Today's morning walk

 A much improved morning today. Yesterday was foggy throughout my walk but today was a fine, clear and sunny morning with just a touch of frost.

The first sighting of note was three brown hares running over a ploughed field near the farm. 

Two of 3 hares in the early morning light

 

Lovely early morning in Hornsea

On my way home a couple of hours later I saw two brown hares in the set aside.

One of two hares in the set aside field

As usual a few Goldcrests were feeding in the trees and bushes. I feel lucky that I am still able to hear them singing and calling, as the higher frequencies are the first to be lost to our hearing as we get older.

Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)

Next time you see a Goldcrest try and have a look at its feet. They are intriguing and different to the usual passerine's. It has a long hind toe adapted for perching vertically on branches and has furrows under its feet, providing a rough surface for gripping the thin conifer needles in its usual breeding habitat.

They show little fear of humans and often forage around us in search of food.

Lapwings are being seen almost daily at the moment, here's hoping a few decide to hang around and nest.

Lapwing over the Mere today

The 20+ that were here this morning soon got rid of a local Marsh Harrier.

Marsh Harrier and Lapwing

I checked Swan Island again in the hope of seeing an Oystercatcher - and this morning I was in luck at last. Distant but present ✅

A small black and white (and orange) dot on Swan Island spit

Not as many Great Spotted Woodpeckers this morning, but they were drumming. A lovely sound along with the rooks, song thrushes and calling mistle thrushes.

Stoatally Marvellous

I watched a stoat run towards a tree in the wood and got the camera on it a second before it started climbing.

The tree it was zooming up was covered in ivy so it was easy for the stoat to climb, but not as easy to get a clear photo of it.

Just the very tip of its tail was showing for this one

A front paw and some of its body

Front and hind paws in view here

The black tip to the tail can be seen clearly

It disappeared for a few seconds as it neared the end of the ivy then I heard squealing and a grey squirrel ran out onto a branch to escape.

The intended prey - a grey squirrel

I hid near the bottom of the tree hoping to get some clear shots as the stoat came back down, but it was smarter than that. I watched as it ran along the network of branches in the canopy and it came back down another ivy-clad tree about 5 trees away from where I was waiting like a lemon 😂😂 I left the wood and set off back home having enjoyed a bit of excitement for the morning.

Over Heslop's a Sparrowhawk was drifting towards the wood.

 

Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk

We are getting close to the start of Spring now and with Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming, Song Thrushes singing, Fieldfares in the fields, Blue Tits looking for a nest hole and Reed Buntings starting to sing, you can tell it's on its way.

Fieldfare

 

Song Thrush

My first singing Reed Bunting of the year

Blue Tit house hunting

Earlier I'd watched a roe deer as it sauntered up to a fence and from a standing start effortlessly cleared the fence. Such agility and strength!

Roe deer clearing a fence so easily

Blistering Barnacle Geese

 A new flock of 30 Barnacle Geese appeared at the Mere a few days ago, several of them with very visible neck collars for ease of id. 11 of them had neck collars and at least 4 had yellow leg rings.

When I found them I spent some time taking lots of photos so I could capture the tags and hopefully find out where they had come from.

I pictured some far flung northern land, but the truth was somewhat more prosaic.

The Waterbird Colour-marking Group are the people who collared and ringed these birds, and here's an extract from their web page about their Barnacle Goose study:

 Three populations of Barnacle geese occur in the UK, two of which are entirely migratory, one originating from Svalbard and the other from Greenland. The third population, the smallest is the naturalised population resident in the UK throughout the year, predominately in England with smaller numbers also occurring in Wales and Scotland. This population is regularly monitored through the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS), and the long-term trend clearly shows a rapid increase in numbers since the 1980s, in particular since the mid-2000s. The population’s size is currently estimated to be 4,400 individuals, which is over 60% higher than the previous estimate of 2,700 when last assessed in 2011.

So our birds are part of this naturalised population and a census of these birds is planned for later this month. If this flock hangs around until then they will be reported accordingly.

The Barnacle Geese

Neck collars and leg rings

I added id's to the photos for ease of reference when I was collating them, and here's the completed list:

Neck collar numbers:
A88 A98 A99
B71 B73 B74 B77 B81 B93 B94
C04
Leg ring number (black on yellow) I think was 873. 

All these birds were ringed/collared in Scorton, North Yorkshire in July last year. Their history shows they've around a bit since then but never left our shores.

They were still there this morning but I couldn't get any better views of their legs or leg rings.

Grey Seal Pup On The Beach

 As I walked on the beach this morning I heard a sound that I did not recognise. I turned round to look where it had come from and wasn't expecting to see a seal pup nestled in the rocks.

I was only yards from it and I know that advice says to stay at least 50 yards from such creatures - too late!

I backed off but it was so close to the beach entrance that it was at risk of being seen and hassled by people and dogs.

Well camouflaged but close to the road and entrance

 I checked it over through the bins to make sure it wasn't ill or damaged in any way and it looked OK, so I decided to hang around until it decided it wanted to go back into the sea. 

That part of the beach is busy with people and their dogs in the mornings so I just wanted to make sure no one decided to "help" it back to the sea - people have done this in the past rather than letting the animal rest and go off in its own time. 

It moved around and made itself comfortable, catching some rays in the process 😀

It was difficult to make out its nostrils for positive id (Common Seals have a V shape to their nostrils and Grey Seals have almost parallel nostrils that don't meet) but the shape of the head looked more Grey than Common. Too young to have the Roman nose of an adult Grey Seal but given time it'll get there.

For the most part everyone was cooperative and stayed a good distance away and it eventually decided it was time to move.

It eventually swam off after a good rest and was none the worse for its brief encounter with mankind. I wish all such encounters ended as peacefully as this one.

Ticking Away The Moments That Make Up A Dull Day

 Well it was a dull day weather wise, but not on the wildlife front.

Goldcrests, Lapwings, a Sprawk, Marsh Harriers and loads of Linnets this morning; then a Harbour Porpoise and 19 Greenfinch this afternoon. A very good day indeed 👍👍👍

It's strange how light can play tricks - take these Goldcrest photos for example. A couple of them make the crest look more like a Firecrest's than a Goldcrest's.

More orange than yellow?! Still a Goldcrest

Another with orange not yellow

Realistic colours on this one

As I had the camera's ISO set to Auto, the photos with orange crests were taken at ISO 800 but the "proper" crests were at ISO 6400. Big difference but as it was dull today I left the ISO to sort itself out.

Through the set aside I saw at least 172 Linnet. I had a photo that I counted 172 on but I haven't done this one yet 🤣

The Linnet flock

Also over the set aside - about 50 Lapwing

...and 2 Marsh Harriers but they were too distant for pics. I checked the Linnet flock because they usually have other birds in with them - but not today, they were all Linnets.

A single Reed Bunting was in the set a side hedgerow.

I didn't see much on the water today but a couple of Goldeneye provided a nice sight.

Drake Goldeneye taking off

Female Goldeneye also taking off

All told then it was a really good morning, with the prospect of a decent afternoon to follow as my (much) better half was busy so I was able to wander off for a second time.

 Along the sea front I saw a shape appearing and disappearing. I've tried to get photos of single cetaceans before and I didn't waste my time this time, I went straight to video and manged to get a snippet of a Harbour Porpoise.

Here's a couple of stills from the video.

Harbour Porpoise off Hornsea

On my way home I bumped into Mike who was doing the same thing as me - looking for a flock of Greenfinch. We found about 19 gathering to roost (we think) at the end of Stream Dyke.

Greenfinch