Great Bustard Old Country. Walk 1: Leconfield

I chose a mild, sunny day in late September for the first walk in the Great Bustard series. It is not a long walk, the main aim is to visit the remains of Leconfield Castle, now a Scheduled Monument. The bus drops me at Leconfield Main Street, right at the start of the public right of way that leads to the site, just by the village. The grounds just outside the castle are now a few horse paddocks - but no horses today. There is also no castle, just an impressive moat remains, now overgrown and surrounded by mature oaks and ashes, appearing like a copse in the distance. I descend the slope to the bottom of the moat, the soil is dry, spongy and crunchy underfoot, with thick leaf litter and fallen branches (top shot). And yet, this moat defended Leconfield Castle, the seat of the Percy family, dukes of Northumberland, since their licence to crenellate in 1308. The castle mainly made of wood, with some brick and stones, stood on the island and the outhouses were around a courtyard, with a brick entrance gatehouse on the north side. There was a ridge and furrow field nearby and also a fish pond. The house was eventually abandoned and became derelict. It was demolished around 1608 to provide stone and brick for Wressle Castle. The castle site sits on the gentle slope on the eastern side of the Wolds, big arable fields just tilled. The flat open landscape must have suited the Bustard back then, and it is likely that bustards were sourced from the nearby Wolds. The following photos give an idea of the landscape use today.

A view of the flat arable landscape near Leconfield.

A tractor tilling a field near Leconfield.

A simple footbridge over North Drain: three boards and a hand-rail. Note the new public right of way marking signs, courtesy of The Ramblers.

The site of the lost village of Raventhorpe, now pasture for a few cows.

Historical early sources
The 5th Earl of Northumberland, Henry Algeron Percy, penned down the rules of the household for his castles in Leconfield and Wressle in 1512. The Great Bustard appears in these household regulations, one of the earliest references to the species in the UK. Bustards were requested to be served at the Earl's table for main feasts, indicating the high esteem that the elite had for the species at the time. Assizes and other notable events would require bustards. Presumably, they could be obtained locally as game. An entry in Fitzherbert’s The Book of Husbandry, 1534, under ‘general duties of a wife’ describes how long game birds meat should be hung: 'And thou muste knowe, that all hole-footed fowles wyll sytte a moneth, and all clouen-footed fowles wyll sytte but three wekes, excepte a peyhenne, and greatte fowles, as cranes, bustardes, and suche other'. Henry VIII and his 5th wife Catherine Howard lodged at the castle in September 1541 when they visited Yorkshire after the Pilgrimage of Grace, and it is likely they dined there on locally obtained Bustard. In fact, Henry VIII would issue several acts to forbid the collection of bustard eggs under penalty or prison to preserve the species for his own consumption.

Skylarks chirp over the fields. As I get to the Hudson Way, a Kestrel flies over and lands on a telegraph pole. I've been hearing a meowing Buzzard, and as I'm sat on a bench having a snack, it takes advantage of the thermals and flies up in circles above me. This raptor was lost to East Yorkshire, but has recolonised much lost ground in the last decades and is now a fixture of any walk in the Wolds.

A Kestrel watches from a telegraph post.

Buzzard overhead.

Brown Hare.

A flock of returned Common Gulls on a greening field.

A large flock of Common Gulls flies from one field to the next.

I finish the day's walk with a stroll around Beverley Minster. Jackdaws like to sit on the sculpture's heads.

Travel. Bus 41 to Leconfield (Hull to Bridlington line).

Route. Leconfield to Beverley. 7.26 km, even paths or grass, some fields are ploughed with little regard for the right of way. Flat terrain. A short stretch is on the very busy and narrow Miles Lane, then steps to the Hudson Way, the railway trail to Beverley. Route link on OS Maps. All facilities in Beverley.

Spurn and Beacon Ponds in September

A calm, sunny and mid day, I take the Spurn Explorer bus to Easington. I walk along the beach to Beacon Ponds and then to the Discovery Centre. A large dragonfly ahead against the sun settles on the cliff vegetation, I manage to get closer for photos, it's a Lesser Emperor, the second I see this year in East Yorkshire and ever. The combination of green eyes and a blue 'saddle' are diagnostic. The species was first recorded in the UK in 1996, and has had several bumper years, but the fact that this is the 17th record in East Yorkshire this year is likely a result of the record hot summer we have endured.

Female Lesser Emperor.

I visit the relatively new hide south of Beacon lagoons. The path is across a reed bed and the reeds show how dry it has been this year as they are quite short. Despite this, the path offers shelter and basking opportunities to dragonflies, including many Common Darters. Amongst them, another dragonfly bonus in the shape of a female Red-veined Darter, another recent colonist to the UK. The hide has a great light, looking north. Although the lagoon levels were quite low (top shot), there was enough interest, with Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler. A Grey Heron got some small fish while I was there.

