A walk to East Park in November

 

A walk to East Park in calm, mild conditions, with occasional showers, which explained the wonderful full rainbow over the Beverley and Barmston drain at Sculcoates. Walking along Stoneferry Road, the sun shining, I check the old building where the Kestrels like to bask and the male is there, in his little south facing alcove.

Male Kestrel.

However, the best raptor sighting today happens shortly after, when a male Sparrowhawk dashes by me like a shadow, and flies around above a front garden, where some House Sparrows were feeding on a bird feeder. The sparrows seem to have hid in a bush and the Sparrowhawk flies over the bush and then lands on the roof. I'm out of sight of it, behind a tree, and I get closer. There it is, what a sight! I take some photos, I'm barely moving, the Sparrowhawk is too focused on House Sparrows to notice me. I always count myself lucky to watch a Sparrowhawk at close quarters, what stunning birds they are!

Male Sparrowhawk.

The view of Rockford Fields.

There is a group of mixed gulls on the model boating lake, one of the Black-headed Gulls is ringed. TC68 gull from a Polish ringing scheme. Update: This was TC68 first recovery, gull ringed as an adult May 2021 at a breeding colony in Wymysłowo, nothern Poland.

The pair of a family of three Mute Swans. Between 9 and 13 individuals were present, I could have double counted this family as they were mobile. On the eastern side of the lake there was a family of four. No signs of the Black Swan. After yesterday's sad news at Oak Road it was nice to see so many Mute Swans at the park.

The only Pochard seen today.

I was surprised to see a young crow still begging (note the red mouth), presumably to one of its parents. It was mostly feeding on its own near the adult, but it couldn't resist begging when the adult got a worm.

Three Mute Swans were enticed out of the water by a passer by. Fortunately they all returned safe and well shortly after I took their photo.

A single Great Crested Grebe was near the Zoo island. A Little Grebe was on the central island.

Great Crested Grebe.

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There were half a dozen Shovelers at the lake today, this one moved away from the others, quietly quacking.

As I approached the bridge, a line of alert Goosanders stood out of the water, a most unusual occurrence, as they often rest on the islands. The reason became clear shortly after: the Great Crested Grebe was chasing them and attacking them on air and under water. One chased drake Goosander escaped by running on the water at full speed, wings closed, like a speed boat, really awesome to watch! Goosanders are river birds in the breeding season and are powerful swimmers. The speed of a duckling running upstream can be seen on the video linked here. I'm not sure why this Great Crested Grebe was so territorial, but defending their area from other fish-eating birds seems a possible explanation.

A line of alert Goosanders.

The aggressive Great Grested Grebe chasing over water.

Drake Goosander.

One of the Goosanders out of the water. This is a 1st winter male, note the black feathers growing at the margin of the brown neck.

The cycle/pedestrian track to Hornsea (also part of the Trans Pennine trail).