The last Wetland Bird Survey of the year, morning high tide at the River Hull. It is very frosty and it is a picturesque walk to Scott Street Bridge, the sun shining weakly amongts the clouds, trees, bushes and grass dusted in ice crystals.
Near Liddle Street Park
The first surprise of the day is a little grebe, that flies towards Drypool Bridge, new species for the survey.
Little Grebe.
I'm very pleased that the Black-tailed Godwit is staying, another new species for the survey.
It is not a very high tide, and three Redshank are already feeding around the mudflats, one of them following the Curlew, which is also feeding.
Redshank taking ragworm to the water.
The Curlew paused briefly for a photo.
Another surprise, a Dunlin with the Redshank roost at the sea wall by The Deep.
This Robin sat on the frosty railing opposite The Deep.
And last, but not least, I was finally rewarded in my scan of the gulls atop Princes Quay with a Mediterranean Gull, is it the same that has visited in previous years? Could be, but this one had a metal ring, too distant to read. This makes species number 102 for the Local Big Year, and probably will be the final species. A Woodcock flying over Queens Gardens was also nice.
Ringed Mediterranean Gull with Black-headed Gull.
2 comments:
Fine picture of the Redshanks and Dunlin on the geometric background, like a Tunnicliffe painting.
Maybe the Little Grebe turned up because it had escaped from a freezing pond.
Thank you Ralph. I think you are right, these very cold days I keep finding birds out of place, this very muddy stretch of the river would not really be a good habitat for a Little Grebe, but they can be seen regularly upstream near frozen reservoirs and in the large drains of Hull.
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