Urban chicks

I couldn't find my bins this morning, and I thought I might have left them at work, so I changed my plans and walked to work instead, no bins. I walked to Oak Road. It was a sunny and a light wind westerly wind warm, but not as much as yesterday. I thought I'd try and document as much breeding as possible.

I peek over the bridge over the Barmston Drain at Beresford Avenue and there is a Coot on a nest with some young cootlings, but nearby there is a swimming chick. A photo reveals it is a Little grebe chick (I like to call them greblings). An adult appears and the chick starts begging. I try to take the path by the drain but it is too overgrown, the grass taller than me.

Little Grebe chick.

Adult Little Grebe and chick.

Coot and chicks.

I carry on towards the lake. The first young is a Magpie, but in the best surprise is that there is a duck on the lake that doesn't look like a Mallard...it's a Pochard with three medium sized ducklings (top shot and below). It is the first time that I see Pochards breeding in Hull.

The family climbs to a floating trunk to rest.

 

As I talk to someone on the river bank, a Mute Swan's head pops up from the grass: the Mute Swan family has gone for a trip to the river and are waiting to go back. I'm surprised they have done this. I've seen the cob walking back from the river, maybe there is not enough food in the lake. Sure people bring food for the swans, but there is little floating vegetation, the perimeter of the lake is mostly reeds, which may be too tough for the cygnets. In any case, the parents walk slowly and stop and watch attentively. Every time thry stop, the cygnets sit down for a rest. It must be quite an effort to walk the distance. I watch them as they return to the lake. The cob flaps its wings and flies/paddles to one end of the pond.

The parents watching from the edge of the river.

The parading family.

Reed Bunting in song.

Dragonflies

It is a great morning for dragonflies. On the lake there are two patrolling male Emperors and both stop eventually. A single Four Spotted Chaser is also about, and, for the first time ever, I see at least two male Black-tailed Skimmers on the fishing platforms. To complete the odonata list, a single female Banded Demoiselle and a couple of Blue-tailed Damselflies.

Black-tailed Skimmers.

Female Banded Demoiselle.

Four-spotted Chaser.

Male Emperor.

Butterflies

  

Red Admiral.

A comma licking salts from the edge of the pond.

My first Small Skipper of the year.

Although not in large numbers, Small Tortoiseshells seem the most common butterflies about.

To finish off, a Buzzard flying over as I walked home.

 

The first Chiffchaffs

I take a walk around Sculcoates and Oak Road Lake. Soon after arriving at Sculcoates park I spot a silent Chiffchaff (number 82 for the challenge). No Chiffchaffs singing at the Sculcoates cemetery either. It is a relatively short visit to the patch, as I soon move to Oak Road via Clough road. At Oak Road, two Chiffchaffs sing, it is prime habitat there for them. After the Lesser Black-backed gulls, which are all around now, the Chiffchaffs are often the second migrants to arrive. The young Mute Swans have all fledged, only the territorial pair left at Oak Road Lake. Suddenly, the cob swan flies off, I presume over to the river, and it is a bit odd to see the pen left on her own. I watch her for a while and then spot the cob walking down the river flood bank, muddy and tired. He finally makes it to the water and joins his mate. I wonder if he was unable to find a good take off point? In any case, all is well, they then drink together and swim along, without much more greeting.

Mute Swan cob returning to the lake on foot.

Chiffchaff.

One of the nine Tufted Ducks at Oak Road Lake.

A Carrion Crow rising to mob a Sparrowhawk.

Greenfinch.

A male Anthophora plumipes, the first I manage to photograph.

Oak Road lake, River Hull and Bransholme reservoir

This is one of my favourite walks in Hull, along the River Hull from Oak Road to Reich Carter Way bridge. It is also very diverse, today's bird list tally was 46. The river meanders gently along, with green spaces on one side or the other. The fringing reed beds and occasional willows make the river floodbank more interesting. A Song Thrush is feeding near the wardens office at Oak Road playing fields. I walk around Oak Road Lake. A flock of Siskins are in the alders. There seem to be fewer Siskin about than last winter, where they were all around Hull. I join the river bank, the tide is quite high.

Song Thrush

A Cormorant and a Grey Heron were at Oak Road Lake.

Siskin.

The mute swan family with five cygnets.

Grey Heron.

One of the playing fields is flooded, and a flock of Canada Geese are making the best of it.

Reed Bunting at Ennerdale.

A flying Kestrel sent a flock of Goldfinches flying, but instead of flying away, they followed the Kestrel and some perched very close to it.

The resident pair of Buzzards were at the cycle track, each on its own lam post.

Some distant Gadwall (65) at the reservoir.

And good numbers of Teal (66)

Shoveler.

Moorhen.

Grey Wagtail (67) by the River Hull.

I reach the bridges and then return on the other side of the river, and from Oak Road I walk home for my well earned lunch, a total of 16 km walked

A Dunnock with some pox in its bill.

Grey Heron.

New Mistletoe clumps at Haworth House grounds.

Redwing.

Sunny walk around Oak Road lake

A sunny, warm morning, I head towards Oak Road, hoping to see if the swans have cygnets. I briefly pop in the Barmston Drain at Beresford avenue, but is a very spiky and almost impregnable jungle of nettles, creeping thistle and hogweed, so I soon have to turn round. A very old and faded Small Tortoishell basks near the Oak Road playground. The water around the lake is high, but has receded enough so that the south path is walkable without wellies. I walk slowly hoping not to flush insects basking in the sunny side of the wood. I'm not disappointed, a fresh Broad-bodied Chaser, and then another are basking and hunting by the path (top shot). Later, in the same area, a Banded Demoiselle. Blue-tailed Damselflies and Azures complete the dragonfly list. There are plenty of the later two, which bodes well for the year at Oak Road. 

I start walking counterclockwise around the pond when a sound stops me in my tracks, a Marsh Frog, unmistakably calling from near the metal bench. I take some recordings and try to spot it, but it is in the reedbed and I can't see it. Another one is calling from the other side of the pond, and a Cetti's Warbler joins in. Hard to think that we are not at Tophill Low!

Broad-bodied Chaser.

Azure Damselfly.

Mating Blue-tailed Damselflies.

Donacia clavipes a beetle inhabiting reed beds.

The swans have indeed cygnets, eight altogether and they are taking them to food. I meet a dog walker on the river bank taking a detour from the lake footpath after the cob threatening display by his cygnets.

The damp areas around the pond are good habitat for the Slender Groundhopper.

The swan family.

This was the final surprise of the morning, a Banded Demoiselle basking on the south side of the wood.