The Last Post (of 2025 anyway)

 The year is ending with a beautiful day here on the East Coast of Yorkshire, with a  lovely sunset just to top things off nicely. Cold and clear and sunny, a proper Decemebr day.

 

The local footpaths are now passable in boots rather than wellies and the only thing that could be better is the temperature - it was -2 C this morning when I got up. I don't want it to be warm but above freezing would be good 😉

 

 I'm looking forward to the new year and hope to put a bit more effort into my wildlife watching. My total walking distance for the year was 2,323 miles, which is better than last year but still 200 miles under 2023 and 2022's totals. OK I'm older and people tell me I should be slowing down, but I'm sure I can do better. I will give it my best shot.

 

 As I was walking along to Bewholme Lane a few days ago a Goldcrest was feeding in the Great Willowherb on the road side. No camera but a quick video on the phone did the trick.

 

 Bewholme Lane was the place to be in late December with about 1,500 Pink-footed Geese, 4 White Fronted Geese, 2 Tundra Bean Geese and a single Brent Goose. I managed a photo of some Pinkies but the mist made the visibility a bit grim.

Pink-footed Geese through the murk

As I was walking up the lane I spotted a few Red-legged Partridges. There jused to be a partridge farm up there so I guess a few would have made a bid for freedom at some point or other.

Red-legged Partridges

Anyway, let's close the year with a few photos taken on the final day of the year:

 

View of the Mere with Grey Heron, Mute Swans and Goldeneye

South side field with your truly's shadow

Hornsea's two churches in the distance

December 31 2025's moon

My shadow getting in the shot again

Hornsea Mere boat house and cafe

 

I wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year.

Snow Buntings on The Coastal Path

The English Coastal Path has been renamed as the King Charles III England Coast Path, which makes it much easier to say?! The signs for the path passing through Hornsea have been in place for a while so I thought I'd wander along the cliffs southward to Mappleton and take in part of the new section. As expected, the ground was really wet under foot - but the weather was sunny and bright so it was a good walk.

 

Sightings

Snow Bunting (7)

Stonechat (2)

Buzzard 

Sanderling (3) on the beach

Meadow Pipit (6)

Skylark (7) 

Pied Wagtail (2) 

Great Black-backed Gull (11) 

Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Wren, Robin, Wood Pigeon, Crow, Dunnock 

 

Snow Buntings on South Cliffs this morning

 

Stonechat

 I was very pleased to see a Buzzard on the cliff top as I haven't seen many there over the years.

 

Common Buzzard at South Cliffs

Meadow Pipit

Pied Wagtail

The cliffs continue to erode and move the path inland

Path finger post at Mappleton

Long distance footpath signs (not as much wood needed!)

Path indicators at Mappleton car park

On the way home from Mappleton

Using the OS Maps app, the distance from here back to south promenade was 2.2 miles; 1.75 miles takes you to the start of Longbeach caravans.

I'll add this walk to the Walks Around Hornsea page over the next days, with fewer bird photos and more views.

December Update

 A delayed post this time due to having lost a few days away from Hornsea. I thought I'd catch up by waiting a few days, but this didn't work as there was still not much to see.

 

I've also not really done many miles as the fields and footpaths around the Mere are still waterlogged. 

 

The woodland walk to the hide

Basically it's a bit damp on the path to the hide

Heslop's footpath

As well as being able to see copious amounts of water in the wood, there was a flock of about 40 Siskin too, and they were infinitely more interesting.

Siskin

The mainstay of a walk along the Mere south side, the Redwings, are reliably seen and heard each morning. I managed to get reasonably close for a short snippet of video.

 

Redwing feeding on hawthorn

 My walks, although mostly on tarmac as I'm avoiding the soggy paths, have been enhanced by visiting the sea front at first light. A few mornings have been wonderful, but most were just wet and grey 😂😂

South promenade boat yard at sunrise

 From our window we caught sight of a natural phenomenon which I think is called a nacreous cloud - when sunlight catches ice crystals in the clouds and shows as a localised rainbow. Beautiful, but short lived.

 

Nacreous cloud - I think

If anything pops up in front of my camera lens that is worth sharing in the next day or so then I'll add it to this post... but don't hold your breath! 

Winter

It's sure been a cold, cold winter, Lord
My feet been draggin' 'cross the ground
And the fields has all been brown and fallow
And the springtime take the long way around

 From "Winter" by The Rolling Stones 1973

Yes, I know that winter has only just started, but it seems like it's been for a while!  I've been wearing my cold weather gear for a few weeks (along with waterproofs of course) and there are still nearly 3 months of this to come - aaaaargh.

 

Anyway, back to the weather in due course. What's been around to see here in deepest, darkest Hornsea? Not too much different is the answer, but a few to generate some interest and worthy of a snap or two.

 

I was struggling at the start of December with not much kicking around, so I resorted to a couple of tried and tested faves in good sunlight. 

Starling looking magnificent in good light

Greenfinch

Partially leucistic Carrion Crow

 

The westerly winds provided a good amount of spindrift off the waves as the tide came in along the sea front here in Hornsea. 

Spindrift caught in the rising sun

Spindrift in fading early morning light

Spindrift in full daylight

I love spindrift and it looks spectacular. I was once accused of airbrushing a photo of spindrift! I posted a pic on Facebook on a public group site and some numpty commented that it obviously had been Photoshopped or airbrushed. I don't think they'd ever looked at waves properly 🤣🤣

 

Another 10 Sanderling were on the beach and one of them had coloured rings on its legs. I went down onto the beach to get close ups so I could record it, but before I got anywhere near, the ubiquitous dog walker and dog came along and saw off all the birds. Happens way too often.

 

We've gone from one extreme to the other in almost no time at all it seems. We had Mere water levels at an all time low through late summer and into autumn, now we have the Mere overflowing into the boat house and all the jetties are under water.

Noivember 30 - jetties nearly submerged

 

December 3 - jetties under water

Boat house now flooded

 

A Red-crested Pochard has arrived again, this time on its own. It's always nice to see something different, even though I'm always dubious about them being escapes rather than kosher wild birds.

Drake Red-crested Pochard at the Mere

As above

 Also spotted by Jon was a hybrid Tufted Duck, but it's anyone's guess what it is hybridised with. They are usually Pochard/Tufted hybrids that we see, but this bird would likely be paler if a Pochard had been involved.

Aythya hybrid

 

 Another short post this time I'm afraid. I'll try and get out more often to bring more interesting updates - as long as the wildlife is there to see of coure!