The Heat is On

On Thursday we repeated our visit to a week last Tuesday's location. There were more summer visitors, but not all had arrived by any means. The Sand Martin's looked more settled at the beginning of the walk. The long floodbank was very cool at first with misty conditions, and a chilly wind. Elaine pointed out a raptor flying along, which on examination turned into a Sparrowhawk. It then began to soar over one of the houses long enough for everyone to see it. After lunch a Buzzard soared in the same area & was bombarded by Lapwings.  Eventually we heard 3 different Sedge Warblers along the river, but no Reed Warblers.

 Little Ringed Plovers

 Sand Martin

 Ditto

 Checking every crevice

 Pied Wagtail

 Ditto

 Buzzard mobbed by Lapwing

The Ruff were distinctively different from each other with a pale-headed one, and a very dark individual and then a very small one. In the afternoon we found a couple of very bright male Yellow Wagtails.

Redshank

 Sedge Warbler

 Ditto

 Ditto

 Swallows

 The View from a bridge

Frank being uttered

The weather improved as we turned near the factory and as we stood on the bridge Elaine from a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile was able to identify a Linnet. An immature Heron seemed to be almost swimming in the drain, and it had returned in the afternoon. Later, we heard a Willow Warbler, and had rather poor views of a Whitethroat. A wader flew high and away from us, which may have been a Dunlin, but it landed too far for us to check in David's telescope. However, the morning highlight was a very showy Lesser Whitethroat. Angela was so impressed she didn't think the name was fair, and it should be named something in its own right. In the afternoon 3 Little Ringed Plovers were just beyond the bridge. 

 Little Ringed Plover

 Small Tortoiseshell

 Lesser Whitethroat

 Ditto

 Ditto

We walked along the drain and Elaine spotted a wader species, which made a rapid exit. Unfortunately, it wasn't relocated for specific identification. In the afternoon a couple of Common Sandpipers were in the same area, so this may be what she saw. Along the factory side we stopped to watch a Blackcap catching some insects in between singing snatches of his attractive song. Overall we saw more than 30 species, on what was at first a very chilly, but rewarding morning. 

Record Shot of Yellow Wagtails

Spring Migrants are Arriving a Little Late

On Wednesday we met at North Cave Wetlands & shared cars to our once premier woodland location.  On the journey one car enjoyed a fairly good view of a Jay.  It was overcast at first and rather cool, so was fairly quiet.  However, there had been an large influx of Willow Warblers since my last visit.  We had good views of these, and Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps.  Tony spotted a Buzzard being harassed by a crow and eventually 2 were seen, soaring over the trees.

Local church surrounded by Blackthorn blossom

 Willow Warbler

 Buzzard (c) 2015 Aileen Urquhart

Then we came across a pair of Treecreepers,  which although they were a little skittish we did see fairly well. The sun came out and everything changed.  Two Green Woodpeckers laughed, one hoarsely and then we had fairly good views.  A Jay flew away from us, and the. A Willow Tit was heard singing.  We heard a whitethroat, but it was too far away for us to see.  In the afternoon we relocated the Willow Tit, but also found some Marsh Tits. 

Willow Tit (c) 2015 Aileen Urquhart

 Wing of Female Great Spotted Woodpecker

 Our first Speckled Wood of the year

 Tiger Beetle

 Tiger Beetle

Just as we were leaving a Garden Warbler sang out, and we enjoyed some quick views before it headed off east.  The afternoon was much warmer, and we even saw several early Tiger Beetles.

A Gropper in Broad Sunlight

This morning's problems with blogger seem to have been repaired, so what follows is the blog as it should have looked this morning.

Whitethroat

 Ditto

 Grasshopper Warbler at Spurn a few years ago 

 Ditto

On Tuesday we revisited Wednesday's location again. There had been a slight influx of summer migrants since last time with a Whitethroat immediately after the railway line, plus on the path to the left we initially heard and then eventually saw a Grasshopper Warbler. He was reeling right out in the open, but was very distant.  

Cetti's Warbler

 Cetti's Warbler (c) 2015 Maggie Bruce

 Blackcap

The walk to the riverbank brought us very similar birds to last week, but there were absolutely no hirundines. There was better light for the Cetti's Warbler, but it stayed in the open less than last week. We did see one Kingfisher, and there were more Sedge Warblers than last week, but still no Reed Warblers. Two Avocets flew across the Humber and disappeared northwards, and later a flock of a Curlews could be heard behind us as we returned to the parking area.

