Hull City Nature Challenge - Day 3 - KC Stadium railway triangle, Noddle Hill

I got nice and early and I was ready to go, only to realise I had stupidly forgotten to charge my phone overnight, which meant waiting for half an hour for it to charge before leaving the house. My plan was to head to the KC stadium triangle via the General Cemetery, then to Albert Dock. Not encouragingly it was cloudy and drizzling intermittently. 

I love to record Convalaria majalis, it reminds me of my mum, one of her favourite plants! Small and beautifully formed.

I was up for a lovely surprise as I hadn't even got inside the cemetery when I heard the song of a Treecreeper. This species can be very hit and miss, despite being resident at the cemetery. I recorded the song and then even managed a few record shots. A good start for the day!

I found a great illustration of rewilding at the cemetery (top shot), the Ivy and the Sycamores hugging a headstone, with the lush growth of Cow Parsley on the ground. But must concentrate on recording.

After a good search, I managed a single individual of Discus rotundatus under a log. They don't seem to be doing well, maybe the dry summer and autumn has meant their hiding spaces have declined. The cemetery is one of their hotspots in Hull.

The Wood Anemone, its last flowers all ragged, was hard to find, hidden by the incredible plant growth on the cemetery verges.

I moved to the KC stadium triangle, my aims were Rabbit, Kestrel and Long Tailed Tits, which had evaded me so far.

Rabbit was pretty easy, I found a young one right away, feeding with relish on the fresh growth of Giant Hogweed!

Giant Hogweed on the foreground and KC stadium on the background.

A carpet of Cowslips.

I briefly saw a Kestrel, but it didn't reappear and I got no record.

A view of the site from the mound, currently a Rabbit warren.

Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Whitethroats were singing. The scrubby area by the railway line was favoured by Linnets and a singing Sedge Warbler, which I failed to see.

Singing Linnet.

Singing Song Thrush.

The Long-tailed tits were very busy moving back and forth between a patch of brambles and some Sycamores, obviously feeding chicks. I failed to take any photos of them and they were quiet so sound recording wasn't an option. After a long wait, I decided to try and find the nest. I pointed my binoculars to the area where they were getting into the brambles, and luckily found it right away as the nest opening was facing me. My camera zoomed in to the entrance, it was a matter of waiting for an adult to return to get a photo. The Long-tailed Tits nest is very distinctive, so it alone could have made a record. After getting some photos, I left the Long-tailed tits to their busy feeding schedule and moved on. 

Long-tailed tit entering the nest with food.

The beautifully camouflaged, lichen-covered nest.

This Rabbit posed for me for a while.

Male Linnet collecting nest material.

My phone charge was getting low, so I headed back for lunch and a battery recharge at home via Princes Avenue. I made a stop at the Church on the Way to record some ferns, which were looking very fresh.

Wall Rue

Hart's tongue fern.

Maidenhair Spleenwort.

I was meeting MM after lunch for a trip to Noddle Hill Local Nature Reserve. I have blogged quite a bit about this wonderful suburban reserve, a haven for warblers. Blackcaps, Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats and Willow Warblers were recorded quickly, as was this Yellow-bellied Slider swimming in the pond.

Roe Deer.

I wanted to record Tree Sparrows, but the hedge at the pumping station where I usually find them up to two months ago had been completely removed. The removal of the hedge revealed these three old nest boxes, one of them without a roof. To my knowledge, this was the last area where Tree Sparrows nested in Hull. The species is Red Listed, and also in the Biodiversity Action Plan of Hull. We can't even give them a hedge and some decent nest boxes, so sad.

Reed Bunting.

Raptor wise we had Kestrels, two Buzzards and two Marsh Harrier flyovers, a species I wasn't expecting to add to the challenge. Yellowhammers are regular there but we missed them too.

Buzzard.

Marsh Harrier.

We walked on the north side of the reserve, and flushed a Fox without getting a photo, a Little Egret flew past and after an enjoyable chat with a very knowledgeable local, we managed a recording of a singing Cetti's Warbler. A nice bunch of species added to the challenge.

Early spring at KC stadium railway triangle

 

An early morning walk to KC stadium, it had been a while since my last visit. It was cloudy and still quite cold, so no invertebrates out. There was nobody on site and Rabbits were on evidence. The Cowslips were putting a wonderful display (if you ignore the litter!).

Rabbit

A Kestrel was hunting over the grassland, then sat on a tree.

Hovering Kestrel.

A female Linnet collecting nest material.

Cowslips.

Song Thrush. There was a Song Thrush contest, with three males singing at the same time.

These pointy, large pellets looked more roe deer than rabbit.

The Giant Hogweed is sprouting vigorously.

I make a mental note of visiting on a sunny afternoon.

