Urban birding at Hull. Sculcoates. Weeks 20 and 21.

 A summary of visits on Sunday and today at the Sculcoates patch. Today it was mostly overcast in the morning, with cool temperatures. I walked to the patch via Fountain Road and first looked around the Barmston Drain, moving to Wilcolmlee next.

View of the Barmston Drain from the Fountain Road bridge, looking South.

I found the family of Mallard sunbathing, a duck with five grown ducklings (top shot). They've done very well. They looked at me, stretched and took to the water.

Mallard family.

A Song Thrush was foraging for chicks. It got a slug and wiped it on the ground several times.

Spot the Lesser Black-backed gull sitting on the nest. Quite cryptic isn't it?

After looking around the river, I moved to the cemeteries. At the cemetery in Air Street, a pair of Chaffinch were nervous. The male came quite close, all fluffed up and tail open, I wonder if they have a nest nearby.

The reason I got close to the Chaffinch nest is because I have been looking for Garden Snails in the Sculcoates patch for a while. I drew another blank today.

I was more lucky with slugs. I found an Arion (probably vulgarins) and a cluster of Limacus maculatus under a broken vase

The walk by the railway line gave me a male Bullfinch feeding on dandelion seeds.

And in the drain, I found this Great tit inspecting a natural tree hole.

Two male Reed Warblers seem to have settled on territories along the drain.This one even sung quite exposed on brambles over the reeds.

From Sunday morning, a much quicker visit. Swifts are now at Sculcoates! Unfortunately no photos.

Recently fledged magpies exploring near the railway line.

This Carrion Crow was mobbing the Lesser Black-backed gull. It didn't stop until the gull flew away.

The vegetation growing on the bare patch by Wilmington bridge.

Arion vulgaris.

A visit to North Cliffe Woods

A last minute decision to go to North Cliffe Wood, based on the fact that neither Marsh Tit or Jay appeared to have been recorded at the reserve since February at Birdtrack. It was overcast and still, but quite cold, I wore gloves all the time. I arrived at 8:50 and was greeted by two Mallard by the entrance path, which insisted in walking ahead to show me the way.

I turned left at the first path and left the mallards in peace. Thanks to the mallards, I actually ended walking counter-clock wise in a path I always did the other way, which was quite interesting. There were lots of pheasants about, this one didn't look so good.

Soon, the song of Garden Warblers became apparent. Often two males singing to each other. I ended up counting 10 singing males. I believe this one was a female though, as it kept calling quietly, looking at me, as a male sung nearby. Maybe she had a nest.

The carpets of bluebells were looking at their best (top shot). A crow call coming from the ground called my attention. I thought maybe a young had fallen from the nest. It took me a few seconds to work out what had happened. Two crows appeared to be entangled on something. I kept my gloves on and try to disentangle them. What appeared to have happened is that they were locked in combat with their claws. They were gripping each other hard with them and I had to take my gloves off to slowly prise each toe apart. The crow on the left looked in good condition, and as soon as I released it, it jumped and flew out of view. 

This was the other crow. It was not moving much at first and it looked like it had taken a good battering by the other, with many feathers missing from its head and legs. It ended up moving away, flapping on its own and then sat to rest. I hope it will recover from the ordeal.

A bit shaken myself, I carried on my walk, counting Garden Warblers. There were also Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap, but the Garden Warblers were the most noticeable around the reserve. 

Another Garden Warbler, not as obliging as the previous one.

I found two dead pheasants and turned them over.  Five Red-breasted carrion beetles, Oiceoptoma thoracicum,  were in attendance.

I climbed a earth ridge that separates the reserve from a reservoir. A Reed Warbler was singing from the reedbed, a distant Yellowhammer too.

Brown Hare. Several seen in fields around the reserve.

More views of the woodland.

As I walked through the southern part of the reserve, an open area with a rabbit warren and ant nests, I hear two Green Woodpeckers calling, none was showing though, and I moved onto the heath area. A Roe Deer bounded away. A Great Spotted Woodpecker drummed.

Heathland.

A pond in a corner, I had never seen this part of the reserve. 

Rabbit pretending to be a hare.

I had my lunch in the bench overlooking the heath, and then took another circuit around the woodland. I had been in the reserve for four hours and had found it odd that I hadn't heard a Marsh Tit. But then I heard one! There were several individuals calling and a singing male. Then I saw that some of them were actually fledglings!

Singing Marsh Tit.

Marsh tit.

Fledgling Marsh tit. Not the best light for a photo, but the yellow gape is visible. 

This was a great end for a lovely morning at North Cliffe. I hadn't been since the 28th of December, when we went for a family stroll. Must visit for dragonfly season!

