I had to change plans today, as the bus I was taking to a botanical meeting was cancelled and the following one meant an hour wait and being late. A couple of people were waiting for the Spurn Explorer a couple of bays down mine and I thought, why not? I'll catch the bus to Spurn and on the way, I'll plan a walk for the Holderness series. One of my already planned walks involved Weeton, Skeffling and Out Newton, but when I alighted at Weeton I realised I had accidentally left my bottle of water home. The closest watering hole was the Spurn Discovery centre, so, although I still need to do Out Newton, the walk was very pleasant, helped by the very light northerly wind, sunny sky and a high tide pushing waders to the bank. Weeton is a hamlet on the B1445, with Weeton Beck running by Humber Side Lane, the route I take. The managed realignment of The Outstrays means that it is just a short walk to the estuary now. The Outstrays is is a brand new nature reserve creating habitat to compensate for losses due to industry on the south bank of the Humber. Overall 275 ha. of new habitat has been created, mostly saltmarsh and mudflats, but also freshwater pools and drains and the old bank sheltering the area, should also offer quiet spits for resting or breeding. It took several years to build a new floodbank back towards the village, and landscaping took place, using the soil to create the new bank. The old bank was then breached. The new coastal footpath uses the new bank or the base of it to reduce disturbance in the most sensitive areas. New interpretation boards and screens have been installed and wildlife has been quick to move in. I sat on one of the viewing screens and watched as Brent Geese, Shelduck and Curlew fed or slept. A group of gulls loafed on one of the mud banks. The views across the site and over to the Humber were fantastic from the hide.
Sedge Warblers, Whitethroats, Skylarks and Reed Buntings provide the soundtrack to the walk, with the occasional piping of a Whimbrel. Where the new bank meets new I take Long Lane, as the coastal path detours around a new pumping station. I am pleasantly surprised to see a Yellow Wagtail calling from wires over a wheat field. I take a left at Church Road towards Skeffling. I eat a couple of oranges and cherry tomatoes on a rickety bench at the churchyard, St Helen's, that's all the watery food I have until the Spurn Discovery centre. After a walk around the village, where I add House Martins and Song Thrush to the day's bird list, I turn back, as I plan to walk along the Humber Bank.
St Helen Church Skeffling.
As I climb the bank by the old pumping station, I spot the remains of a Sperm Whale, one of five young males who stranded along the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire coasts and ended up beached on the Humber in March 2024. The skeleton is emerging under the rotted blubber and skin. It has no teeth. I walk around it. Depending on the breeze, it smells a bit. Scattered some bony vertebral growth plates indicating it was a young individual.
Sperm Whale remains. On the right the enormous mass atop the head, containing the spermaceti, on the left, the two bones of the mandible showing the teeth sockets, with holes where teeth were.
I walk fast on the bank and make my way to the Discovery centre cafe, where I gulp two glasses of water with my coffee and lunch. After a walk along Beacon Lane and popping into Canal Scrape, I take the 16:25 bus back to Hull. What a surprising day, I'm glad they cancelled the bus!