Sculcoates, KC Stadium railway triangle, Jack Kaye field and Hull Speckled Bush-crickets

After the session with the Speckled Bush-crickets in the Makro site and St Andrews Quay on Friday with the bat detector, I decided to check for them in several spots around Hull with suitable habitat. Although I thought it was a long shot, I know they are under-recorded, as research by the BTO has revealed. First, they are quite inactive during the day, resting motionless on the vegetation, sometimes high up. Second, their calls are very high-pitched, in the ultrasound range, at 40 kHz, almost as high-pitched as a Common Pipistrelle. The bat-detector converts their call into an audible signal, which is reminiscent of the regular 'click' of an electric fence. Third, they are superbly camouflaged, I seem unable to spot them, even when they are calling really close to me!

Until Friday I had been setting the bat detector to 25 khz, which picks both coneheads and Roesel's, but will likely miss the Speckled. I became determined to check for them across Hull.

Yesterday, I started the search at the Sculcoates patch, which has plenty of bramble patches. I pointed the bat detector to each bit of bramble with a sunny aspect I could get close to. I hit patch gold quickly, just by the Beverley and Barmston Drain, just south of the railway line. It was a faint signal, and I listened for a while to make sure it wasn't my imagination, but no, the Specked Bush-cricket signal was persistent and associated to a particular spot, and appeared to come from a single individual, possibly from the other side of a hedge of brambles atop the drain. Exciting, Speckled in the patch! 

I then moved to the North Sculcoates Cemetery. The chugging of the Long-winged Coneheads was very loud in the meadow, and after pointing the bat detector to several big, south facing patches of bramble with no result, I was about to give in. Then I saw the large privet in the middle of the meadow. Worth a try. I'm glad I did, as I got a Speckled signal, loud and clear on the area directly in front of the sun, also, a single individual. Despite appearing to be very close, again, no luck seeing the insect. Still, I was quite chuffed and got a nice record of the call.

Africa Gómez · Speckled n cem Sculcoates.m4a

Yesterday after lunch, I visited the KC Stadium railway triangle. It wasn't warm at all, but there was high cloud and the Long-winged Coneheads and Roesel's were calling. I spent a while around the brambles on the far end, but hit a blank with the Speckled: nothing.

Jack Kaye Field

Today, my plan was the Jack Kaye field, which has plenty of apparently suitable habitat. Again, brief sunny spells and cool weather. Long-winged Coneheads and Roesel's were calling, and there were plenty of invertebrates to keep me going but, again, no Speckled calls. 

There was no hesitation by this female Araneus quadratus at Jack Kaye Fields when a wasp bumped onto her web. It was swiftly wrapped up in silk and immobilised. Note the little glue dropplets in the silk threads.

Perks of staring at brambles looking for bush-crickets: Three sightings of Spiked Shieldbug three days in a row, I had never recorded them in Hull, now records at KC stadium triangle, Makro site and Jack Kaye Fields. Two individuals together on one occasion, at Jack Kaye three of them. It is a large, predatory shield-bug with pointy 'shoulders', which curiously communicates with substrate vibrations.

Three Spiked Shieldbugs in the same area.

A female Roesel's with only one hindleg.

A pair of basking Long-winged Coneheads on a tree trunk.

Male Long-winged Conehead.

Male Roesel's calling.

I returned home via Ella Street and the public footpath behind Ella Street and Victoria Avenue. There were some patches of ivy, cherry and some bramble over a fence facing the sun (top shot), and as I pointed the bat detector at the vegetation I realised I was standing in front of another surprise Speckled Bush-cricket colony, this time several individuals were calling, one of them very close (recording with bat detector here: https://on.soundcloud.com/czHUS ). Although I got no sightings today, I was very pleased with the detection rate so far.

Dispersal

I was talking about dispersal of this flightless species in the post yesterday. The Makro site is on the site of old railway sidings and very close to the A63 and the railway line. The two sites at Sculcoates are metres away from the Hull and Barmsley railway line, and Ella Street backs onto the Hull and Barnsley line too.  Railway lines and the scrubby vegetation growing alongside, with plenty of bramble, makes a perfect dispersal corridor for this species, and I will prioritise surveying along railway lines for now.

Hull Railway Triangles: KC stadium triangle in August

A sunny hour in the afternoon, mainly looking for Roesel's crickets, a species that had been found in this site a few weeks ago. There were plenty of Lesser Marsh grasshoppers, Chorthippus albomarginatus, and just the one Common Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus, but to start with, no luck with the Roesel's.

Lesser Marsh grasshopper, green and straw morph.

Lesser Marsh grasshopper, straw morph.

We saw a number of Common Blue Butterflies, about 8, mostly on a bank with plenty of Bird's Foot Trefoil. A mating pair fluttered and settled.

Mating Common Blue Butterflies.

Female feeding on Bird's Foot Trefoil.

Male Common Blue Butterfly.

The area with Bird's Foot trefoil.

Not far, I spotted this cool bug on the grass. It is Aelia acuminata aka Bishop's Mitre Shieldbug. A very distinctive species which has recently moved across the Humber, and it is still scarce, so this is only the 4th VC61 record in iRecord.

Meadow Brown.

I decided to stay for another circuit, and I'm glad I did as a Roesel's female jumped onto the path. I refound it on the grass on the side of the path, a nice end to the very hot session.

Oedemera nobilis, female.

The grassland is looking more parched than in June, but there are still flowering Knapweed.