

Bluebells and Wood Anemone

Bluebells and Wood Anemone

Red Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum)

White Dead-nettle (Lamium album) and Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis arvensis)

Honesty (Lunaria annua)

Green Alkanet ((Pentaglottis sempervirens)

Close up of Green Alkanet

Green Alkanet is not a native plant, it was introduced in the early 18th century and once it got a foothold it didn't go away. It is a difficult plant to get rid of (like dandelions, they have a deep tap root) but growing wild it is a plant that looks good and is very good for pollinators - so it's on my list of keepers if I find it in my garden.

Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine pratensis)

The only plant that I photographed that looked as though it had been rained on!  Also called Lady's Smock, Cuckoo Flower is common in wet meadows. It is edible and the leaves can be used in salads as a substitute for watercress.

 

Apart from the sudden uprising of wild flowers in almost every corner of the town, what else grabbed my attention?

 

 The relatively sudden increase in numbers of Great Crested Grebe is noteworthy. After seeing single birds over the last 18 months it is great to be seeing up to seven of these birds now. Why they were absent for so long is a mystery and why they are back in good numbers is also a mystery. Answers on the back of a £10 note please 😂

Great Crested Grebes on the Mere

I am also seeing more Gadwall than usual - at least I can check on numbers of this bird by interrogating our records on BirdTrack to see if I'm imagining an increase or not. It's a good looking duck with both males and females having something to commend them.

 

Drake Gadwall

Female Gadwall

Gadwalls in flight

Sedge Warblers have arrived in very good numbers too, with a maximum count of 15 yesterday morning.

Sedge Warbler

 

 

Whitethroats have also started arriving and are being seen and heard in the hedgerows around the Mere.

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

As Great Crested Grebes have come back to us, so have Little Egrets. We had them every day a few years ago but they didn't visit the Mere very often while the water level was high, but now it is low enough for them to land and hunt for food we are seeing them daily once again. 

Little Egret on the Mere south side

Little Egret and two Shelduck

 Lapwings are few and far between this year...

Spot the Lapwing

Finally what of the butterflies? a week or so go they were seen quite often in sunny places but they have gone to ground recently. Maybe it is still a tad cold with the easterlies, but from tomorrow it is going to be hot, hot, hot so they should be out then.

Seldom seen underside of Speckled Wood butterfly

Usual view of Speckled Wood

Hornsea Wildlife Catch Up including Lesser Scaup

 My last post got in the way of the update for local wildlife comings and goings, so this is a catch up post.

 

Butterflies have been surprisingly numerous this Spring with several species showing themselves nice and early, including Brimstone, Comma, Speckled Wood, Peacock, Green-veined White and Red Admiral. I hope this good start continues through the rest of the year.

Peacock butterfly

Red Admiral

Brimstone

 My first sighting of a Lesser Scaup was made possible by Jon on the 8 April. Seen first of all from the south side of the Mere, we got better views from KP where the bird came in quite close.

Lesser Scaup at the Mere

The bird wasn't seen for a day or two but then reappeared and more people got a chance to see it.

 

Summer migrants have been coming in thick and fast, but although they've been seen and heard not many have offered themselves up for photos. Such is life and there will be many more opportunities over the coming weeks and months.

 

The migrant list additions for the Mere over the past two weeks are Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Common Sandpiper, Yellow Wagtail, Sedge Warbler, House Martin and Swallow.

Swallow, putting its towel on the wire early 🤣

Also newly arrived in the area, though not at the Mere yet, is Corn Bunting - these two were seen at North Cliffs on the hedgerow.

Corn Buntings at North Cliffs

 

The Oystercatchers that breed at the Mere each year are well installed over at Swan Island. There may be two pairs there this year.

Oystercatchers at the Mere

Blackcaps are now heard daily and are present in good numbers. They provide good photo opportunities when they come down from the higher branches.

Crouching Blackcap, hidden tiger

Singing Blackcap

Passage waders have been scarce up to press but Redshanks have been quite regular. I spent a long time crawling through dew-laden grass to get close enough for these pics of three Redshanks along the south side.

Common Redshank (Tringa totanus)

Despite my best efforts grass or reeds still got in the way of some photos - like this one with a plant of some sort right in the centre of this landing Redshank pic 😂 

Curses, another potentially reasonable image ruined

While I'm on near misses (or, to be fair, schoolboy errors!) here's another one. A Cetti's Warbler landed right in front of me but it was backlit by the low sun. I quickly compensated the exposure hoping the bird would still be there when I got the camera back in position. It was, but I didn't check the mode and it was still in shutter priority, so the frames I got before it flew off were still too dark. Bugger. I seem to use that word a lot these days, probably a sign of advancing old age.

Cetti's Warbler singing - trust me on this one

Flowers and plants in general are off and running in their Spring growth spurts. I found a few new plants for my ever growing local list including...

Dusky Cranesbill

Petty Spurge (in between pavers in the garden)

Slender Speedwell at Freeport

 And that's it for this catch up. I mentioned comings and goings earlier. Comings have been covered I think but as for goings? Goldeneye are now off to their breeding grounds, and a last Fieldfare was seen on 13 April while I was searching for arriving Ring Ouzel.

A last Fieldfare, until Autumn anyway