A beautiful morning and not more than a few miles from home, puts me on the banks of the River Humber upstream from Hull. The above scene looks peaceful enough with a 'yachty' enjoying the high tide and a gentle breeze. The entire estuary is a most important place for migratory and wintering birds to feed up and rest. Over the years I have seen many birds here including Caspian Tern and Pacific Golden Plover to name but two. Passage migrants such as Wheatear and Ring Ouzel can occur, raptors seen include Buzzard, Red Kite, Osprey, Peregrine, Hobby, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk. Turning around for a moment....... There you have it, the relentless onslaught by developers covering every field they can get their hands on! Don't leave space to breathe between the houses, just get as many up as possible. My only consolation is, they're all below high tide level!! You will have to take my word for it that between me and those houses are breeding Lapwing, Shelduck, Skylark and Grey Lag Geese to name the more obvious species. Also there are Avocets, Little Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Common Tern present. I mentioned migratory birds feeding up here and, the purpose of the photo was actually to show a 1st summer Little Gull (flying between the two Black-headed Gulls), one of six stopping off here this morning. So much for COP26, did anyone take any notice!! Having got that gripe out of the way, this morning was my annual hearing test as I set about locating one of my favourite migrants - the Grasshopper Warbler. Ever since I first heard that high frequency tinkling call, like an alarm clock continuing for a considerable time, I have been fascinated by the Grasshopper Warbler. I was pleased to hear one from around 75 yards and with the aid of the 'big lens', I scanned some distant brambles. Almost centred and 'showing well' for a Grasshopper Warbler, they can often sing from within a hawthorn or other cover. Again listening to the long drawn out song, the volume rises and falls. If you are lucky to see one singing, you will notice how the head turns slowly from one side to the other, sending the song out over a wide area. When the bird was not singing, it moved around an area of small bushes where I found it in a more skulking mode. The Grasshopper Warbler was one of many birds in full song this morning with Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Cetti's Warbler, Reed Warbler (only two) and many Sedge Warblers. Sedge Warbler. One species which seems to be absent now is the Willow Tit, seeing them regularly years ago. On the other hand, there were no Cetti's Warblers then and I heard/saw seven here today. So although we have declining species, there are species widening their distribution. On the riverbank, the Bearded Tits were hard at work, probably feeding young. In the air were an increasing number of Common Swifts (ten or so). Two House Martins were seen and only two Swallows. Where are our Swallows this year?? Raptors seen were a single Common Buzzard and a Kestrel. In my garden, I have breeding Dunnocks which aren't having the easiest of times!!
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