Urban birds at Hull. 51. Whitethroat

 

The scratchy phrase of a singing Whitethroat, with the tone of an aggressive question,  is one of the harbingers of summer. This warbler of brown and grey tones, with a bright white throat and eye ring, and warmer brown wings. When singing, males lift their crown and puff their throats, together with its long tail it gives the impression of a slim bird with a large head. They sing from prominent perches, and can jump into a display flight in song. Characteristic raspy, repeated alarm call, when disturbed. It lives in hedgerows, ditch and river banks and scrubby, open areas. 

Singing male, Sculcoates, 23/05/2022.

Status and Distribution in Hull

Whitethroats are common summer migrants. In the city, any scrubby patch will hold a pair. They arrive in the second half of April and quickly settle in their territories. By mid June they will have a batch of fledglings and start a second brood. There are pairs at Sculcoates, along the Barmston Drain, many pairs at Noddle Hill, MKM railway triangle, and on the outskirts of the city. They leave by the end of September.

Carrying spider silk as nest material. Sculcoates, 27 April 2024.

Fledgling, Sculcoates, 19/06/2021.

Fledgling, 7 June 2025. Note the darker iris and browner head.

Conservation

Whitethroats are Amber listed. The species's winter quarters are just south of the Sahara, in the Sahel. In 1968 an intense drought in the area resulted in a crash of 75% of the Whitethroat population due to extremely poor winter survival. Some further droughts in the 80s affected populations. Although numbers  recovered to some extent, they never got back to the levels in the 60s and there is an indication of more recent population declines.

More information

Broughton, R.K. 2002 Birds of the Hull area.

BTO Birdfacts. Whitethroat.

Holderness: Hornsea to Mappleton

Today's walk is the same stretch of coast as the Mappleton to Hornsea stage of my Migrants Way. It is about 13 km round trip walking on the beach as the alternative is walking on the road. Today I start at Hornsea, after catching bus 24. I got there at low tide. I walk along the cliff edge recording the few plants tat manage to grow there. Linnets, Meadow Pipits and Skylarks sing and call from the clifftops, occasionally landing on the cliffs. Offshore there is a Guillemot and a Gannet, whilst on the sand far out, in Rolston Sands, a mixed group of gulls are loafing. Mostly Herring Gulls, but there are two immature Great Black-backed Gull and a Lesser Black-back Gull. Two Black-headed Gulls fly along the beach.

A Red Kite over Hull, as I walked to the bus station.

The perilously perched static caravans just south of Hornsea sea defences.

Linnet. Small groups feed on the cliffs.

A Gannet feeding offshore. I watched a couple of dives.

A Carrion Crow joins the gulls for some beach combing.

Meadow Pipit. Some territorial males were displaying and singing along the cliff top.

This tail-less Pied Wagtail was very vocal on the beach.

Oystercatcher.

Rolston Sands at low tide.

A Great Black-backed gull dwarfs the Herring gulls.

There were scattered Black-headed Gulls around.

I walked past two Sand Martin colonies, this one close to Mapleton had several chicks getting ready to fledge.

Sand Martin colony.

Mappleton has some sea defences as the road is very close to the cliffs. I explore the slope protected by the defences. There are many insects about and several patches of Bee Orchids and others. Afterwards, I have a coffee at the Old Post Office tea rooms.

Linnet pair at Mappleton beach.

Mappleton Church 

A Rook with a beak full of food.

Bee Orchid close-up.

Lovely to see many fresh spikes of Bee Orchid on Mappleton Beach.

Six-spotted burnet with common spotted orchid.

Small Skipper.

Common Sandpiper.

Be especially tide aware if you are doing this walk

I can't emphasise enough how important it is to give yourself plenty of time ahead of the high tide, well over 3 hours is advisable, as the beach just south of Hornsea sea defences is very low lying due to erosion and floods very quickly as the tide rises. Today, I had to return to Mappleton quickly due to not giving myself enough time. For this walk, it is best to start just after high tide, as the beach becomes passable.

Urban chicks

I couldn't find my bins this morning, and I thought I might have left them at work, so I changed my plans and walked to work instead, no bins. I walked to Oak Road. It was a sunny and a light wind westerly wind warm, but not as much as yesterday. I thought I'd try and document as much breeding as possible.

I peek over the bridge over the Barmston Drain at Beresford Avenue and there is a Coot on a nest with some young cootlings, but nearby there is a swimming chick. A photo reveals it is a Little grebe chick (I like to call them greblings). An adult appears and the chick starts begging. I try to take the path by the drain but it is too overgrown, the grass taller than me.

Little Grebe chick.

Adult Little Grebe and chick.

Coot and chicks.

I carry on towards the lake. The first young is a Magpie, but in the best surprise is that there is a duck on the lake that doesn't look like a Mallard...it's a Pochard with three medium sized ducklings (top shot and below). It is the first time that I see Pochards breeding in Hull.

The family climbs to a floating trunk to rest.

 

As I talk to someone on the river bank, a Mute Swan's head pops up from the grass: the Mute Swan family has gone for a trip to the river and are waiting to go back. I'm surprised they have done this. I've seen the cob walking back from the river, maybe there is not enough food in the lake. Sure people bring food for the swans, but there is little floating vegetation, the perimeter of the lake is mostly reeds, which may be too tough for the cygnets. In any case, the parents walk slowly and stop and watch attentively. Every time thry stop, the cygnets sit down for a rest. It must be quite an effort to walk the distance. I watch them as they return to the lake. The cob flaps its wings and flies/paddles to one end of the pond.

