Wild at Hull: mammals

Showing posts with label mammals. Show all posts

Tuesday, 3 August 2021

Urban birding at Hull: Sculcoates week 31

A sunny day with a light breeze. I get to the patch at 8:35. I did my usual route, via Adderbury Grove, then Sculcoates Park, Stepney, Barmston Drain, Abbey Way, Sculcoates Cemetery, Air Street Cemetery, Wilcolmlee, Wilmington Bridge, Bankside, then back via the cycle lane. At the end I made a stop at a small patch of brownfield at the end of Temple Street (top shot).

Some Swifts are still on the area. The tide is low and I flush a Cormorant on the river. The gulls appear to have mostly fledged and the adults seem to have calmed down. A single lesser Black-backed gull mobs me for a few minutes over the drain.

The duck family still complete with 8 grown ducklings. I always find them in the same area. Here, in a line wading through the thick carpet of duckweed.

A Song thrush sunbathing at the Sculcoates Cemerery

There are a number of butterflies on the wing today and I did lists in several areas of the 1 k square. I ended up with a grand total of 14 species today.

Comma on buddleja.

Gatekeeper, the most numerous butterfly today.

Small Skipper.

Common Blue Butterfly.

Small Copper on a small patch of brownfield (top shot).

As for mammals, I spotted a Red Fox dozing on a sunny bank where I saw the three foxes a couple of weeks ago. I was hoping to leave it alone, but unfortunately, it left as it saw me.

A dead Bank Vole, probably victim of a cat.

Sadly, another dead mammal for the list, a road killed hedgehog at Sculcoates Lane, by the drain.

Flies. At Abbey Way I found a fresh Myathropa florea.

I was pleased to find a large Traveller's Joy, Clematis vitalba, in full bloom and took a closer photo of the flowers, only to discover later a Volucella zonaria feeding on them. This is a cropped photo.

Volucella zonaria on Traveller's joy.

Today brought the Odonata list to 9 species, as I had the first Common Darters in the patch. I will keep a close eye on willow emeralds in the next few weeks.

There were many Migrant Hawkers about, in the Air street cemetery there was a group of five feeding together, their milky eyes indicating that they are immature individuals. I followed this one until it perched on a lime tree. A Brown Hawker was in the same area of the drain as last week.

A pretty tachinid fly, Eriothrix rufomaculata. Several were feeding on ragwort with the ever-present Marmalade fly, Episyrphus balteatus.

Monday, 29 August 2016

Spurn trip: Day 2. Walk to the point

The highlight of our trip to Spurn was the walk to the point and back. This 15 km round trip was greatly aided by the weather, sunny, warm and with a light breeze, which was much appreciated, as out of the breeze it was really hot. We started at the B&B, which made the walk a bit longer, but it was nice not to have to drive at all.

We started the walk at 9:30, with a young robin sunbathing and yawning.

By the Crown and Anchor we watched a couple of Turnstones.

Crickets and grasshoppers were singing. I still need to identify this one.

Just after the Warren, we saw a Brown Argus...

...and the Unimog taking people to the lighthouse.

This is the area occasionally breached at high tide, the narrows, looking north. Most of the way to the point was at the low tide, with expansive horizons of exposed sandy beach.

Roe Deer prints near the lighthouse.

fox prints?

After what it felt a long while, the lighthouse towered over us.

A Common Seal resting by the surf.

We had a picnic at the point proper, and then walked around the point.

A Grey Seal watching us.

Common Tern at the point.

A seal pup with a puncture would on its neck.

one of the kids found this porpoise skeleton.

Most of the way small parties of Sanderlings were chasing waves by the beach.

Here a mixed flock of Sanderlings, Ringed Plovers and a couple of Dunlin briefly rests by the dunes.

Meadow grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus.

On the way back we had a vantage point on the dunes that allowed us to appreciate how narrow the spit is. The estuary on the foreground, the open sea in the horizon. Red Admirals were hilltopping on the dunes.

A Wheatear, a common migrant at the point, near the Warren. A lone Swift flew overhead. Many Swallows were passing through.

Curlew resting at high tide.

We arrived back a bit short of 5 pm, tired but elated after the wonderful day at Spurn.

A Painted Lady flew at dusk by the poplar, settling on the leaves for the night.

Monday, 14 July 2014

Hudson Way, Riffle Butts and Goodmanham

After my lovely visit to Kiplingcotes a couple of weeks ago and the sunny, butterfly friendly weather forecast I headed to the Hudson Way again, this time intending to do a circular walk from the car park near Kiplingcotes to Riffle Butts and back through the Hudson way. It took me almost an hour to walk a couple of hundred meters down the path, given the profusion of wildflowers and butterflies about and the friendly locals. Scabious, Greater Knapweed and Red Clover were in full bloom, attracting large numbers of butterflies, including the first bright orange Gatekeeper of the year for me.

Meadow Pipits and Yellowhammers sung from the field, where a flock of Linnet fed and flew by. By a gate on the field I surprised a Mistle Thrush and three Red Legged Partridges, who left nervously. However, the partridges had left a chick behind, and one of them came back to the rescue.
I reached the crossing to the road to Woodmanham and had a peek at the creek. I spied a the stoat-sized rear of a dark brown mammal, which I believe to be a mink, disappearing in the vegetation. I sat waiting for it to emerge, but I only saw a diminutive vole feeding amongst the yellow flag leaves.
I headed then to Rifle Butts. There were a few visitors. The small area had Giant Bellflower, now in full bloom, and Comfrey and Marjoram. I could hear some singing grasshoppers. The only other thing to mention is a Marsh Tit, which fed amongst the comfreys and on the ground.
I carried towards Goodmanham. Over the village, flying with the swifts were a pair of Buzzards. After asking some locals for directions I found the shortcut to the Hudson Way on the edge of the village and returned to the path after crossing the weak bridge. The Hudson Way is much darker in this area, like a tunnel of trees and little in the way of wildflowers other than Hedge Woundwort. A Speckled Wood and a Comma were noted.