I had a couple of very contrasting mornings at Spurn this weekend.
saturday morning had a cold westerlt wind blowing much stronger than the 10mph forecast.
I started at Sammy's Point and managed a brief view of a ring ouzel as it flew north.
Then on to canal scrape nothing doing there apart from a few chiff chaffs and willow warblers.
Went down to Spurn Point and hardly any birds around the parade ground, but did see a glaucous gull flying south, so went back up to the crown for a reported firecrest which I saw albeit fleeting.
Back to canal scrape and managed some distant views of the 'continental' stonechat and by now things had warmed up slightly in the bushes I saw my first sedge warbler of the year.
headed for home with a few more for the year list.
This morning was far more springlike.I started again at sammy's Point and saw a lesser whitethroat and whimbrel and one solitary wheatear.
Down to canal scrape and saw another lesser whitethroat, someone reported a ring ouzel back at Sammy's so this being my target bird for the day I went back.
No sign where it had been reported, but I did see my first cuckoo of the year.On the way back I saw a large blckbird feeding in one of the paddocksand sure enough it was the RO.
It was always keeping its distance but I managed a coiple of half decent shots, later it was joined by a yellow wagtail.
A good few other common migrants were reported today including grasshopper warbler, whinchat, redstart, firecrest and black redstart.
At last some decent birds to look at, hopefully something big soon.
saturday morning had a cold westerlt wind blowing much stronger than the 10mph forecast.
I started at Sammy's Point and managed a brief view of a ring ouzel as it flew north.
Then on to canal scrape nothing doing there apart from a few chiff chaffs and willow warblers.
Went down to Spurn Point and hardly any birds around the parade ground, but did see a glaucous gull flying south, so went back up to the crown for a reported firecrest which I saw albeit fleeting.
Back to canal scrape and managed some distant views of the 'continental' stonechat and by now things had warmed up slightly in the bushes I saw my first sedge warbler of the year.
headed for home with a few more for the year list.
This morning was far more springlike.I started again at sammy's Point and saw a lesser whitethroat and whimbrel and one solitary wheatear.
Down to canal scrape and saw another lesser whitethroat, someone reported a ring ouzel back at Sammy's so this being my target bird for the day I went back.
No sign where it had been reported, but I did see my first cuckoo of the year.On the way back I saw a large blckbird feeding in one of the paddocksand sure enough it was the RO.
It was always keeping its distance but I managed a coiple of half decent shots, later it was joined by a yellow wagtail.
A good few other common migrants were reported today including grasshopper warbler, whinchat, redstart, firecrest and black redstart.
At last some decent birds to look at, hopefully something big soon.