Full on spring at Oak Road lake

What a fantastic day to start spring. Blue sky, warm and almost no wind. We walk around the lake. The willows were in bloom and many bees and bumblebees were gorging on the catkins. We saw the first Bombus lapidarius and B. pascuorum of the year feeding on them. The nettles are starting to grow in earnest. A pair of Little Grebes kept calling in their 'laugh-like' way and Great tits were singing. We found a flooded site next to the wind turbine covered in frog spawn. No sign of breeding toads though. To end the visit, a Small Tortoiseshell fluttered about and stopped for long enough for me to take some shots.

View of the lake and reedbeds

A beautiful flowering willow

Willow catkins

Poplar catkins

Coot among the reeds

Male swan

Small Tortoiseshell

 Not a lot of birds around today, though.

1. Swan, 1 male

2. Coot (>6)

3. Moorhen (prrr!)

4. Mallards (6 or so)

5. Pair of little grebes (laughing a lot!)

6. Blackbird

7. Reed warbler? (singing)

8. Wood pigeon

9. Crow

10. Great tit

11. Long-tailed tit with feather in beak  flies into the trees

Tophill Low

This morning we went to Tophill Low nature reserve. There was quite a lot of high cloud and we didn't see the predicted sunny spells, but it was a mild day and wonderful for a winter walk. Tophill Low is a purpose-built nature reserve around water treatment works owned by Yorkshire Water. There are two deep water reservoirs (called 'O' and 'D' reservoirs due to their shape), ponds and marshes with islands, reed beds and wooded areas. The diversity of habitats attract a range of bird species (150 are regular in the reserve) and also dragonflies and other insects. There is a visitor centre (now in need of some refurbishment) with a viewing area into a bird feeding station next to a pond and a meadow. There are 12 hides, several of them accessible to wheelchairs (and pushchairs!).
The feeding station was busy today and we had a good look at rabbits chasing each other, a great spotted woodpecker, chaffinches, goldfinches, greenfinches, dunnocks, moorhens and blackbirds. The kids were entranced (the rabbits, specially, were a hit!)
 The mashes were teeming with birds and we saw a range of species. We walked around the 'O' reservoir and the various ponds around it, and also had a look at the Watton Nature Reserve.

A large flock of lapwings takes flight from South Marsh East

Little Grebe

Flowering gorse

The day's bird list:

1. Little Grebe. South Marsh East (SME)
2. Cormorant. Watton Nature Reserve.
3. Greylags.
4. Canada geese.
5. Shelduck. SME.
6. Mallard.
7. Wigeon. SME.
8. Shoveler. SME.
9. Pochard. SME.
10. Tufted duck/scaup?
11. Buzzard. Flying over Car Park.
12. Kestrel. Watton village.
13. Pheasant. Around visitor centre
14. Moorhen. FS.
15. Coot. SME.
16. Lapwing. More than 100 flushed from South East Marsh.
17. Redshank. SME.
18. Black-headed gulls. Bev rd. one carrying something, others chasing.
19. Woodpigeon. Visitor centre.
20. Collared doves. Singing, one carring stick in Dunswell.
21. Green Woodpecker. Laughing in flight, pair.
22. Great Spotted Woodpecker. Feeding Station (FS).
23. Dunnock. FS
24. Robin. singing everywhere.
25. Blackbird. FS. Also, when we are leaving a singing male from the aerial in front of the house.
26. Song Thrush. FS. Eating of the meadow.
27. Long-Tailed Tit. FS.
28. Coal tit. FS. Feeders
29. Great tit.
30. Blue tit.
31. Magpie. Roundabout.
32. Rooks on nests Woodmansey.
33. Tree sparrow FS.
34. Chaffinches. FS.
35. Greenfinches.FS.
36. Goldfinches. FS.

The Reserve's website, including a map, at Yorkshire Water.

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Humber Bridge Country Park in the snow

After lunch we head for a walk in the Country Park. There is still quite a lot of snow in places, although it feels mild. In the field next to Riverside Cottage, Mistle Thrushes and Redwings feed. We have taken some bird food with us and when we get to the feeding station we put some on the feeders. Almost instantly several Robins fall around us and start eating, followed by Blue Tits, Great Tits, Dunnocks and a pair of Blackbirds. A Song Thrush, oblivious to this frenzied activity, keeps singing enthusiastically from the top of a nearby tree. The Song Thrush singing and the leaves of the Lords and Ladies seem to be the only signs of spring today.

