We have settled very well here in Hornsea so I thought I'd try a few blog entries to see how things go.
Yesterday (1 May 2015) I walked around a new area for me consisting mainly of scrubland, but also cliff tops. The weather was fine, sunny and dry but at 07:00 it was very cold (just 3 degrees) so I had to dig my gloves out again.
I went specifically looking for Cuckoo and after just 20 minutes I heard my first Cuckoo of the year. It was quite distant but repeated calls showed it was approaching. I saw it flying on my left side with a couple of passerines mobbing it to move it on.
The number of Whitethroat in the square mile or so that I covered was impressive - I stopped counting at 20! There were also 2 Lesser Whitethroat singing though I didn't manage to see one.
Other warblers present were Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and just a single Grasshopper Warbler reeling. Here's a photo of a Gropper taken last week:
For those who aren't familiar with Hornsea Mere, it is the largest natural freshwater lake in Yorkshire, which in turn is the biggest county in England. It provides a good mix of habitat with open water, reed beds, woodland at the Western end, fields with grazing sheep and arable fields close by.
I only called in at the place that most people go to when they visit the Mere which is known as Kirkholme Point, although the OS map marks it as Kirkholme Nab. There have been good numbers of wagtails passing through so I was hopeful of catching up with some.
There were 5 Pied Wagtail (but no White Wagtail) and 2 Yellow Wagtail feeding on the putting green - although in the afternoon 7 Yellow and 2 White were seen.
The best birds though were out on the water, with distant views of a female Common Scoter and the male Red Necked Grebe in full summer plumage that has been hanging around for the last week or so. No photos to go with the sightings as they were too far away for my camera.
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