A sunny, mild day with barely a breeze, I join the Hull Natural History Society's monthly trip. Today is Stone Creek (a.k.a Stoney Creek). This is a small, sheltered creek off the Humber, where several main drains enter the estuary: Keyingham, Ottringham and Sunk Island drains are the main ones. We get there with the tide still quite low. Boats are moored on the mud. Redshank, Curlew and a few Black-headed Gulls are on the creek. The Humber mudflats dotted with waders and Shelduck, stretch far in the distance.
We decide to walk West to have the sun on our backs. I find a tiny ladybird on the grass by the footpath.
24 spot ladybird
The grass is pushed in spot along the path and we wonder who could have made this.
On the footpath we see evidence of Mole, Rabbit and one of the party spots a Field Vole. A Roe Deer runs across the fields. Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers.
We finally get to a kink in the floodbank that marks the start of Cherry Cobb sands. Here the saltmarsh is even wider, stretching to the horizon. We make a stop for lunch overlooking a pool. Large container ships move along the Humber. A group of Roe Deer grazes on the marsh. A Little Egret flies over, calling its piratical sounding 'arrgh!'. A Yellowhammer sings behind us, shining from atop the hawthorn hedge.
We get back to the creek. There is a group of Teal on the mud. Two Grey Herons appear to be flushed by a large truck and they land by Keyingham Drain.
Grey Herons
One of the members guides us to a wall where they saw lizards last year. Just before I climb the stile I scan the marsh, a Short-eared Owl! We watch it flying over the marsh, the Grimsby Tower in the horizon. Then someone spots Common Seals while watching the owl. It is a fitting end to the day to end up watching the seals, perched on the edge of the creek, with the Short-eared Owl flying above them.
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