Robin on a feeder

Snowy meadow

Lords and Ladies fresh shoots

To help you get there:

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Big Garden Birdwatch

I have done the Big Garden Birdwatch a few times in my garden. I don't do as much birdwatching as I would like lately and it is a bit sad to spend a whole hour just to see a blackbird and a couple of blue tits (I don't have a very popular garden with birds). So, last year I decided to do the BGB in my local wildlife patch, the Pearson Park Wildlife Garden. The results were encouraging, I even had a magic moment with a very tame robin, who let me take some macro photos of him while singing. Today then,  I wrapped up warm and I headed for the wildlife garden. I took the camera as well, but I wasn't as lucky as last year. It was cold and cloudy, so I had to keep walking around. The pond was frozen solid. My observation time was from 11 to 12 am. It's still so early in the year but many birds were pairing and singing. The great tits were teachering away and a stock dove was booming and a greenfinch singing from the trees. The dunnocks seemed to be courting and chasing each other. I was very surprised to see a warbler, I think probably a chiff-chaff active in the bushes. There was a couple of robins together, the male singing and third one replying from the other side of the garden. It was altogether busy and only a 5 min lull when nothing really happened.

These are my results:

Great tits (2) male and female. Male singing.

Song thrush (1). I've already heard it singing this year, but not today.

Blackbirds (2) Male and female.

Robin (3). Couple and a third male. Two singing.

Blue tit (2) Singing.

Stock dove, booming from high in the trees.

Dunnock (3) Together, 2 chasing each other.

Greenfinch (1) Singing from the poplar.

Chaffinch (1). Male.

Chiff-chaff (1). Most likely, as it's the only occasionally hibernating warbler.

Woodpigeon (5) On a tree.

Magpie (3). As the hour finished.

Total of 12 sp. Not too bad!

Last year's results for East Yorkshire were:

House sparrow 2.64

Starling 2.19

Blackbird 1.48

Goldfinch 1.25

Collared dove 0.93

Blue tit 0.87

Tree sparrow 0.83

Chaffinch 0.69

Woodpigeon 0.67

Long tailed tit 0.65

(source RSPB )

Pearson Park and its Wildlife Garden

There is nothing remarkable about the wildlife at Pearson Park: a pond full of mallards and a couple of moorhens, a flock of pigeons that like to sunbathe on the roof of the ice-cream shop, some grey squirrels, a big grassy space that is regularly walked by a pair of crows. A little bit of extra interest in the winter, when common gulls and Canada and Greylag geese add more noise. However, tucked in a corner of the park there is a lovely wildlife garden. There is a little pond - getting more overgrown with vegetation every year- meadows, plenty of native trees, a hedgerow, a dry stone wall, a herb garden, lots of brambles and nettles. Everything is quite small, it is only a reduced area, but it shows how little is needed to attract wildlife to your doorstep. The meadow attracts grasshoppers (Chorthippus brunneus), butterflies (Ringlet, Gatekeeper, Common Blue), cinnabar moths; the pond teems with mating frogs and newts in March and various dragonflies and damselflies, the trees attract birds and Specked Wood butterflies, the herb garden buzzes with bees and bumblebees all summer. Its a great place to visit all year round.

 Here is a selection of photos I've taken in the Wildlife garden.

A very tame robin

Hazel catkins (Corylus avellana)

Mating Common Frogs

Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) on Blackthorn flowers

Male Common Blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus)

Male Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)

Cinnabar moth caterpillar (Tyria jacobaea)

Common Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus

For lots more on the Wildlife Garden check these entries on BugBlog. 

If you want to get there, the Wildlife Garden is in the southwestern corner of the park, next to the entrance through Princes Avenue...
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Donna Nook Seals

It's a bright, mild autumn day. As planned, we set out for Donna Nook, the seal rookery in the Lincolnshire coast, near North Somercotes. We get there after getting to Horseshoe Point in mistake (flushing a pair of kestrels in the way) about 11:30.
The colours of the autumn make this trip just worth it. Donna Nook is a stretch of low-lying sandy coast on the south bank of the mouth of the Humber, with dunes covered in sea buckthorn and marshes. It is a RAF shooting range, but, apparently, operations do not seem to disturb the seals. The area is protected as it is a grey seal breeding ground during November and December. There are lots of people today, the overflow car park is quite busy.
We can hear the howling of the seals from behind the artificial sea wall, actually a barrier of sand covered in grasses and sea buckthorn. Their calls are high pitched, ululating cries such as ones somebody would make to scare you ooh,ooh ooh! There are many seals, scattered on the beach. The visibility is very good and we can see the Spurn lighthouse and the wind turbines of Easington in the low horizon on the north.
Two bulls threaten each other, open mouthed, on the dunes over a female.

