I park at Kilnsea Wetlands and walk to the hide. A Four-Spotted Chaser is hunting and resting on the drain by the path to the hide.
This is a very new nature reserve managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, only a few years old, but that has developed and matured quickly. It consists on several scrapes and is grazed by sheep, including a Hebridean flock. It was created to compensate for the loss of wetlands in the area due to coastal erosion. Many birds use it, including waders at high tide. Today it was busy, with families of starlings feeding on the edge of the main pond. A pied and a yellow wagtail hovered just over the water surface capturing insects. The Yellow Wagtail was carrying food for young. There were at least two pairs of Avocets, and two chicks. Mute Swans, Teal, Gadwall, Wigeon, Greylag and Mallard, the last two with young, were about. Skylarks sung over the reserve.
As I left the hide, a Painted Lady was sitting on the path, and a Large Skipper and a Wall Brown butterfly were also about.
The only Black-bellied Brent Geese I saw today was grazing at Kilnsea Wetlands.
This Little Egret was very successful fishing Sticklebacks.
Painted Lady, this individual with tattered wings is likely to have travelled from the Mediterranean. My first one of the year.
Hovering Yellow Wagtail.
Now with a bunch of insects for its brood.
Yellow Wagtail and Avocet chick.
Wall Brown.
Beacon Ponds
This set of lagoons and sand dunes, now being eroded by the sea has held a Little Tern colony for over a century. The colony of about 25-30 pairs is wardened and surrounded by an electric fence to protect the nests on the ground. Beacon ponds often has and many other birds. Today there were some Sandwich Terns, several Avocets, a Cormorant, a Dunlin and two Oystercatchers, in addition to the Little Terns of course!
Blue-tailed Damselfly.
Two Little Terns by their sand and shingle colony.
Sheep grazing by a scrape covered on flowering crowfoot. The sound mirror in the background.
Beacon Lane
I move onto Beacon Lane, usually really good for invertebrates. There were several patches of Bird foot trefoil in bloom, with several Common Blue butterflies on them.
Male Common Blue
Reed Bunting singing.
Female Common Blue.
Spider for ID.
The Triangle
I walk east by Easington Road towards the Crown and Anchor to walk by the Humber towards Canal Scrape. Families of starlings feed by the sea wrack. The tide is quite low and it is starting to get warm.
A Small Heath on the Blue Bell car park.
A family of Starlings feeding on flies on the sea wrack.
Emperor dragonfly on Canal Scrape.
A large and stunning soldierfly, a female Flecked General Stratiomys singularior (confirmed by Ian Andrews on twitter). It is a species found near wetlands, with a preference for grazing saltmarshes.
Four spotted chaser on Canal Scrape.
The Mute Swan pair of Canal Scrape had 8 young.
A rabbit in the Warren.
Canal Scrape and Clubley's Scrape
After lunch in the cafe of the Discovery Centre, I spend some time watching dragonflies around Canal Scrape Clubley Scrape (above) and the newly dug ponds near the Discovery Centre. Black-tailed Skimmer were very obvious, I only saw males, some immature. The Four spotted Chasers fought them off repeatedly. There was a resident male Emperor in at least 3 of the ponds. I found a darter but I couldn't get a good view or a photo.
Black-tailed Skimmer.
Male Emperor taking a break on the edge of the pond.
An ovipositing Four spotted Chaser female. She dips her abdomen in the water repeatedly and you can see the ripples on the water where she just did.
A view of the Discovery Centre from the sea bank.
As I returned to the car, pairs or trios of Swifts, probably non-breeding individuals, were already migrating south.
Next and final stage will feature the lighthouse and Spurn Head peninsula.
Today's walk, about 9.6 km.
1 comment:
Enjoyed Your information on Kilnsea Wetlands. Will now be visiting next week.
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