Urban birding at Hull: Oak Road Lake, River Hull, Stoneferry road circular walk

 It was -3°C,  as I left the house, still and with sunny spells. I had decided to head to Oak Road via Beverley Road. I spied the Beverley and Barmston drain, peeking over the bridge walls,  I'm happy I did as there were two Little Grebes on one side and four on the other. 

Two of the little grebes.

Oak Road lake was mostly frozen and the paths around quite flooded, they would have been impassable without wellies had it not been so frosty. 

Frosty view by Oak Road Lake

Eight Coots were at the lake, with Black-headed gulls for company but no Mute Swans.

After days of very wet mud everywhere, I was really enjoying the crunchy frosty mud underfoot, so I made an impromptu decision to head back via the River Hull banks. I don't recommend this walk in the winter as it is slippery and muddy, but the frozen mud made it an interesting option. 

It had just been low tide and the river was going down fast (top shot). On a clearing of the industrial state, a doe Roe Deer stood, alert, watching me for as long as I took her photo. A Cormorant sat atop a large pylon drying its wings.

Roe Deer.

A Cormorant on a pylon, the top of the Reckit's chimney on the background.

A Sparrowhawk flushed the gulls and Feral pigeons. At regular intervals, a Redshank will fly and call before I could spot it. I reached the Stoneferry Bridges having had just one tumble on an icy slope.

Stoneferry Twin bridges.

I crossed Clough Road and moved onto the other side, which is where the Wilberforce Way goes, for a little stretch, by the river. What an unloved part of the way, the path overgrown, at times made of rubble. Finally I managed to spot a Redshank on the other side, a bend that is not straightjacketed by metal pilings. 

Looking south from Stoneferry Bridges.

The steam from a factory clouds up the view of the Isis mills and the Reckit chimney. An area of bank with no pilings on the right.

Redshank.

After a short stretch on Stoneferry Rd I joined the Hornsea cycle track. On a roof where gulls loafed I spotted a Jackdaw. I crossed Wilmington bridge and got back home, totalling 10k for the walk. 

Jackdaw.