Wild at Hull: Hide and seek

Friday 29 March 2013

Hide and seek

Being half term, I take my 4 year old to North Cave for a bit of birdwatching. As we are parking I spot a brown rat by the drain opposite the cafe, my daugher can see it clearly, as I stop the car and point it to her. Not the fox or hedgehog she wanted to see, but another mammal and she's quite thrilled. She is also pleased to write it down on my notebook.
Given the weather, with flurries of snow every now and then, and a biting breeze, we go quickly from hide to hide and after East Hide and Turret Hide, we turn round and go down Dryham in the car for the other two hides. Lazy, really, but it is too cold for her.

The Black-Headed gulls are back in force getting ready for nesting (above), they are so loud in Island Lake that although I think I can hear a Skylark singing, I can't make it out clearly from the background noise.

I scan the area north of the reserve for raptors, and can make out a Buzzard being mobbed by crows in the distance.

Four species of gulls are visible from Turret hide. Two immature Great Black Backed gulls dwarf a Herring gull nearby, and also a few Common gulls sprinkled amongst the BH gulls.