The parents watching from the edge of the river.

The parading family.

Reed Bunting in song.

Dragonflies

It is a great morning for dragonflies. On the lake there are two patrolling male Emperors and both stop eventually. A single Four Spotted Chaser is also about, and, for the first time ever, I see at least two male Black-tailed Skimmers on the fishing platforms. To complete the odonata list, a single female Banded Demoiselle and a couple of Blue-tailed Damselflies.

Black-tailed Skimmers.

Female Banded Demoiselle.

Four-spotted Chaser.

Male Emperor.

Butterflies

  

Red Admiral.

A comma licking salts from the edge of the pond.

My first Small Skipper of the year.

Although not in large numbers, Small Tortoiseshells seem the most common butterflies about.

To finish off, a Buzzard flying over as I walked home.

 

Holderness: Skirlaugh to Hornsea

A mild day with light cloud and sunny spells, I take the but 24 to Skirlaugh. My route today takes me from Skirlaugh to Hornsea via the Hornsea Railway Trail, on the former railway line from Hull to Hornsea that now also serves as the last stage of the Trans-Pennine Trail. Unfortunately the bus stops are quite away from where the A165 crosses the trail, and this road is too busy and lacking a footpath, so I opt for taking Mulberry Road and Ellerby Road to join the trail. The route today takes me through farmland, mostly arable, except for the Lambwath valley SSSI, where hay is grown in traditional meadows. This section of the Lambwath is quite innaccessible, with few public rights of way, but I will devote more space to the Lambwath in another walk.

The trail is sound and even underfoot, some small sections tarmacked, and only a few muddy stretches. The banks have been mowed so it's wide enough. I meet some dog walkers, walkers and cyclists along the way, a loud group in the finishing stretch of the Transpennine Trail. The trail doesn't always run on the railway track, weaving sideways in sections, leaving the embankment on one side. Small copses and old hedgerows, today adorned with flowering dog roses, elder and honeysuckle, all adding to a wonderful fragance, line the way.

A Pied Wagtail collects insects on Silverhall Farm, near Skirlaugh.

I'm pleased to see good numbers of Small Tortoiseshells along the way.

Ellerby Road, between barley and rapeseed fields.

A Reed Bunting singing from the ripening rapeseed.

Skylark calling from a bare patch in the field.

I take a short detour to look for Twayblades and after some searching I'm rewarded with a single spike.

Whitethroat.

Linnet.

I cross the road at New Ellerby, a hamlet that was serviced by a station on market days. The platform and station remain, the latter now a private residence. In the wooded, more sheltered areas, Yellow-barred Longhorn moths gather and males dance flying up and down, occasionally resting on nearby leaves.

Large Skipper.

A good day for insects, a patch of Hedge Woundwort yields a Rhingia campestris, a hoverfly that likes tubular flowers.

I'm now descending the Lambwath valley. I climb the bank on the side of the trail and look across the bare field looking for hares. No hares, but I find a Buzzard gliding over the valley. I stop at the sound bridge over the Lamwath Stream. The water is clear, a couple of Azure Damselflies mate on the Reed Sweet-grass.

Buzzard.

Bridge over the Lambwath stream.

Lambwath stream, looking West.

Azure Damselflies.

Lamwath Meadows SSSI.

I climb the valley towards Whitedale, a hamlet that was also served with a station (top shot), now a private residence. A Swallow sings from the wires and House Sparrows are busy on its roof. After a little while, I find a spot with a nice view and I sit on the verge for lunch, a Yellowhammer and a Brown Hare for company.

Swallow at Whitedale.

Orange Tip, the only male I saw today.

Yellowhammer.

Reed Bunting.

Brown Hare.

It's time to carry on. A Marsh Harrier is quartering the fields in the distance, the Withernwick wind turbines as a backdrop. Another road crossing, this one between Little Hatfield and Great Hatfield, although the station itself is called Sigglesthorne. A small Local Nature Reserve has been designated along the trail, just north of the station. It has a wetland character, with reeds, willows, aspen and bracken. Soon I'm near Hull Bridge, a brick bridge where the Hull Road crosses the trail. The area is waterlogged and there are sedges, brooklime and ferns. There are records of Twayblade here, but I find none. 

Marsh Harrier.

Dog Rose.

Hull Bridge near Hornsea.

I'm now in Hornsea. Some Swifts fly over. On a field after crossing Stream Dyke, two crow Fledglings beg to one of their parents. I reach the final station of the trail and the promenade. The grassy area nearby is busy with a large flock of Starlings, with many young, and a pair of Linnets. A group of high school students are led along the promenade. This is a typical geography day trip spot to highlight coastal erosion and defences, so it's rare to miss a school trip on a visit to Hornsea. The tide is rising fast. On one of the end groynes, a pair of Sandwich Terns preen. Small parties fly past chirruping. Sand Martins pass over I'm ready for a rest, so I get an ice-cream and a coffee and sit on a picnic table by the new landscaped promenade gardens and fountain. My rest doesn't last long, as a feeding frenzy starts offshore. This is a high point in the promenade, offering a great view. A cloud of Herring Gulls surrounds small parties of Razorbills and Guillemots, which are very successful taking small fish. Two Gannets appear out of nowhere and dive bomb. As fast as it formed, the birds disperse and I'm glad to have watched this unexpected spectacle just before my bus back home is due. 

Swift.

Feeding frenzy with Herring Gulls.

Guillemot.

Razorbills.

Gannet.