Holderness: Burstwick, Elstronwick and Danthorpe

A mild day with light cloud and brief sunny spells, I take bus 75 to Burstwick. I walk east along Pinfold lane to take the public right of way by Burstwick drain. A blackthorn is in full bloom, its branches packed with blossom. Several Small Tortoiseshells bask and flutter on the banks of the drain, which are peppered on flowering Lesser Celandines. Skylarks sing over the fields. I walk north on Hedon road by the golf course, and then take the right towards Windy Hill, where I leave the busy road for the footpath towards Lelley Grange. Siskins sing from an alder and a hare bounds away. A sprinkle of Linnets. Rooks fly over towards the rookery at Daisy Hill farm. Ditches, hedges and arable fields make most of the landscape, which is undulating. Right beyond the crossing at with Bownhill lake there is a grassy hollow, the ditch that runs through it and a local hill give away that this used to be a mere: Braemere. It is now horse paddocks, but there is open water, and judging by the position of the fences the area has flooder overwinter, overtopping its banks. Greylags, Mallards and a Moorhen feed or rest around it. Flocks of starlings fly overhead. Later, on the way back, I see two Curlew by the water's edge.

Small Tortoiseshell.

Rook.

Brown Hare.

Siskin.

Rookery at Daisy Hill farm.

Rookery.

Roe deer by Fox Covert.

Roe Deer.

Clumps of primroses flower on churchyards and on innaccessible banks, refuges for this species.

The crossing with Bownhill Lane.

Elstronwick is an elongated village from East to West between Front street and Back street. The houses and cottages are spread out, and the village has a very rural field, out of the busy roads. Chickens feed on the street. I have my lunch overlooking North Field. Afterwards, I continue along Back lane and then cross to Front lane, where I visit the churchyard of St Lawrence's Church. A Chiffchaff sings. The church sits just by Humbleton Beck, which is running gingerly (top shot) and drains its waters to Burstwick Drain after joining Braemere drain. I continue on the public right of way towards Danthorpe hamlet. A pond with domestic ducks has a pair of Shelduck, I assume wild by their alert stance, and a barnacle goose of doubtful origin. A group of cheeky lambs comes to have a closer look, while a Pied Wagtail feeds on the grass behind them.

Robin.

St Lawrence's church.

Shelduck.

Curious lambs.

A crossing on the edge of Elstronwick.

I take the road to Burton Pidsea, a village I still need to visit, but I have no time today. I walk along the road and turn right on Fieldend lane towards Lelley Grange and soon I reach the public right of way along Burstwick Drain.

Rabbit.

Curlew by Braemere ditch.

Linnets.

Buzzard at Bridge Farm.

Mature poplars on the edge of Bridge Farm.

A Roe Deer buck in full run.

A new bridge over Burstwick drain.

A woodpecker near the golf course was a nice surprise.

All Saints' Church in Burstwick.

Jackdaw.

As I enter Burstwick, children, the village is busy with the school run. I wait for the late bus at Station road to go back home.

Wild Humber walks: Scottish Shags come to the Colliderfest!

On Saturday, together with PhD student Matt Morgan and final year student Holly Fox, we led three nature walks along the Humber as part of the #Colliderfest at Hull, a festival where sciences and art merge. We've done these walks for a few years now and there is always something interesting for everybody, and even always something exciting for us, who are more familiar with the wildlife with which we share our city. 

We set up our pop-up poster in The Deep lobby, and met the first group of people at the shark sculpture. The weather was ideal for the walks, still, sunny and not too cold, and the Deep, which was hosting several Colliderfest activities, including ours, was busy with people queuing to get in. Overall, a total of 16 people came to the walks and it was a wonderful bunch altogether. They shared the activities they were going to join as part of the Colliderfest and there was some infectious enthusiasm!

A Black-headed Gull on its breeding plumage.

