Late Autumn at Spurn

Just had a fantastic couple of days at Spurn- the north easterly winds have really brought in Autumn with a bang.

I started off yesterday with a bit of sea-watching and the very first bird I saw was a little auk. It caught me off guard as my camera settings were wrong but I actually like the blurred effect.

Lots of kittiwakes going north made for a nice photo opportunity. As did the red-throated divers.

Plenaty of ducks moving too and a nice eoder was quite close in shore.

Unfortunately there were no pomarine skuas or petrels for me.

I moved to the canal scrape hoping for a jack snipe but unfortunately there was no sign. However there were plenty of winter thrushes including a nice ring ouzel. next stop was Cliff Farm and Crown & Anchor area. Here a nice great skua flew close and more divers heading out of the humber. Woodcocks were whizzing around and bramblings were calling it had a real autumn feel about it.

Two hooded crows were blogging around and made for a nice addition to the year list.

Today was even better. The day started with a buzzard on Easington straight and then another spot of sea-watching. Not as busy today but still saw a little auk and a few kittiwakes.

There were lots of goldcrests around near the warren and even more at the Crown and Anchor.

There were mealy redpolls at panchos pond then a brambling perched up in front of me and a black redstart was flicking around on the rocks in front of the Crown & Anchor. The barred warbler showed well but distantly in the field behind the crown.

A walk around the Church Field yielded another mealey redpoll and then news of a pallas’s warbler broke. It was on the south side of the gas terminal. Initially it was quite hard to see but eventually showed well for about 10 minutes before heading off.

Back to the Crown for a yellow-browed warbler and then on to KIlnsea Caravan site for some twite. They didn’t show but a confiding black redstart was nice compensation.

More woodcocks whizzing around and a nice merlin was hunting over the humber.

News broke of a possible arctic redpoll along Beacon Lane. It showed very well and it would appear that on the whole the consensus was for arctic it wasn’t 100% certain.

the day ended back with the yellow-browed warbler at the Crown along with another load of goldcrests.

the last 2 days have been classic ‘Spurn’ days and what a couple of days they have been-reaffirming its place as Britains premier birding place.

little auk

little auk

ducks

ducks

eider

eider

kittiwakes

kittiwakes

kittiwakes

kittiwakes

kittiwakes

kittiwakes

red-throated diver

red-throated diver

razorbill and gullimots

razorbill and gullimots

gannet

gannet

eiders

eiders

great skua

great skua

great skua

great skua

great skua

great skua

hooded crow

hooded crow

black redstart

black redstart

Barred warbler

Barred warbler

mealey redpoll

mealey redpoll

pallas’s warbler

pallas’s warbler

pallas’s warbler

pallas’s warbler

pallas’s warbler

pallas’s warbler

pallas’s warbler

pallas’s warbler

pallas’s warbler

pallas’s warbler

black redstart

black redstart

possible arctic redpoll

possible arctic redpoll

possible arctic redpoll

possible arctic redpoll

possible arctic redpoll

possible arctic redpoll

black redstart

black redstart

yellow-browed warbler

yellow-browed warbler

yellow-browed warbler

yellow-browed warbler

goldcrest

goldcrest