There have been a few decent birds around East Yorkshire of late and I could easily have gone somewhere else other than Spurn today.
Quite often on leaving the house I think shall I go left or right and the thought comes back every time-put your faith in Spurn.
Today was no exception and with news of a purple heron yesterday there was an extra draw. It was quite overcast, misty and murky and a completely uneventful drive through saw me arrive at about 6.15.
I thought I’d check Twitter to establish the whereabouts of the purple heron and sure enough it had been flushed from Sykes field and was on canal scrape.
I chose to try from the canal banking and it was nice to take in the early morning sounds of linnets, reed warblers, sedge warblers and a distant reeling grasshopper warbler.
After a while my attention was distracted by the news of a summer plumaged pomarine skua over the humber. By the time I found it, it was resting on the water a very long way out.
Given that the heron was not showing, I set off for the breach-I thought that if the skua was to take flight it would head out to sea over the breach.
Eventually it did just that but unfortunately for me it was on the south side and never came remotely close.
News that the purple heron had taken flight crackled over the radio and I managed a distant view as it headed west to Sammy’s Point.
I thought I would head back to the canal and here was a nice scene with cygnets and their parents enjoying some early morning sun.
A sedge warbler posed nicely as dis a couple of swallows, then news of a golden oriole heading south along the canal banking came over the airwaves. Immediately I looked across and there it was-for all of about 4 seconds. I managed to rattle off a few shots as it carried on.
Things were hotting up!
I thought I would try Sammy’s Point and on the way news of a Temmincks Stint on KIlnsea Wetlands came over the radio-I was there within minutes to see the stint on an island near the gate. Quite distant but very nice to see.
I went out to Sammy’s Point and the only bird of note was a cuckoo.
Back to the wetlands for slightly better views of the stint, then a fleeting glimpse of a hobby as it headed south.
I finished the morning with a rather dapper yellow wagtail on Easington Straight.
So ended an excellent morning, my faith in Spurn been truly re-paid with a very memorable session.
