South Side of Hornsea Mere

A dry, sunny morning today but with a cold wind blowing from the East. I decided to don my shorts anyway as I intended to cover a few miles and the sun was good and warm in the lee of the wind.

As soon as I reached the Mere I was greeted with a salvo of song from the assembled Sedge Warblers. There were 4 in close proximity and 2 of them were indulging in their wonderful song flight. 3 male Reed Bunting were fratching but a 4th was singing contentedly from the top of a shrub only 10 yards away.

Mallards, Greylag Geese (with goslings in tow), Coot, Mute Swan and Tufted Duck were all present and provided a great backdrop to the more "interesting" species and migrants on show through the morning. A Song Thrush was singing its heart out in the trees and the sun was shining and I was out and about in the open air - what a brilliant way to pass the time :)

Continuing my westerly walk along the South side of the Mere I could hear a Skylark singing over the fields and a pair of Lapwing were protecting their territory and seeing off corvids. Linnets were flitting overhead and twittering.

As I approached the area which is good for warblers I listened hard for the bird I was after, but although there were more Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings as well as Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff I couldn't hear the bird I was seeking....yet. Another 200 yards and I stopped to listen, and was shaken to my boots by an explosive burst of song right in front of me! Cetti's Warbler. Great stuff, just what I'd come for. Often heard but seldom seen, Cetti's Warbler is a skulking little blighter but if you watch closely you will be rewarded with glimpses of one. I saw two of them several times but never long enough or clearly enough to get a photo. I stayed an hour hoping to get an opportunity but eventually I gave up and moved on.

Consolation prize - a Chiffchaff

20 yards further and I turned my bins onto the Mere to see what was about other than dozens of Black Headed Gulls and a few Herring Gulls. No terns today but a Gadwall or two and....something else - a Garganey. A drake Garganey showing through the top of the reed bed.

Drake Garganey

Garganey and Gadwall

Sorry for the poor pics. They are heavily cropped but they were the best I could get from my vantage point. Record shots at best. After scanning the remainder of the open water that I could and seeing 6 Shoveler, a few Tufted Duck and a Great Crested Grebe I carried on.

Next along was an area of just-ploughed set aside where I was hoping for Yellow Wagtail but instead I found a splendid male Wheatear feeding:

Time had moved on quickly and I'd been out nearly 3 hours already so I put my foot down and walked through the last half mile of my outward walk pretty quickly, accompanied by singing Blackcaps, Blackbirds, Dunnocks and Robins. I turned for home via fields and a traffic-free tarmac road which has arable crops either side, so I was more than happy to see and hear Yellowhammer, Skylark and Tree Sparrow.

What will tomorrow bring I wonder??