Kingfisher

 Reed Bunting

 Sedge Warbler

 Comma

 Ditto

 Peacock

 Small Tortoiseshell (c) 2015 Maggie Bruce

 Green-Veined White (c) 2015 Maggie Bruce

YWT Migration Walk

Saturday was the only Springtime YWT Spurn event with which I'm involved to take place in the afternoon. It was much more heavily subscribed with at least 15 people in attendance. It was a much brighter session than last weekend, but there was quite a strong, cold wind from the NE. The afternoon started well with some Swallows on the wires round the Warren area, but also twittering in the air. Some Linnets flew past, and what turned out to be the most numerous migrant of the afternoon - Meadow Pipits landing on the wires. In the shelter of a few bushes on the bank 3 olive warblers could just be glimpsed leaving the grass for a few seconds to snatch an insect before plunging into cover again. It was impossible to identify the species in the time we had, so we had to label them as "Willowchiffs." 

Swallow

 Sedge Warbler - one of these sang out briefly, but we couldn't see it!

 Unfortunately, the only visible bird in residence at Pallas' Pond

There was very little to see on the mudflats as the tide was out, and the sun was reflecting on the wet estuary making viewing even more difficult. We heard a Sedge Warbler sing briefly from a manky pond near Spurn's entrance, which we learnt later is called Pallas' Pond. The only bird we could see was a Friday unmentionable. We carried on to Canal Scrape, which had been deserted by the weekending public. There was remarkably little to see, although we stayed long enough to examine every little corner. Someone spotted a Little Egret hunkered down at the back of the hawthorn bushes, and a few small migrants could be seen nearby. One of these was clearly a male Blackcap, and others were more Willowchiffs. A pair of Great tits were also flitting around the bushes, whilst a Magpie hopped on the ground. Some Shelduck flew over, as did a Reed Bunting.

Little Egret

 Blackcap - at another location

 There was so little to see, we had time to marvel at this Coot's Legs!

 Greenfinch

After 15 minutes we ventured on to the canal. A male Reed Bunting posed long enough for everyone to notice his clerical collar, and later his less showy partner disappeared low down in the vegetation. However, there wasn't a great deal to see along the rest of the hypotenuse, although a few Redshank punctuated the walk. As we neared the Crown and Anchor the twittering and wheezy song of a Greenfinch could be heard, but the bird itself proved to be elusive. However, we were later to get good views of an individual in the hedgerow and on the wires on the path to the Blue Bell. A few House Sparrows also called noisily from the hedge. 

House Sparrow

 Meadow Pipit - same place, but much closer than we managed!

We turned into Beacon Lane, but the Linnets and Whitethroats hadn't returned to breed in this area yet. A Peacock butterfly basking in the sun was one of the few sightings. I explained what a rich area this would be for butterflies, other insects, and flowers later in the summer, but there were few signs of the promise to come. Even the Sedge Warbler hadn't yet taken up residence in its usual spot. There were some pools in the pastures, and it was possible to see an Avocet, Shelduck, but most of the other ducks were just silhouettes. A sizeable flock of a Curlew were in the area. And they flew around the field a few times before landing in the longer grass. I think Gordon was hoping for a Whimbrel We travelled all the way to the fenced area, where I explained about the historic and more recent fortunes of the Little Tern colony, and pointed out the only listed building in the area. The closest Meadow Pipit we had yet seen posed on the barbed wire of the fence, and then on one of the fence posts. However, the best sighting was a Roe Deer Buck, which at first ran towards us completely unaware of our presence, before it realised its mistake, and then took evasive action. 

Roe Deer - running towards us

 Turning Around

 Staring Towards us

 Grey Plovers

On our return journey I pointed out a male Starling high on a roof, but as this was in the vicinity of a children's party taking place behind the building we were asked to move on. We walked on the low clay cliffs back to the start area, but didn't add much to our tally of species seen. When we neared the entrance we could see that the tide had almost come in, and there was the great spectacle of waders swirling near the shoreline. These were mainly Dunlin, Redshank, but we could also hear the distinctive "coo-ee" of Grey Plovers, and it was possible to discern their distinctive 
black "arm" pits as they changed direction.

Although the migrants seemed to be in rather short supply, I was able to fill in the time with anecdotes about the natural history, what you may expect to see at different seasons of the year and some of the military history of the area.  It was still well worth the very reasonable entrance fee.