Wild at Hull: Urban birding at Hull: New Year new patch. Sculcoates. Week 1.

Wednesday 6 January 2021

Urban birding at Hull: New Year new patch. Sculcoates. Week 1.

It was predictable that lockdown v.3 was coming, and I've been thinking over the last couple of weeks what would I do when it came. I haven't made any big plans for this year (if surviving a pandemic is not a big plan!), but I did come up with a small doable challenge, that meets lockdown rules, is environmentally friendly and may be surprisingly entertaining, which is to have a new nature patch to explore and record on. It had to be urban, within walking distance, and ideally be diverse in habitats. Yesterday I settled on the site: one km2 area of the OS grid, about 20 min walk from home, namely TA0930. I have visited this area often the last couple of years as part of the Hull Dragons survey, and it has yielded some nice wildlife surprises. But I haven't visited it previously in late winter and early spring. A more regular pattern of visits year round - I'm aiming for once a week - might be pay dividends. Today I had my first visit of the year.

Habitats

River

The stretch of the River Hull (top shot, at high tide) on the patch is not very accessible, as it is an area of industrial estates built by the river, with practically no public access riverbank patch. There is a viewing point and a stretch of accessible land is between Wilmington Bridge and Aire street, from where I took the photo above. This is a tidal stretch of the river with muddy bottoms exposed at low tide, so it would pay to check the tide. There are some patches of more natural marginal vegetation, especially around Wilmington Bridge and in the bend around the Reckits tower that can be seen from google maps, but unfortunately inaccessible. I've had the four common gull species, Redshank and Cormorant in this stretch of river. Swallows may breed in the bridge itself. The linear water habitats in the square may also increase the chances of spotting migrating birds.

Drain

The Beverly and Barmston drain crosses the square from the NW to the SE, it is roughly a straight line. Most of it is accessible by a public path by its bank, although there are a few stretches out of bounds, which offer shelter and lack of disturbance to wildlife. The earth banks are either grassy and regularly cut or have plenty of marginal vegetation including bramble patches, reeds, willows, hawthorn, birch and alder. A stretch is bounded by large poplars. There are six bridges over the drain, some of them used by pairs of Swallows. There is also plenty of aquatic vegetation on the drain itself and a diverse fish fauna, including pike and perch.

Scrub and Brownfield

The sides of the public footpath by the drain, and the cycle lane that crosses the patch from W to E are bounded by trees and scrub. In fact, there are little and large patches of scrub everywhere and apparently abandoned industrial plots with plenty of vegetation. This habitat is used by a range of warblers.

Cemeteries

There are two disused cemeteries, both now well vegetated with some mature trees and bushes glades and meadow areas.

Playing fields and parkland

A playing field in the middle of the square provides a feeding and loafing ground for gulls and Starlings.

Most of the square is residential estates with small green grassy spaces towards the west of the square, and industrial estates around the river Hull on the east of the square.

Highlights of 2020

Birds. Last year my bird list was 50 species, with Lesser Redpoll, Siskin, and Little Grebe in the winter. In the spring, Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Reed Warbler and Chiffchaff were singing. Greylags were looking for nest sites, but not sure they bred. Mute Swan, Coot and Moorhen bred.

Dragonflies

I've recorded 10 species of dragonfly on this square, including Hairy dragonfly and Willow Emeralds mating in September 2020. Brown Hawker, Migrant Hawker, Emperor, Common Darter, Four-Spotted Chaser and Azure Damselfly, Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damselfly complete the Odonata list.

Butterflies

I've only recorded 10 species of butterfly, which I'm sure it can be improved upon.

Small Tortoiseshell
Ringlet
Large Skipper
Speckled wood
Large white,
Small white,
Comma,
Gatekeeper,
Red admiral,
Painted Lady

Other groups

I've recorded Water Vole and Fox in the square previously. Otter is not impossible, as I've seen it further upstream in the drain. I'll record any species I'm confident identifying, possibly some plants. I've been told Grass Snake has been seen, but there are no records, and a large Red-eared Terrapin lives in the drain. I've got no frog and toad records in the square. We'll see how it goes!