I Can't Stand the Rain - Ann Peebles

Weather wise, with yet another day of foul conditions, I'm beginning to think it may have been better to stay Stateside! With a fair amount of overnight rain and blustery wind there was a chance of getting out early morning to cover some local areas, but that always looked likely to be short lived.

There was a female Blackbird feeding young in the cemetery,

it was considered unusual to see ripe Blackberries so early. Young birds continued to predominate

with this young Coot being just one of many.

Good to see the Buddleia in bloom again, but given the weather conditions no Butterflies were taking advantage.

The graffiti is undoubtedly the work of mindless morons

and so it might be reasonable to think it's the same who have removed the 'cap stones' from this nice little wall - let them keep David Gilmour's (equally moronic) son company for a dozen months!

Great Crested Grebe a number of pairs on site have young.

Black-headed Gull, now you see it,

now you don't!

Greater Bulrush or Cattail

alongside Lesser Bulrush.

Common Moorhen

so photogenic I always think.


A wander down to Ferrybridge, despite the now steady rain, saw a small number of mixed Waders on the foreshore, most numerous being Dunlin,

along with 5

Oystercatcher,

along with c21

Sanderling plus a few Ringed Plover. There were also an interesting mix of the more common Gulls, in varying stages of maturity, but singularly the one I would loved to have photographed was a beautifully marked juvenile Mediterranean Gull.

Having spent about an hour under the limited shelter of The Fleet Visitor's Centre roof with Peter and Debbie Saunders, the rain final beat all of us and we returned home.

Hardy Monument Update
from a couple of regular Blog readers

Hi Paul

The monument has been closed for over 2 years due to its very poor condition - splitting stones, mortar gone and internal stairwell in need of repair. Its exposed position, harsh winters and poor build quality 150 years ago are cited as reasons for its current state. It's taken quite a while for them to raise funds for the 6 month repair job. More details on this website

http://www.ntjurassiccoastin.co.uk/news/32-hardy-monument-renovation-work-starts

Cheers

Nick Urch

Hi Paul,

It has been closed to the public (according to reports) since early 2009, apparently it is falling apart again, well I didn't know it had ever stopped falling apart, it was built c1844, and it was falling apart before it was finished. I can only assume, the National Trust are playing with it, we might find out on Sunday (will update you later).

John Gifford

Janet Read also sent an explanation, similar to those above, and 2 photographs which may be subject to copyright.