We had another fantastic trip to Kilnsea this weekend and it was truly a case of wildlife from dawn to dusk.

Starting on Friday night , there had been a report of a white rumped sandpiper near Chalky Point. I went up there an hour before sunset and it was just the most gorgeous evening. The sun was setting, yje silence was only punctuated by calls of various wading birds. I had an interesting chat with The Biking Birder and it didn’t matter that the white-rumped sandpiper didn’t show.

Next morning I was up early and on the beach before 5-just as I like it. There was no=one around yet the wildlife is at its most active. My plan was to shoot waders and terns over the sea into the rising sun. It seemed unusually quiet as I walked up but there was still half an hour to go before sunrise.

As dawn got nearer, birds became more active and pretty soon there was plenty to look at and photograph. Little terns were busily hurrying out to sea and returning with fish in what seemed like a conveyor belt of activity. Waders were zooming up and down the beach but given that it was low tide I guess most would have been feeding on the humber. A grey seal made its way down the beach towards the sea after being hauled out overnight, swallows flew north in their droves no doubt after roosying on Sykes Field.

As the sun rose, the light went back to ‘normal’ and the activity slowed up. Imade my way back and after an uneventful look on canal scrape and Kilnsea Wetlands I made my way back for breakfast.

I spent a while looking for butterflies and whilst not as busy as previous weeks I was pleased with a count of 12 species in the Kilnsea area-the highlight being a nice female common blue.

The day finished with a nice session on ‘Wozzas Bench’ watching the swallows flocking in their masses against a magnificent sunset with the added attraction of a flyby barn owl

Next morning I was up early again. I missed the very early start but was till on the beach before half 5. I had the sam plan as the day before but I was lucky because there was slightly more broken cloud and this prolomged the sunrise effect keeping yellows and pinks in the sky for longer.

There must have been a hatch of flies overnight as there were loads of birds feasting on the masses that were mainly around the high tide line. Mainly dunlin and ringed plover but the glorious morning was puntuated with even more colour as a small flock of yellow wgtails fed with the odd pied wagtail amongst them.

Again the sun rose past the ‘golden hour’ effect and it was time to go. News came over the radion of a convolvulus hawk moth that had been trapped overnight in Church Field. A beast of a migrant moth along with a couple of other nice ones-orange swift, salt-marsh plume and gold spot.

Back for a couple of hours relaxing and a bit of breakfast. A roe deer and its fawn were feeding in well Field and a peregrine falcon shot through just as we were packing up.

There is no place like Spurn-it is a natural marvel and theres no place on trhe planet I would rather be.

Until next time-thanks for reading.