Urban birding at Hull. Sculcoates. Week 19

A morning visit to the Sculcoates patch. It's only a week since I visited, but I'm amazed by the change in vegetation, everything looks lush after the rain in the last few days. I climb to the ridge where the railway bridge was and contemplate the patch, looking NNE (top shot). Many birds are feeding chicks now. A flock of Starlings feed on the playing fields. Then I find this Robin.

Robin with large caterpillar and spider

The usual assortment of birds, only to add a Reed Warbler, which sings from a tiny patch of reeds by an outfall, 2 Lesser Black-back gulls on nests, Starling cleaning slug, 

A Moorhen returning to a nest with 4 eggs in the drain.

I'm please to find two Lesser black-backed Gull nests. When alarmed by a passing raptor or the local sparrowhawk, about 12 LBBGs rise to mob it, indicating the number of pairs, but many of the nests are not visible as on the flat roofs of industrial buildings.

Another!

Wilmington bridge. It is high tide.

This nest has a large component of wires, even barbed wire. I coudln't see who was using it, probably crow.

In the Air Street S cemetery, a Song thrush imitates a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Sparrowhawk calling.

I spend some time taking record shots of slugs to identify.

Ambigolimax valentianus.

Deroceras reticulatum.

Arion vulgaris.

A reed warbler calls from the outfall on the right hand side of the photo. There is a vigorous growth of reeds on the left side which will provide better habitat soon.

I finish with a reflection on playing fields. Not as good as meadows, I would agree, but I'd hate to lose playing fields to plastic lawns. They feed so many birds thriving on worms and leatherjackets, but also on seeds of daisy and dandelion: Woodpigeons, Starlings, Goldfinch, Pied Wagtail, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Linnet Greylag, to mention just a few I've seen using the playing field at Sculcoates recently. In the winter, 4 species of gull loaf on the fields or look for worms

Urban birds at Hull. 21. Yellowhammer

A stunning farmland bird. The male is unmistakeable, with bright yellow head and chest, with a russet rump and streaked back and wings. Relatively long tail with white outer tail feathers. Thin bill. Female has similar markings but with less yellow and more dark streaking on chest. Males sing from a hedge, standing quite upright, a simple phrase that has been likened to 'a little bit of bread and no cheese'. Favours arable and mixed farmland and grassland and scrub with well managed hedgerows with margins of tall grass and ditches.

Status and distribution in Hull

Yellowhammers are a scarce breeding resident bird in Hull, only present in fields on the western and north eastern suburbs. Numbers increase during passage and winter. Recent peak counts in Birdtrack include 30 in October 2008, 25 in January 2014, and 22 in mid September 2016. There is low but regular reporting rate also during the breeding season, with a few breeding pairs in North Bransholme (Noddle Hill, Castle Hill area and East Carr in the fields alongside the Holderness drain, possibly at Kingswood by the river Hull, but numbers are now scarce at Willerby Carr and Priory Fields. Richard Broughton counted just 3 pairs at North Bransholme in 2001, so the numbers seen in 2021 are not too dissimilar, with evidence of 4 territories in spring 2021.

Female Yellowhammer, Noddle Hill LNR, 2nd May 2021.

Two Yellowhammers feeding on a field by the river Hull at Kingswood, 8th March 2017.

Conservation

Yellowhammers are a UK Red listed since 2002 and UK BAP species. As other farmland birds, it has suffered from precipitous and continuing population declines, particularly from the 80s, although at a slower rate. Between 1994 and 2019 the population in Yorkshire and the Humber shrunk another 25%. Agricultural intensification, including use of pesticides depleting the insects and other invertebrates that parents feed chicks, and the reduction of winter stubbles supplying winter seeds are likely to underlie these declines.

Male Yellowhammer with photobombing St Mark's flies, Hornsea Railway track near Castle Hill, 10th May 2021.

Management

Management of local Yellowhammers would share features with Skylark, Linnet and Tree Sparrow and could include. 

• Maintenance of hedgerows in the edges of the city.
• Avoid pesticide use by cycle track margins to increase insect numbers in the summer
• Maintenance of grassland with some scrub in Noddle Hill only at times of year that minimise disturbance
• Farmland biodiversity supporting practices, which could include winter seed supplementation
• Retain remaining suitable habitat
• Surveys to monitor status

More information

Broughton, Richard K. Birds of the Hull Area.

Hart, J. D. et al. The relationship between yellowhammer breeding performance, arthropod abundance and insecticide applications on arable farmland. J. Appl. Ecol. 43, 81–91 (2006)

BBS Population trends graphs.

Top photo: A male Yellowhammer at Haggs Farm, Cottingham, 26 April 2015.