A warm, sunny day with no wind. I headed to North Ferriby to explore Redcliff. I parked at the end of Humber Road. Two hours after high tide, I expected the beach to be walkable. I checked the beach. There was a good expanse exposed. Ten Curlew fed at both sides of the steps. Two Common Sandpiper fluttered ahead along the beach.
Curlew.
Six of the Curlew.
The beach was muddy and I changed into my wellies. I had walked along this stretch of beach, which is part of the Wolds Way, in 2018, so I was expected to be in a similar condition. The Humber is changeable and the mud proved thicker and deeper than last time. The last 100 m I had to scramble on the sea wall. Scrambling on boulders with wet, muddy wellies isn't something I was planning this morning, and it was a relief to make it to Long Plantation.
Almost there!
A lady walking her dog that I met there told me that in the past there had been a footpath on the wall, but that it was blocked when someone bought the stretch of land in front of their garden. Not only bad for Wold Way walkers, but also for all the residents of North Ferriby, which can't enjoy the Humber Front any more.
Long Plantation.
The mist cleared as I got to Long Plantation, and it became much sunnier and warmer. Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters were plentiful. I descended the metal steps onto the beach. There is a broad band of saltmarsh, with plenty of Sea Aster, then a sandy beach by the cliff. I look for insects on the sunny cliff. There are some Field Digger Wasps carrying flies up to their burrows on the cliff. They struggle with the weight of the prey and some lost flies lie on the bottom of the burrows.
Ectemnius sp.
Male Field digger wasp, Mellinus arvensis.
Male Field digger wasp with prey, Mellinus arvensis.
A large female mining bee, possibly Andrena bicolor.
I move onto checking the patch of Sea Aster, the sweet scent of their flowers in the air, insects buzzing.
Helophilus pendulus.
Myathropa florea
Sea Aster bee.
This Eristalis (possibly arbustorum) makes for a good Colletes mimic.
The habitat looks ideal for a colony of Sea Aster bees, but in my first check, I find no nests. There are plenty of butterflies and I do a list, the most common, Small Tortoiseshells, but I see two or three Painted ladies and a Red Admiral and Speckled Wood. There are several buddleja clumps
Larinioides cornutus.
Small Tortoiseshell.
Painted Lady.
A colony of Sand Martins, but no birds in sight, maybe departed already?
There are also many Migrant hawkers and Common Darters feeding along the cliffs.
Common Darter.
Common Darter.
Female Migrant Hawker.
Southern Hawker by Brickyard lane.
Some location shots.
Chrysotoxum festivum.
A dead common shrew.
On a large tree trunk on the tide line I spot a wasp, it moves like a spider wasp, always wing flicking, searching every nook and cranny of the trunk. It is hard to take a photo of it but I manage a sharp one. It does look like a Pompilus cinereus, the leaden spider wasp, one of the commonest species.
Habitat shot of the Spider Wasp.
I walk a bit along Brickyard lane. The guttural calls of Great Black-backed gulls alert me to their presence, with a group loafing with other gulls on a spit ahead. There is a patch of reeds and Brickyard Lane is quite wooded. The view of Redcliff is beautiful (top shot).
It is very hot and still, I walk back along the beach, checking the cliff for bees. Just about 20 m from the metal steps by Long Plantation a SW facing cliff is buzzing with Colletes. There are females coming in and out of nest holes and males buzzing about. Are these Sea Aster bees or Ivy bees? They look very reddish, but I don't manage good photos of them.
The Colletes colony.
On one side a large patch of Sea Aster, on the other the suitable cliff.
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