Holderness: Aldbrough, East Carlton, West Carlton, Tansterne, Flinton, Etherdwick

The day was bright, cool and with forecast showers, which materialised at midday. I got bus 24 to Hornsea and waited for bus 129 by St Nicholas Church. At Aldbrough, Swallows and Swifts circle above, but I don't linger too much. I take Carlton Lane towards the hamlets of East and West Carlton. The lane runs on the edge of the Lambwath Valley, by fields of oilseed rape and wheat, with a few paddocks. A copse at East Carlton is noisy with Rook fledglings calling parents. Both hamlets are little more than a farm and a cottage. At West Carlton, I turn left towards Tansterne, where a large biomass power station apparently sits unused and incongruous on the landscape. A pond amongst trees mirrors the sky (top shot) as menacing dark clouds travel from the south. 

Female Greenfich.

Tansterne Biomass Power station.

East Carlton Farm.

Young Rook at the Rookery and East Carlton.

Linnets were looking at their best today.

Carlton Manor at West Carlton.

Just after leaving behind West Carlton I hear an unfamiliar song, it's a Yellow Wagtail, singing atop a lone still mostly bare ash. I find two more males before getting to Tansterne, with Reed Buntings and Chaffinches on the hedges. Tansterne feels more like a proper hamlet. Chickens and Greylag Geese with goslings share a yard by a pond. It is starting to drizzle, and I walk faster towards Flinton. 

Yellow Wagtail.

Another Yellow Wagtail.

Reed Bunting.

A resident of Tansterne Grange.

Buzzard.

Yellowhammer.

It is now raining steadily. Coincidentally, I come across a disused bus shelter on the crossing at Flinton. Not having a churyard to visit, and given the weather, I sit out (stand out) the rain and have my lunch in the bus shelter. Soon enough the cloud passes and we get some sunny spells. The rest of the walk is on a main busy road with uncut verges and hedges reducing visibility. I power on towards Etherdwick and Aldbrough. As I walk, I notice a male Yellowhammer on the verge, shuffling towards the road. I manage to stop it. It appears to be stunned, maybe hit by a car. Otherwise appearing unharmed, I leave it by the hedge and wish it luck. It probably has young in the nest nearby. 

Looking back towards Flinton, bus shelter on the left.

Yellowhammer.

Meadow Pipit carrying food.

Sand Martins at Etherdwick.

I look at the timetable and I think I can make the next bus to Hornsea, but I end up missing it by a couple of minutes. Which means I have to get the bus to Withernsea an hour later. I wait it out with a coffee in the entrance of Aldbrough church, watching the Swallows and Rooks.

Swallow.

Jackdaw.

Rook.

Greenfinch feeding on dandelion heads.