A Wetland Bird Survey full of surprises at Pickering Park

An early walk to Pickering Park, mild and unexpectedly sunny. At the Western Cemetery, two Mistle Thrushes rattle and chase Redwings from the ground, I wonder if they have decided on a nest site. Soon after arriving to Pickering Park, as I was counting the geese, the first surprise, an Oystercatcher, new for my Hull year list and a site tick too. It fed on the grass for a while, moving to the other end of the field avoiding the dog walkers. It finally left as the football teams assembled on the field just before 10 am.

 

Oystercatcher.

Not your typical Pickering Park sight!

The female Pintail was still about, very actively feeding.

This Treecreeper stopped for a bit, it was constantly singing near the small pond area.

And then the biggest surprise was to find six Waxwings on a lime tree! No berries around, they sat there, high up, basking, occasionally moving to the next tree. Two of them gently billed each other and exchanged food. After a while one flew up and down, and they started trilling and left east, then after a few minutes returned to the same area. What a treat to be able to watch

I wonder if the Waxwings are interested in the buds, as they appear to nibble them, they are as red as berries.

This pair looked very cosy, I thought they were billing every now and then, coming together and then jumping away, but there seems to be a round item, possibly a bud, being transferred between them, which I only noticed after checking the photos. This is a behaviour called 'gift passing' part of pair formation and bonding which can involve either a food item or an inedible item.

The last photo of a Waxwing.

The single Goosander today.

A few Siskins were on the alders at Priory Cycle path.

Pied Wagtail, Anlaby Road.

At home, a Buzzard soared over the garden, chased by a Carrion Crow, while the Herring Gulls alarm-called, another new species for the year.

And a Chiffchaff made an appearance in the garden too. There has been one in our street for a couple of weeks, it's nice it popped in the garden, and stopped long enough for a photo.

Sparrowhawk over the garden.

Why would I want to go birding anywhere else!? The low carbon birding year for the city of Hull now stands at 76 species, 3 added today.

A riverbank walk to Kingswood

 

The foghorns boomed from the Humber indicating the deep fog. I thought it would lift, but the fog lingered all morning, the sun looking behind a veil of clouds for some moments, but then more fog coming. I walked North along the River Hull from Oak Road, I thought I'd walk around Oak Road Lake on the way back, but I had to take the bus back, so no check on the swans.

Two Little Grebes, dived in the Beverley and Barmston drain at Beresford Avenue, looking south. The EA has been cutting trees growing by bridges, and there was a view north from the bridge, but no Little Grebes.

There is a flock of Siskins feeding on the Alders on the other bank of the river, but I'm  distracted by a male Blackcap, then a female, on the same birch, and I manage a record shot.

Female Blackcap.

I cross Sutton Bridge, there are only a few dog walkers on the riverbank.

There is nothing out of the ordinary at the Bransholme Reservoir, but Little Grebes are engaged in their trilling display in the reeds. There are some Teal and Shoveler. A Skein of Pink-footed Geese flies north, calling over the fog.

This Kestrel dropped from the trees catching something. When it flew away I saw a large worm dangling from its talons.

Rabbit.

Another Kestrel by the river.

Reed Bunting singing.

The Sun behind the fog, showing some prominent sunspots. 

A loose flock of Reed Buntings, some of the 7 in bushes by the riverbank.

Just one Skylark sung weakly, another flew over the river, what a difference the weather makes!

Matthew M had told me he saw a Stonechat last week on the fields north of Reich Carter Way. I was about to give up on it when I spotted it on the other bank, and that put an end to the walk.

The long grass, scrubby bank of the river makes a good wintering habitat for the Stonechat.

Stonechat.

A walk along the old course of the Foredyke Stream

If you look at a satellite view of Hull using Google Maps, you may notice a straight green belt crossing the city north to sound between the river Hull and Holderness Drain. In some sections, two parallel lines of grown hedgerows mainly Hawthorn and Ash are visible, and a cycle/pedestrian route goes via part of this green corridor. Unlike other green corridors in Hull, it is not a disused railway line, instead, it follows the old course of a now mostly infilled drain, the Foredyke Stream.

History

The Foredyke Stream has medieval origins, part of the crisscrossing of ditches and drains that eventually drained the low-lying marshes and carrs of the Hull Valley. A section of the Foredyke Stream running east to west to the River Hull was cut between 1221 and 1235 by the monks of Meaux Abbey, near Wawne, connecting the Lambwath Stream, a natural watercourse flowing from the east, to the River Hull. This section still carries water. Five centuries later, in 1765, an almost north-south course was dug, to divert the Foredyke Stream water to just south of the current North Bridge. This new route, however, was to be infilled in the late 1960s.

