I had another nice trip out to Spurn this weekend.
Arriving in torrential rain and gale force winds, it wasn’t much fun to set up the caravan, however 15 minutes later I was sat with a brew enjoying being undercover and warm.
Not much to see in the fading light but a couple of curlew battling against the wind as well as a hare that came in front of the van.
The rain eased overnight but the wind kept on blowing.
My first port of call was canal scrape in the hope of a jack snipe. There wasn’t much doing apart from a few wigeon and teal as well as a lone dunlin.
A hawfinch was shouted out flying round church field so I made my way there. The hedges are just starting to turn golden yellow and the berries are bright red. The colours looked even more stunning in the early morning light.
I went through north field and saw the hawfinch flying towards the churchyard. A fleeting view of a yellow-browed warbler and more of the same in the churchyard proved to be the highlights.
I had a drive up to see the long staying barred warbler and it popped out a couple of times but with lightning speed it went back in the cover of the hawthorns. I had a wander back to the car stopping briefly at the screen looking on to Kilnsea wetlands. A little stint was making its way towards me along the edge of the bank when it suddenly took flight and flew out of view.
getting a photo of any description was proving difficult!
I went to have a look for another yellow-browed warbler in Sykes Field and although it was calling, it didnt appear.
There was a small ‘twitch’ of around 15 birders looking to see a mealy redpoll. It was staying faithful to a single tree surrounded by scrub and after being out of view periodically, when it flew back in, it was making its was to the ground to feed, again being obscured by branches or long grass.
News of a jack snipe on canal scrape came over the airwaves. I had a ride down there and surprise surprise, the jack snipe was sat right at the back mostly obscured by reeds.
It was time to go for a brew!
A nice non-birding walk round Kilnsea in the afternoon had a lovely Autumn feel- the colours of the leaves and fruit were stunning. There were a few small whites around as well as a red-admiral.
Sunday morning dawned clear and thankfully the wind had eased. It was a beautiful morning.
I made my way straight to Beacon Ponds in the hope of some photo opportunities against the sunrise. It was fairly quiet as the tide was still down, although a spoonbilll was feeding distantly in the early morning sunshine.
I went back to listening dish hedge in the hope that the barred warbler would show. After some time, it eventually did the right thing feeding out in the open, giving some nice photo opportunities.
Bird-wise it continued ina quiet them-a couple of yellow-browed warblers around Kilnsea were the best of it.
