Late Autumn in the Humber

November 13, 2022

I had a brief but satisfying visit to Spurn this weekend.
Arriving in the dark the thing that struck me was how mild it was.
The morning dawned clear and I was up and out well before dawn. I wanted to try a spot on the Humber which I knew would be a fair walk. At 630 there was enough light to see where I was going and by 650 I was at my preferred location.
The first birds I saw was a good flock of lapwing darting out over the Humber and flying low over the water. It was a bit dark to get a shot but some of the photos captured the scene nicely.
Waders started moving as it got light mainly curlew and the odd redshank.
A merlin perched briefly on a dead branch washed up by recent big tides, but flew off over the bank before I could get a shot.
A sparrowhawk shot through and a pair of marsh harriers began harassing the waders and wildfowl in the distance.
After a while the sun had fully risen and the colour had gone out of the sky. Just as I was packing away a woodcock flew round in a circular loop and I just managed to get a few shots off.
A kestrel was perched briefly near the pumping station and a mixed flock of finches and buntings were flitting around the bank-top hawthorns.
I went back to the van for some late breakfast and then was back out this time at Kilnsea Wetlands.
The first birds I saw as I got out of the car was a couple of stonechat, after a while they were joined by a third bird.
I spent the afternoon on the top of the bank between Kilnsea Wetlands and Beacon Ponds.
There was a nice drake pintail, albeit quite distant as well as other common wildfowl mainly wigeon, shoveler and teal.
A flock of twite bounced past and then a short eared owl appeared. It flew past me and then doubled back about half an hour later.
The sunset was nice and provided some nice photo opportunities of roe deer, waders and one of the stonechats on the look out for flies in the very last moments of sunlight.

As we move towards winter, the likelihood of migrant birds especially rare or scarce ones diminish, however the opportunities to carry on photographing wildlife at Spurn and on the Humber still abound.

What A Weekend!

October 25, 2022

I was watching Twitter nervously on Thursday with rare bird after race bird along with hundreds of common migrants being reported at Spurn.

I was able to cash in one of my floating holidays for the Friday and just hoped that some of the birds would stay.

I arrived just after 7 to the sound of robins and gold rests and a sense of magic was in the air.

No sooner had I set up the caravan, the radio crackled with the news that the previous days red-flanked bluetail was still present in Easington.

Within a minute of arriving there it was hopping around on the driveway of the old school.

Soon after news of a singing Pallas’s warbler on the track on the south side of the gas terminal came over the airwaves. After a couple of attempts it showed very nicely and at times was in full song- something that I’ve never heard before.

A wander down Beacon Lane produced lots of crests and the air was thick with the seeeep of redwings flying overhead and diving in and out of the bushes. Along the cliff top we’re at least 3 black redstarts and a lovely male stonechat.

A look in Crown and Anchor car park produced an all-too-brief eastern type lesser white throat. Church Field produced very brief views of a Mealey redpoll.

A ride back up to Easington in the afternoon produced nice views of a second Pallas’s warbler on Vicars Lane.

News of the little bunting at the Southend of the breach had me heading south.

It was a long trek over the sand but didn’t take long to locate the bunting and at times was as close as about 8ft.it was fascinating to watch it scurrying beneath the grasses in search of seeds coming out into full view only occasionally.

I managed to beat the rain back to the car and so day 1 came to an end.

Saturday dawned bright and breezy and I suspected that a lot of the birds may have moved on- wrong! All of the scarce birds were still present.

We had lovely views of a redwing from the caravan as well as plenty of crests and robins in the garden

We decided to have a wander down to the point. The most obvious feature of the morning was the visible migration. Wave after wave of finches, skylarks and meadow pipits were all streaming south.

We saw lots of goldcrests and chaff inches on the way down and there were even more birds at the point.

The best bird was a distant great grey shrike and the parade ground held a black redstart, fieldfares, redwings and song thrush.

A few late swallows were heading south accompanied by a house Martin. The highlight of the walk back was a great white egret flying south over the narrows.

I had a trip up to Easington in the afternoon and managed more views of the red-flanked bluetail and brief views of the Pallas’s warbler. I spent the last hour looking for the red-flanked bluetail at the football pitch but to no avail.

We watched the sun go down back at the caravan listening to a classic Autumn chorus of robins, blackbirds and redwings. A fox crept close to the caravan in the last rays of light.

Sunday morning was overcast and it was apparent that a lot of birds had moved out.

I looked again for the RFB at the football pitch and again it was a no-show.

I headed back to Kilnsea for a wander down Beacon Lane. Just a few thrushes but the walk back along the cliff top produced a couple of black redstarts and a stonechat.

There were still lots of birds around including good numbers of bramblings.

I got back for breakfast just in time to beat the rain, it didn’t put off a very mobile stoat giving great views as it made its way through the garden.

I went to canal scrape hide to sit out a torrential downpour that lasted nearly 3 hours. Despite the rain it was quite busy with brief and distant views of a jack snipe as well as a ring ouzel, black and bar-tailed godwits and a nice grey wagtail sometimes giving great views.

The day finished in glorious sunshine and a nice yellow-browned warbler in the Crown and Anchor car parkas well as lots of goldcrests.

At last Autumn has properly arrived creating classic east coast conditions. With great numbers of common migrants as well as a good few scarcities.

Spurn proved yet again that it is the premier location for watching wildlife in the UK.

The Kilnsea Barred Warbler

October 02, 2022

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.