Holderness: Hollym to Withernsea

This is the first of a new series on walks around the villages of Holderness. Given the lack of trains in the peninsula, as both the Hornsea and Withernsea railways were discontinued in 1964, I will take buses and design circular walks around the villages, recording wildlife. I'll try and visit all the towns and villages of Holderness, prioritising those not by the Humber or the coast, which I have visited as part of other routes described in the blog (Walking the Humber and Walking Spurn Head to Filey Brigg). This morning, a mild, still and grey day, I take East Yorkshire bus 75 to Hollym, and weave my way by the lanes and paths to The Runnell, on the coast, and then follow the coast to Withernsea, and briefly visit the Millennium Green.

An old cabin or shed on a back garden at Hollym.

A Roe Deer buck and a pheasant.

Roe deer doe with two fawns. The wind was towards me and they didn't notice me until the mother eventually did, and she stood leg raised for a few moments, then she jumped through the hedge and they bounded, with their rump patches raised in alarm, across the field.

Buzzard.

I cross a ditch via a narrow foot bridge and a path by the houses on Holmpton Road. I hear the chirps of Tree Sparrows, and after some trying, I manage to get a few photos of one of them.

Tree Sparrow.

When at the top of the cliff, near the Runnel, I manage to find some steps cut into the cliff, so that I can cross the Runnell. I continue on the beach. The tide is almost low now, the beach expansive.

The Runnell.

I keep looking to the cliff, trying to find a way up. Finally, I find a quick way up by the sewage works. There are four small birds on the barbed wire fence, grooming after a bath. I'm pleasantly surprised to find they are Twite, a lifer for me! I might have seen flyover Twite, but not a proper view, so this is the highlight of today's trip.

Twite, their buff throat patch, tiny yellow bill and cream wing bar distinguish it from its relative the Linner. Twite are upland birds during the summer, but in the winter they can be found on bare ground on the coast.

There has been a lot of erosion in the area, and the path continues on a fallow field just before Intack farm.

Rabbits share a field with a flock of Starlings and a Meadow Pipit.

Meadow Pipit.

A Magpie atop a sign warning of the receding cliff. The cliff is very close to the road, There have been some defences built just south of the promenade, to defend the road.

A juvenile Mute Swan fly over.

Withernsea towers decorated with crocheted poppies.

I have my lunch, a jacket potato and coffee, at the Castle Cafe. Afterwards I have an hour to spare until my bus back, so I walk along the old Withernsea railway line. Flocks of Redwings fly over.

Redwings.