On the first walk we had 8 people, including two children.The tide was quite low but starting to flow, leaving plenty of exposed mud. We walked along the promenade chatting. There were four species of gull around and people were interested in learning to tell them apart. The children peered through the binoculars. People shared their experiences of local wildlife, from a Glossy Ibis that seems settled at Cleethorpes, to a pair of Robins nesting in the shed or some seal watching at Flamborough. We watched a Sparrowhawk that had flushed gulls and feral pigeons. Then, on the half-tide basin, the old entrance to Victoria Dock, we were lucky enough to find a Shag, sitting on a floating blue platform where Coots usually nest. It was a young individual, and from the distance we could see that it had a ring. As we approached, it was unfazed by the group of people watching it and taking photos from above. It was resting in the sunshine, with the leg where it had the plastic ring tucked right in! After a long few minutes of waiting, it finally stretched and Holly got a photo with the code: SFL on a green ring. Then it yawned and Matt got an epic photo (top shot). It gave us a wonderful opportunity to speak to the people attending about bird ringing, and the international travels that many birds engage in during migration and that is revealed by bird ringing. Holly made a note to report the ring to the shag ringing scheme and then report what the history of the shag was.

The young Shag. The new adult feather shine green amonst the faded immature feathers,

The young Shag with its left leg tucked in.

A clear view of the ring.

One of the two Redshanks off the half tide basin.

The first walk was done, clocking 24 species of birds. After a quick coffee, we met the next group of people. We didn't advance the fact that we had seen the Shag, but as we approached the dock, there it was, and everyone was excited as we got closer and it behaved in the same relaxed manner. We were so close that phone photos came out quite well.

After a quick but delicious lunch at Next Door, we met with the final group: a couple visiting their son in Hull. They were quite knowledgeable about birds, and after a quick tour of the mouth of the river Hull, spotting Redshanks and a Grey Heron fly over, we headed for the dock again. We were down for a big surprise. First, an adult plumaged shag with a blue ring took off from the slipway, flying over the Humber. In the photos I took I can see a blue ring, but the code is not readable. When we got to the dock, the young Shag had been joined by an adult plumaged one, this one with a white ring (TAF). It sat on a wooden platform under the bridge, regularly pestered by some pigeons that were nesting just behind it. Although it wasn’t too alarmed by our presence. It did eye us out a bit nervously, so we decided to let it be. The clouds were gathering and we had a brief spell of hail. We set off and spotted five Shelducks on the Humber, a new Hull bird for the year for me! The sun started shining again and the man of the couple rushed back to get more photos of the adult shag in better light. A great example of how nature on your doorstep can create as much excitement as it does in wilder spaces.  

The adult plumaged Shag. The crest is starting to grow.

Another view of the second Shag.

And a clear view of the TAF code on white ring.

How to tell a Shag from a Cormorant?

Shags are marine diving birds which feed on small fish and are related to the more familiar Cormorant. Shags are smaller and slimmer than Cormorants, with a thinner bill with a yellow gape and mandible. The head profile is quite distinctive and in any plumage their forehead is more vertical than the Cormorant. In breeding plumage they are black with a metallic green sheen, and sport a short crest. Immatures are brown with a white chin.

Are Shags so rare? 

Shags have declined in recent decades, and are Amber listed birds. They are affected by changing weather patterns, plastic pollution and lower prey availability. Having said that, if you visit Flamborough Head or Bempton Cliffs, you have a good chance of spotting one. They breed on rocky coasts, and a few pairs breed at Flamborough. Shags are a regular passage migrant at Spurn, and they enter the Humber too. Influxes of Shags on our coasts tend to follow storms in Scotland, and there were some severe gales last Thursday. Cormorants are quite common in Hull, but Shags are much rarer, although there is a string of records in Hull, particularly in the autumn and winter along the Humber foreshore. They’ve also turned up in parks and lakes in town occasionally, including one at at East Park in December 2018, and another one at Princes Quay lake in March 2021.

What to do if you see a ringed bird?

