We had the most magical week at Spurn which coincided with the Summer Solstice-the longest day of the year and by heck it felt like it!

We arrived on the Monday and a quick trip to Easington we saw a few bee orchids whic were just starting tp look past their best. A quick look at the Red Valarian around the churchyard produced the intended target-hummingbird hawk moth. There were at least 3 but the position of the plants relative to ground level were far from ideal and as such the photos weren’t the best quality.

I spent some time trying to pjhotogtaph bats on the night without too much success. I didnt stay up late as we were planning on being on the beach for the sunrise. The alarm went off at 3.30am and we managed to rise at about 3.45.

Its just a different world at that time-plenty of light and the air was still. We were treat to a lovely view of a barn owl as we drove down towards the gate. Two deer cut a lovely silhouette against a richly colourful sky.

A combination of light cloud, low tide and wet sand made for a nice photo opportunity. We watched the sun rise at 4.30 and set off towards the point. We saw a single ringed plover and flyover little tern on the way down.

We got to the Point for around 5.45-highlights along the way were plenty of garden tiger moth caterpillars as well as a few nice wildflowers including sea-holly and pyramidal orchid.

The point was uneventful wildlife wise but millions of sand hoppers in the point dunes made for a curious spectacle.

We made our way back after a while and as we were walking past potato fields I spotted what I initially thought was a hare. After raising my binoculars, it became apparent that what we were looking at was in fact a fox cub.

It trotted towards us without a care in the world and made its way to the drinking tub placed for the cattle and sheep and took a drink without a care in the world, giving us some memorable views and was easily the highlight of the day.

We arrived back at the van by 9am and I spent the rest of yje morning catching up om lost sleep.

Later in the day I went looking for butterflies and dragonflies and had some limited success with four spotted chasers and an obliging small heath.

The evening cane round and we were treat to a lovely sunset. A barn owl hunted over the triangle as the sun dropped. Swallows and housemartins buzzed around overhead catching the last flies of the day and a hobby dashed through the triangle heading south at 10 to 10.

I made my way to ‘Wozza’s’ bench and watched the last of the suns rays disappear and the first bats of the night began their insect hunting forays taking over from where the swallows and housemartins left off.

There wasn’t a breath of wind, I reflected on what a day we had and agreed with myself that I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else in the world.

The rest of the week was spent enjoying the sunshine, the butterflies and dragonflies and watching bats carrying out their fascinating ritual of dispersing from their roost. patrolling at high level and slowly descending until they were in touching distance in the near darkness.

As might be expected the birding is a little quiet at this time of year but I’ve added a few photos from the last couple of weeks.

Until next time, thanks for reading.