I take the X7 bus to Winestead from the station. There are sunny spells and no rain forecast, but on a whim I take my coat. As I alight, a Swallow lands on a wire holding some nesting material. The theme of today's birds is breeding, there are nervous birds alarming near their nest, birds carrying food to chicks and nest building birds, birds mobbing nest predators, and also many birds singing. I explore Winestead's St Germain's Church grounds, which stands away from the village in the middle of a field, surrounded by mature trees. On my way out, in a corner with longer grass, I find some Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers. A Hare runs across a grassy field in the distance.
Swallow with nesting material.
St Germain's church and grounds.
As I walk north by Winestead Lane, it starts spotting and then a drizzle settles in. I'm so glad I took my raincoat. Fortunately, it doesn't last long. The landscape is slightly undulating, with the higher ground often holding copses and plantations. Winestead also had several Halls: White Hall, Red Hall (not demolished) and Winestead Hall, meaning that these halls grounds and woods increas the area's tree cover. Arable and plenty of hedges make the rest, with some paddocks near the villages. The villages today are made of scattered houses, often clumped around one of the halls and extending over a large area. The lane is busy, with tractors, lorries carrying pigs and carrs back and forth.
Linnet near Winestead Hall.
Whitethroat singing.
Red-legged Partridges. I am still to take a photo of Grey Partridges, I flushed two today not long after this.
Lesser Marsh Grasshopper.
Linnets.
A passing Sparrowhawk.
In a strip of fallow land by a cornfield, a Skylark sung high up, while another on the ground, with a beak full of food, looked nervously around.
Not far off there were two Hares.
I get to the east end of Halsham. It is another disperse, and elongated village, with a west and an east side connected by North Road and Southside Road and a network of footpaths. The church is in the Northwestern corner, near Halsham Grange and the Constable Mausoleum. A man is mowing the verges on a large mower at Southside Lane. On a paddock, a Pied Wagtail and a Blackbird find food, whilst a Greenfinch sings from the trees and two Swallows fly overhead.
Female Blackbird enjoying the worm glut after the rain.
Swallow.
A tiny Rabbit shakes the water from its paws.
A distant shot of a female Yellowhammer with a beak full of food.
The hedges look lush after the last rains after a dry spring. I spend some time paying attention to the bushes making the hedge: hawthorn, dogwood, ash, elder, elm, field maple and the occasional alder.
I'm pleased to find the shiny, heart-shaped leaves of a Black Bryony on a hedge. This is a twining perennial climber found on woodland edges and hedgerows, which produces bright red berries in October. It is not a common species in East Yorkshire.
Robin with food.
I make a lunch stop by the road. There are a couple of benches and a good view of the fields. Rooks caw and move between the fields and a paddock with ponies. A Kestrel flies over. Young Goldfinches hassle their parents for food. I take a right at the end of Southside Lane. There are some fishing lakes, where I spot a Blue-tailed Damselfly.
Rook.
Goldfinch fledgling.
Blue-tailed Damselfly.
As the sun shines, there are quite a lot of Small Tortoisehells about.
As to mark 'visited a village' I have decided I have to visit the church, I make my way to all Saint's Church in Halsham. It requires some verge walking on the very busy North Road connecting Hedon and Withernsea. I doubt anyone walks there. A Buzzard is mobbed by crows, a herring gull and rooks.
The Constable family Mausoleum. It was built on a small rise, which turned out to be a tumulus containing skeletons and urns with copper coins. Some contents of the tumulus
are now in Burton Constable.
Buzzard.
Buzzard mobbed by a yelling Rook.
Singing Robin.
A crop footpath leading to Ottringham north end.
Pied Wagtail.
House Martin.
As I get to Ottringham, House Martins chirrup above. Then a group of around 8 land and start collecting mud from a roadside muddy rut. I take some photos against the sun, and I move on to get a better angle. Unfortunately, a van parks in that very spot, depriving me of photos and of mud to the House Martins.
House Martins collecting mud.
I'm lucky that the bus is due soon, so I can take the X7 again, which has a more direct route back to Hull.
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