One of them approaches the female, but she threatens him and he stays put.

The bulls have cuts and blood around their scarred necks. Bulls are larger than cows and tend to be darker, chocolate coloured, with lighter patches; cows are grey or tawny, with darker spots and blotches, although there is a lot of individual variation. Males and females have very different looking heads. Bulls have bigger muzzles and have a convex profile, the females have an almost flat profile, with a long muzzle. The pups are creamy white, skinny when newborn, but they turn quite round when a few days old (they are weaned at two to three weeks old, and after moulting their coats go to sea).

We watched a female and her pup at close range. She nuzzled the pup and then rolled (ouch!) over him, seemingly keen for the pup to nurse, presenting him her belly and then scratching him when the pup reached for her muzzle. They also seem to play together, mock biting and scratching each other.

It is a great day out to see the seals. Real animal behaviour happening right in front of you: bulls chasing and measuring each other up, females fighting them, females interacting with their pups, pups nursing, pups and their mums resting and particularly pups, rolling and 'hand-waving', stretching and just, seemingly enjoying their newly found life on the sand. This one is fanning its flippers:

Evidence of the births the previous night is clear. There are two afterbirths on the sand in the next photo. The rear of the females is still covered in blood and the newborn has its umbilical cord attached.

A dead pup on the beach, half eaten. A Magpie walking around looking for fragments of placenta.
The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust does a great job keeping the public behind a weak wooden (now double) fence, to reduce impact and contact with the seals, and there is up to date info in the warden's hut on the numbers of seals in the beach: 477 pups have been born so far this year (over a thousand last year). This is a UK wildlife safari at its best!

The following is from the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust website, which contains maps and info on the reserve and the seals.

Monday 17 November.

285 bulls, 673 cows, 477 pups.

With an estimate of between 9,000 and 10,000 visitors over the weekend.

East Park Birding

The largest park of Hull, and, after the recent revamp, by far the most beautiful, East Park is a wonderful bird-watching site. The large lake has deep and shallow areas and islands. I have seen nesting Great Crested grebes bringing little fish to their young in the lake. Swans, geese and coots also breed in the lake. Wildfowl is abundant in winter, with Canada Geese, Greylags, Barnacle geese, Pochard, Tufted ducks, Mallard, Moorhen and coot usually around. Occasionally there are whooper swans, lesser white fronted geese, Goosander, Pink-footed Geese, pintails and Red-crested Pochard. Wildfowl is quite used to people and allow close approach, so if you want photos close-ups are guaranteed.

There is a large, new aviary which could do with a few more birds - and a zoo with goats, guinea pigs, alpacas, wallabies, fallow deer, peacocks and rheas. The zoo has an educational building with some tanks with millipedes, stick insects, tarantulas and snakes. A visit to East Park is for the whole family, and especially in the summer when there are rowing boats and a splash slide. More info in the Hull City Council and the Hull Valley Wildlife Group websites.

Today it was cold, 5-7 oC, but no wind - it can be really chilly in the winter here if there is the least breeze - so we had a long walk around the park, walking up the tree lined promenade, watching squirrels burying acorns (and ignoring our conkers) and stopping by the model boat lake, and the walking around the large lake, the Zoo, across the bridge and back round the north side of the lake.

These are some of my favourite photos from East Park, all taken with a Powershot G6:

Two Coots

Geese pair with goslings (13/05/07)

Mute Swans and cygnets

Bold Crow

Tufted duck drake (22/03/06)

Pochard drake (22/03/06)

Black-headed gulls like to rest on the wall next to the lake

Lesser white-fronted goose (10/12/05)

Birds of the day:


1. Canada Geese
2. Greylags
3. 2 Mute swans with red rings (Y329, Y330)
4. Coots
5. Moorhens
6. Pied Wagtails
7. Great Tit
8. Crows
9. Magpie
10. Dunnock
11. Blackbird
12. Mallards
13. Common Pochard
14. Great Crested Grebe
15. Tufted Duck
16. wader with broad white trailing edge, pigeon size or slightly smaller (redshank?)
17. Black-Headed Gulls
18. Starlings