It's been a while since I've done a Holderness walk so today I decided to go to Withernsea. I didn't have a walk in mind, but I had realised that there was just one record in the national database for grasshoppers and bush-crickets in the Withernsea area, to be precise, just one Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, in 1991 no less. Although it was pretty windy, it was sunny and mild in the morning so I got the X7 to Withernsea and got there at 9 am. My first location was in the north of the town, just by the last bus stop at Seathorne Road, on land that used to be a caravan park, but now is a grassy, open green space. Part of it is mowed, but it has plenty of long grass and sunny paths. A few minutes in I found my first Lesser Marsh, grasshopper. I took the bat detector out, and both Roesel's and Long-winged Coneheads were singing. I managed to get a photo of a pair of Roesel's and Long-Winged Coneheads, males calling, females basking.
High tide is a couple of hours away, so I walk down to the beach and find some Field Grasshoppers on the cliff just by the steps. I take a short walk along the beach, northwards, checking the accessible, more grassy cliffs and recording some dune plants, before turning back.
Sand Hopper
After a quick coffee at the Castle Cafe, interrupted by a Sparrowhawk swooping on the sparrows, I explore the Millennium Green and the Withernsea railway trail. Then I realise that Hollym is not far, just following the railway trail, so I carry on. Three Kestrels, I presume a family, hover and fly with the wind, sometimes very close to the ground when flying against it. I'm quickly at Hollym and catch my bus back at 12:45. It was a short walk today, but I managed 16 grasshoppers and bush-cricket records of four species.
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