South Landing, Danes Dyke, Bridlington

Another unplanned trip. Initially I thought I'd go to Bempton, but upon checking the weather with a cold northerly I decided to stay on the Flamborough area, but walk on the sheltered, shouthern side of the peninsula. I got the train to Bridlington and then the C14 coaster to Flamborough. On the way I watched the increasing number of Kittiwakes settling onto their nest sites and starting to call. Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-backed are well known urban gulls, not so Kittiwakes (other than the famous colony on the Tyne bridge in Newcastle). They are charismatic, endangered birds and we should celebrate them, but instead people put netting on roofs to deter them, which ends up entangling gulls and their chicks.

This Kittiwake is not moving from her nest on King Street, but it is a risk to nest by the netting as either the parents or the chicks can become entangled.

This Herring Gull wasn't as lucky. It probably was a long and painful death.

This Kittiwake displayed on its downpipe. They use very narrow ledges, but this one is quite ambitious!

After a short bus ride I got to Flamborough. The tide was rising and I had 3 hours before high tide. It was not a very high tide, so that left plenty of time to walk to Danes Dyke by the base of the cliff, which should take half an hour. When I got to South Landing, I was surprised about the amount of sand on the beach (top shot). This was the case much of the walk, which made it for a much nicer one underfoot, as I alternated walking on chalk boulders and walking on quite compact sand. It was relatively quiet bird wise, compared to the winter.

Whitethroat at South Landing.

Great Black-back Immature showing its bulky bill.

Displaying Stock Dove.

Rock Pipit.

As I was approaching Danes Dyke, I noticed hundreds of sand hoppers, jumping up the beach ahead of the rising tide. Some got stopped by chalk boulders, and they would pile up in front of the boulders and slowly make their way up. I walked around Danes Dyke until high tide. Walk on the dry bed of the beck, had a coffee and recorded the wonderful ferns. The calls of a Nutchatch called my attention and Imanaged to find it and take some photos. An Early Purple Orchid was also quite a nice and unexpected find.

The bottom of the ravine.

Unfurling Male Fern.

Unfurling fronds of Hart's Tongue Fern.

Ferns everywhere under the greening canopy.

A bed of flowering and pungent ramsons at the sides of the path.

Nutchatch upside down.

And right way up. There are also Nuthatches at Sewerby, but few other places in East Yorkshire have then.

Early Purple Orchid.

The wind didn't bother me much in the sheltered south side of the peninsula. It was cold even in the sunshine.

A Green Tiger Beetle was hunting on the beach. Until a wave took it away!

Pied Wagtail. I love the white canvas of the chalk rocks at Flamborough.

Oystercatchers.

Whimbrel.

Wheatear.

Turnstones. A group of 22 fed and roosted on the beach.

One of two Purple Sandpipers fed with the Turnstones.

The Yorkshire Belle.

Crow and Rabbit.

A brisk walk along north beach and I soon was back at Bridington. The tide was still quite high and after a walk around the harbour I walked back to the station to catch my train back.

Holderness: Weeton, Skeffling and Kilnsea

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.

The only Swift of the day was over Spring Bank on my way to the station.

Small Copper near Weeton.

Interpretation board with a map of the new nature reserve.

Shelduck.

A flush near the new bank.

One of two hares chasing on the new habitat.

Skylark.

Sleeping Shelduck.

Meadow Pipit.

Whimbrel. One of many on the day.

Sedge Warbler.

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.

A Goldfinch collects spider web for nesting.

The only settled Orange Tips of the day were this mating pair, who fended off two males who passed by. 

Yellow Wagtail.

Painted Ladies are in full migration and given their numbers this may turn up to be a good year for them.

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.

Buzzard near Sammy's Point.

Looking back.

Oystercatcher.

Rabbit at Sammy's Point.

Male Wheatear at Sammy's.

Brent Geese flyover.

One of a pair of Grey Partridges.

One of many Whimbrel today.

Ringed Plover.

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!

Old advert for ice cream and a 'seagull' warning on a derelict Sandy Beaches building, probably the old cafe. No ice-creams or gulls to be seen now,

A Linnet at Sandy Beaches.