Another freezing January day. I leave the house around 8:30 with -5 oC. There are still patches of snow on the ground, but it has been dry, so not much ice. There is light cloud with brief sunny spells becoming windier later. A small flock of Siskins is feeding in the Italian Alders in my street. I meander along the green spaces towards town and I'm rewarded with Coal Tits singing and a small group of Redpolls feeding on the mossy branches of a sycamore, exactly how the Goldfinches do. At Princes Quay, a Cormorant sits on the lights platform. The marina has a light cover of ice, the first time I see this. In the entrance of the Marina the tide is now ebbing and a Dunlin does a couple of passes before briefly settling on the edge of the water. I carry on around the mouth of the river Hull, and then along the Humber along Victoria Dock.
At the Half tide basin, 16 Dunlin and two Ringed Plovers feed on the exposed mud. No sign of the Black Redstart or Rock Pipits of a couple of weeks, but in the freshwater basin the fountain has kept open water, where a young Mute Swan, Coots, Mallards and 13 Tufted Ducks are feeding. Many Black-headed Gulls and a few Common Gulls too.
Ringed Plover with worm.
Turning to head back the wind is strenthening and the cold is cutting. I make my way to The Deep. A Kestrel is hunting nearby. A cacophony of Herring Gulls, flying over the river calls my attention. I look for raptors and see none, then I look to the river and spot a seal! It is a Common Seal, swimming back and forth, up and down, while the Mallards leave the water and the Curlew flies over Scale Lane Bridge, alarm calling. I watch and photograph the seal, my first urban seal in Hull. The seal appears to look for a place to haul itself out of the water (top shot) but is not happy with the steep and slippery mud of the river Hull. I leave it to it and make my way to Waterstones for a hot coffee.
