A couple of weeks ago we let our daughter pick a seaside destination we hadn't been to before and she picked Cleethorpes - I'm not sure why but we went with it and headed off for the day!
My first time going over the Humber Bridge - the view is amazing!
Gorgeous weather and at first Cleethorpes was deserted apart from roughly a million ladybirds (give or take a few........) which were everywhere and landed on us wherever we walked throughout the day.
We saw lots of birds on the beach as the sea is so far out you only know it's there because of the ships on it! Oystercatchers, a Curlew, Herring, Black-headed, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a couple of Little Egrets and Crows. There were plenty more in the distance I couldn't ID without the binoculars, which i'd left at home!
Where the water had collected in pools on the sand there were lots of tiny little fish and a few crabs too, the beach is full of shells and we collected a few as we walked.
At the far end of the beach past the leisure centre is a boating lake which has a couple of resident Turtles which were dumped there some years back, the one we saw was huge so clearly doing well. There are a lot of Geese and ducks and you can buy food to feed them, i'm thinking some of the geese aren't wild.........
Behind the leisure centre/lake and by the beach are various boardwalks and grassy areas leading onto the sand and in the distance the lighthouse. This is the Humber Estuary and there are a few information boards around detailing the how important the area is for wildlife, of course with the tide still way out we didn't see waders, I should think it's good spotting them as they come in with the tide, plus it looks good for migrants too though I don't know the area bird wise. It could be worth a visit to see and to explore further.
Unfortunately by this point we didn't have time to explore too much but as we did we were surrounded by Swallows and House Martins, Goldfinch flocks were in the grass along with lots of Crickets too (not forgetting the Ladybirds, which I somehow managed not to take a photo of).
We made our way home (after prawns, ice creams and 2p machines - seaside staples) and counted deer in the fields along the way.
On the Sunday we went to St Aidan's to help out with the litter pick that had been organised. Quite a lot of people turned up so we split into two groups. We picked our way around the edge of the reserve and dug up bottles, cans and crisp packets amongst others. It wasn't as bad as when we did it last year as the RSPB volunteers/staff have had other picks and keep on top of the litter, it's a big place though and open to the public all the time.
Which brings me to another 'littering' issue.....dog poop, we spent most of our time watching were we were walking in some areas especially around the edges of the reserve because people seem to think it's ok to let their dogs poop anywhere they like and then walk away. Never mind giving dogs training I think some owners could do with a course or two in dog care!
We didn't have time to walk the whole reserve with everyone so ourselves and another lady cut down the Causeway and picked our way back to the visitors centre. I didn't catch the lady's name but it was nice to chat as we walked. Of course we kept our eye on the birds too and managed to spot a few Yellow Wagtails with the Pied, they flew over the path and landed on the fence, a new bird for me.
I didn't take many photos but did get a couple of one of the Kestrels on the dragline and a distant shot of one of the Wagtails.