If you find a bird with a metal ring, you can report the code to the organisation named on the ring itself. Reading metal rings is usually only possible with dead birds. Colour plastic rings with codes, however, can often be read with binoculars or from photos and can be reported to their ringing schemes (this website allows you to search for the relevant project). You can email the organiser and should get back a report with the story of the particular bird, where it was ringed, what age/sex it is and also when and where it has been seen before. Urban areas can be quite productive for spotting ringed birds, as they are often used to people and allowi people to get very close.  

The story of our two Shags

Holly got to work and reported the rings to the ringing organiser. Both Shags, and most likely also the one we saw in flight but couldn’t read the code, were fitted with rings from an Eastern Scotland project. Less than two days before reporting them, Holly got the reports for both birds. Thank you so much to researcher Josie Hewitt for her speedy reply!

The adult-plumage Shag (TAF on white ring) we saw is just 2 years old and was ringed as a chick in Craigleith, a small island in the Firth of Forth, East of Edinburgh. It is too young to have bred, as they usually start at 4 years old. It has been seen in the Isle of May a few times, and last winter it was reported sitting on the harbour rocks at Dunbar. This is the first time it has been spotted outside Scotland.

The immature (SFL on green ring) was ringed as a chick last June on the Isle of May, and this is her first voyage outside Scotland too.

The aim of the Edinburgh CEH project is to find out where Shags go in the winter, well, the answer is, at least some of them don’t want to miss Colliderfest in Hull!

Shelducks over the Humber.

(thank you to Matt and Holly for their contribution to this blog post, and Matt for the top shot) 

Holderness: Long Riston to Routh along the Monk Dike

I start the walk at Long Riston, leaving my bus 24 at the school stop as children are getting in. The sun is shining but it's quite windy. I had to bite the bullet with this walk as I wasn't looking forward to visiting Routh. There is no public rights of way from it, it sits on an intersection between the busy A1035 and another narrow, winding road with no footpaths. But it had to be done. I walk along the churchyard at Long Riston. Some bumblebees are basking on a dry hedge. I cross the road and take Carr Lane, a straight paved lane that leads in a slow incline to the flat, and very low lying Riston Carr. An old, hollow ash sits on a gap in the hedge, a Yellowhammer calling from it. The hedges are busy with birds singing, including Chaffinch, Reed Buntings and Robins.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee

Old ash.

Yellowhammer.

Carr Lane descending to the low-lying carrs.

Chaffinch.

Reed Bunting.

I soon get to Carr Farm, which sits at 0 m over the sea level. The peat that had formed on the beds of the carrs dried and shrunk as the carrs were drained, meaning that areas of the river Hull valley are now lower than the river itself. The waterlogged terrain in these low-lying areas shows after the rainy winter we've had. The Monk Dike, which used to be named Wyth, was named after the Meaux Abbey monks who either dug the dike or improved it to drain part of the eastern side of the valley. The Monk Dike eventually merges with the Holderness drain and the Foredyke Stream at Noddle Hill pumping station. After walking around the farm I climb onto the banks of the Monk Dike and walk north, outside of the sheltering of Carr Lane hedges, the dyke is very exposed to the wind.

A pond with willows and a reed bed. A Reed Bunting sang from it. This area is under sea level.

Low lying area by Carr Farm.

Lesser Celandines flowering on the banks of Monk Dike.

Monk Dike. Part of the bank seems to have slipped.

A Buzzard flying near Monk Bridge.

Monk Bridge.

Looking North from Monk Bridge.

Mute Swans at Heron Lakes country park.

At Monk bridge, I cross the A1035 and walk along the cycle/pedestrian lane. The traffic is heavy, but at least the plantation shelters me a bit. Soon I get to the first buildings of Routh. I walk to all Saints Church at Routh (top shot) and record some plants and lichens in the churchyard and church walls. Then I take the bus to Beverley. After a quick lunch, I check the peregrines at the Minster. The male is on the tower.

A mounting block near Routh.

Kestrel at Routh.

Peregrine.

Stock Dove.

Jackdaws.