Today, I walked the complete route of the infilled stream. I walked to the start of the route at North Bridge. If you stand on the South side of the bridge looking East, you will see where the outflow of the Foredyke is, by the river Hull.

The outflow of the old Foredyke Stream by North Bridge.

At Cleveland Street, a reminder of the Foredyke Stream in the shape of the bridge parapet. The bridge was built in 1902 and replaced the older and narrower Lime Street Bridge.

The other bridge parapet at Cleveland Street.

I walk by Spyvee Street to find the start of the cycle/pedestrian route following the Stream. There is some signage as you can walk the Trans Pennine Trail to Hornsea using this route, which is also partle shared by the Wilberforce Way. The first stretch is industrial, but a green verge indicates the route of the Stream.

The route becomes greener. A Willow by the course of the Stream near St Mark street, where the stream passed under a bridge.

The Stream and a possible a parallel road or footpath would have flown under the Hull & Barnsley Railway bridge, near James Reckit Avenue. Now this is a pedestrian/cycle route. After the bridge there is a large and very pleasant 'railway triangle' with a wooded area, a playground and grassy spaces. The Hornsea rail trail/Trans Pennine Route Trail off to the right, while I keep following the Stream route. 

A large Alder on the 'railway triangle' where a Song Thrush was singing.

This old cottage at the end of Woodhall St. in need of some TLC stood here when the area were just arable fields, orchards, pasture and farms north of Hull, marked as Thisleton in an OS map before the 1900.

Some poplars by Chamberlain Road.

The Wilberforce Way turns left at Chamberlain Road. I carry on straight, on the pleasant stretch between Chamberlain Road and Rockford Fields, with grassy wide verges and lush hedgerows and Birches, the allotments on one side. I focus my binoculars on a group of finches on a large Birch, and I'm surprised to find they are Lesser Redpolls, I count eight of them. They are feeding on the catkins, holding them deftly against a branch with one feet as they pick the seeds.

Looking back to the Birch with the Lesser Redpolls.

The raised path by Rockford Fields.

Rockford Fields. It is a deceptive view as the fields are now surrounded by housing.

A patch of Reeds by the footpath, which follows Foredyke Avenue (houses on the left), the course of the stream bending west before crossing Leads Road. In the past the stream run under a now lost bridge.

Large Willows by Hamburg Road, they likely grew by the Foredyke Stream.

The leucistic crow that often hangs around near Oak Road Playing fields was near the Holwell Rd/Sutton Rd crossing. The course of the Foredyke Stream crosses Sutton Road, a housing development and then Holwell Road, but there is no formal cycle/footpath. Redwings fly to high trees. I take a short detour for a break at North Point, then  resume the walk, walking on the grass between the old hedgerows where water would have flowed. This long grassy stretch between a line of trees, which likely grew from hedgerows by the course of the stream. Blackbirds, Chaffinches, a Song Thrush and Gulls feed on the grass. In the distance, a surviving bridge, a bridge over nothing.

The course of the Foredyke Stream across Bransholme.

Various birds feeding on the grass with the Bude Road bridge in the distance. A large flock of unidentified finches, maybe Linnets, circles over the route, failing to land.

Iron Bridge over nothing. Bude Road. This bridge was probably built not long before the Foredyke Stream was infilled, as the bridge is absent in OS maps from 1961.

The green corridor of the Foredyke Stream continues, short turf and trees. Some sections by this final infilled stretch have been planted with trees and are now wooded. I wish there was more long grass rather than the close cropped turf. It is not a busy area by any stretch and more diverse space for nature would work wonders.

And I get to the end of the route today: Foredyke Clough, looking West at the old course of the Foredyke Stream, now called Wawne Drain. 

The Foredyke Stream resurfaces here, but it is hard to see with the grown trees and litter by it.

I follow the route of Wawne Drain across Wilberforce Wood to Asda to take the bus back home. Rabbits hide and the hoof prints of a Roe Deer on the footpath of the wood.

It hasn't been a day with a diversity of birds, with just 24 species in the list, but the Lesser Redpolls were the highlight, and what has been missing wa waterfowl. 

Today's route.

More Information

A shorter walk by the old Foredyke Stream route near Rockford Fields: walk here.

History of Wawne

Open Bridges Project