One of several Little Grebes at Beacon Lagoons.

Wigeon.

The path to the new hide south of Beacon Lagoons.

Red-veined Darter.

Sea Aster Bee.

Reed Bunting.

Grey Heron.

I have a coffee at the Discovery Centre after a quick visit to Canal Scrape. Three male Migrant Hawkers are present.

Migrant Hawker.

Afterwards, I walk to the clifftop path and then south to Chalk Bank hide. A Wheatear is the first of just a trickle of migrants. Just as I am getting to Chalk Bank, I see a Clouded Yellow feeding on perennial rocket, another great insect for the day.

Wheatear.

Wall Brown.

Clouded Yellow.

Time to head back. in the little pond by the road I spot a Willow Emerald, the first one I've seen in Spurn. What a fab day for dragonflies!

Willow Emerald.

A group of at least 10 Little Egrets by the Humber.

 

Stonechat. One of three seen together on the field by Borrow Pit.

Shearwaters and whales from Staithes

Every few years, I do enjoy a boat trip, despite getting seasick easily. This Sunday, me and some friends had booked a Seabird and cetacean watching boat trip with Yorkshire Coast Nature, led by Richard Baines. The boat, with skipper Sean, sailed from the picturesque village of Staithes at 9 am. We were going to be six hours at sea, looking for pelagic seabirds and cetaceans. There was some light wind from the NW and the sea was a bit choppy, but it was mild and pleasant to be out. After a brief light shower to start with, we had some long sunny spells and great visibility. 

In the last few years, the North Yorkshire Coast has become a cetacean hot spot. In particular, Minke Whales and Bottlenose Dolphing gather close to shore in the late summer for the herring and mackerel spawning season. Other species are seen more occasionally. On the trip, Sean kept a close eye on the boat's radar for signs of spawning fish, and on the horizon, scanning for feeding gannets, which are visible from long distances. Once we were out at sea, Richard started chumming, throwing pieces of fish off the boat to attract pelagic birds. Some of these, like Shearwaters and Fulmars, have a keen sense of smell, and can hone in on the free feast. That's probably what attracted a group of Sooty Shearwaters to our boat. I had never seen them so close and for so long, my best views from another pelagic trip from Bridlington, were very distant. Not only they had close by fly passes, but one of them landed right by us. 

One of two Dunlins at Staithes Beck.

Grey Wagtail.

Leaving Staithes.

The boat's radar showing a spawning aggregation (the orange and red blobs at the bottom of the screen).

Gannet flyover.

Anglers at work.

Two Sooty Shearwaters.

Sooty Shearwater. A photographical challenge today on a choppy sea rocking the boat, I'm pretty pleased I managed, with a lot of straightening photos for the blog!

Sooty Shearwater.

Fulmar.

We had gotten as far as five miles out. It was time to head back to have a hot drink and cake provided by Sean sheltered at Runswick Bay. As we headed towards land, the views of the rugged North Yorkshire coast, with the towering cliffs of Boultby, the tallest in England were breathtaking. We saw the Grey Seal colony at Kettleness, with many seals bobbing by the rocks.

Guillemot. 

Young Guillemot following dad. There were fledgling Guillemots and Razorbills calling or following their fathers closely.

An aggregation of gulls feeding just as Sean showed us a column of emerging sand-eels.

Kittiwake, only a few by the coast, the rest having moved offshore to the open sea.

Great Black-backed Gull. Much more numerous than Herring Gulls once we were far from the coast.

Seal colony at Kettleness.

Razorbill.

Bobbing Grey Seal.

After the break, we went back to an area where a Minke had been seen the day before. A butterfly flew in from the sea and we followed it as it flew towards the land. Just at that moment, the dark back and dorsal fin of a whale surfaced, Minke! This was my first baleen whale ever, just before heading back to harbour, when we thought we were going to miss out on the whales! The Minke Whale surfaced in front of us five or six times, giving everyone a chance to spot it. Surprisingly quick, a brief short blow, and in a couple of seconds, the back and dorsal fins emerged and disappeared under water. We managed to take some photos of the dorsal fin, which was quite distinctive (top shot) with a blunt tip and a nick on the trailing edge. Richard has made some research and compiled and named distinctive local whales, and amazingly, we could identify the whale as 'Bitse', a whale that hadn't been seen in the area for many years (since 2013!). Later on, we spotted another whale surfacing a couple of times. Sean explained how the presence of the whales is related to the abundance of fish and spawning and showed spawning mackerel and hatching sand eels on the boat radar. Whale MacDonalds indeed!

We even finished with a rainbow.

Back at Staithes, ready for our lunch to top up an unforgettable day!