Holderness: Ottringham, Sunk Island and Stone Creek

I take the bus to Ottringham, where I start of the walk. The walk is on very flat, exposed terrain so a bright day with little wind seemed ideal for it. Ottringham I didn't mind repeat visiting and the wide open never ending fields and straight roads paid off with some nice migrants. Swallows are back at Ottringham too. Soon after leaving the village a Buzzard was soaring, then a few minutes later it flew over carrying a vole. I visited Sunk Island and Stone Creek in 2018, during my walking the Humber series, where I wrote about the strange history of the island and its name. It is a massive area, reclaimed from the Humber and therefore very flat with the land virtually all devoted to intensive arable. In a field where wheat is starting to grow, three Lapwing are dispersed, one of them looking like it's making a scrape. Two Shelduck and a Little Egret flies over. The road is lined with trees, which add some shade and interest. I cross the North Channel and the Sunk Island drain and I am now on the island.

Herring Gulls at Ottringham Church.

Swallow at Ottringham

Buzzard with Field Vole prey.

Lapwing making a scrape?

Looking west along Marsh Drain from Ottringham Drain.

The North Channel.

We are now in Sunk Island.

Shortly after 'crossing' onto the island I spot a bird on a glowing rapeseed field, a Whinchat! On the same field there is a Reed Bunting. I plough along the straight road, not even trees or hedges along it. Sunk Island village is made up of a church and a school at a crossroads, with farms spread across the island. Although Stone Creek is just a boating compound on an inlet at one end of Sunk Island, I decide it adds to the interest of the walk, as I will have lunch by the Humber.  I popped into the Churchyard and record some plants and bees. The Rookery is noisy and Jackdaws fly overhead. I turn right at the crossroads and head towards Stone Creek. Yellowhammers call 'zit' from the hedges. A female and then a male Marsh Harriers quarted over the fields. As I get to Stone Creek, on the coastguard cottages I spot a Tree Sparrow. Sadly, Iit's been a while in the Holderness series that I've seen one. I sit down on one of the compound ramps to a boat and watch the Teal, Redshank and Curlew feeding on the creek. A Grey Plover arrives, landing quite close to me. A Marsh Harrier, then a Kestrel flies along the saltmarsh. Before I leave, I scan the distant saltmarsh and mudflats for seals and I see three, quite distant and hard to photograph with the heat haze, most likely Common Seals. The highlights of the way back is a Wheatear and a Corn Bunting, both on the same field of the Lapwings, just by the garden centre. I am quite happy with today's migrants. I do some recording around the bus stop at Ottringham and I head back home, after a total of about 22 km walked.

Whinchat.

Reed Bunting.

Large Rapeseed field.

At a crossroads.

Holy Trinity Church at Sunk Island.

Marsh Harrier.

Male Marsh Harrier.

Male Marsh Harrier.

Tree Sparrow.

I surprised this female pheasant and she just crouched there, not moving.

Teal.

Curlew.

Grey Plover.

Redshank.

A very fuzzy photos of three common seals. Not helped by the heat haze over the saltmarsh.

Reed Bunting.

Little Egret.

Linnets

Yellowhammer.

Wheatear.

A surprise Corn Bunting on the edge of the Wheatear and Lapwing field.

 

The Outstrays with Hull Nats

An irregular drizzle followed us most of the day in our visit to the Outstrays, a managed realigment site on the easternmost field of Sunk Island (read about the reclamation of Sunk Island in a previous post). We have parked on the Outstrays farm, then make our way to the pumping station. We can see some scrapes developed on the other side of the drain, which are busy with waders and gulls. A Wheatear is seen atop a mound of soil.

Saltmarsh has developed on much of the surface  of the realigned land (top shot), and we spend some time identifying the saltmarsh plants. A strange, harsh call, almost like a water rail rose from the edge of the marsh. Two Whimbrels then called their wonderful ringing call, rising. Shelduck, Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Redshank fed on the ebbing tide. Cormorants dried their wings from driftwood. I flush a Short-eared Owl, and it flies away, then drops on the marsh.

Mute Swans.

Avocet on the new scrape.

Whimbrel.

Redshank, Dunlin and Ringed Plover.

Sea Lavender.

A view of the saltmarsh.

After a while, we notice that the odd lump in the middle of the saltmarsh is actually a beached whale (see top shot). We try to make sense of the carcass, we discuss if it could be a baleen whale given the shape of the mouth, but we don't make much progress on this. The only recent stranding we've heard of is up to 5 male Sperm Whales near Spurn, Skeffling and Cleethorpes.

My best shot of the stranded whale. We can't get any closer as there is a deep gully on the way. I think the mouth is on the right, and a fin can be seen in the middle.

The Devil's Coachman, Ocypus olens.

Roe Deer.

We walk to the meridian monument and then take a path to the edge of the marsh, looking for the shelly beach. Although we don't find it, we have the chance of comparing the flora of both sites and spot some excavated nests that could be those of the Sea Aster bee on the side of a short muddy ledge. And just before leaving the site, probably the same Short-eared Owl flies over, giving me a chance for a few photos.

Short-eared Owl.

Stone Creek with Hull Nats

A sunny, mild day with barely a breeze, I join the Hull Natural History Society's monthly trip. Today is Stone Creek (a.k.a Stoney Creek). This is a small, sheltered creek off the Humber, where several main drains enter the estuary: Keyingham, Ottringham and Sunk Island drains are the main ones. We get there with the tide still quite low. Boats are moored on the mud. Redshank, Curlew and a few Black-headed Gulls are on the creek. The Humber mudflats dotted with waders and Shelduck, stretch far in the distance.

We decide to walk West to have the sun on our backs. I find a tiny ladybird on the grass by the footpath.

24 spot ladybird

The grass is pushed in spot along the path and we wonder who could have made this.

On the footpath we see evidence of Mole, Rabbit and one of the party spots a Field Vole. A Roe Deer runs across the fields. Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers.

Roe Deer.

Shelduck.

Linnet

We finally get to a kink in the floodbank that marks the start of Cherry Cobb sands. Here the saltmarsh is even wider, stretching to the horizon. We make a stop for lunch overlooking a pool. Large container ships move along the Humber. A group of Roe Deer grazes on the marsh. A Little Egret flies over, calling its piratical sounding 'arrgh!'. A Yellowhammer sings behind us, shining from atop the hawthorn hedge.

Oncoming Little Egret

We return via the road, getting to it by a path flanked by a hedgerow and a line of Alders. The Alders look almost like bonsais, gnarled and compact, they are very exposed and probably take a good share of hard weather.

The path of the Alders.

We get back to the creek. There is a group of Teal on the mud. Two Grey Herons appear to be flushed by a large truck and they land by Keyingham Drain.

Grey Herons

A strange sight is a Red-legged Partridge atop a hedge.

Keyingham Drain.

Teal

One of the members guides us to a wall where they saw lizards last year. Just before I climb the stile I scan the marsh, a Short-eared Owl! We watch it flying over the marsh, the Grimsby Tower in the horizon. Then someone spots Common Seals while watching the owl. It is a fitting end to the day to end up watching the seals, perched on the edge of the creek, with the Short-eared Owl flying above them.

Short-eared Owl

Common Seals