Spurn in Spring

Well what a fabulous weekend at Spurn that was. Nothing rare but just nice to get out and experience the diversity of the wildlife on offer at Spurn.

I started at Kilnsea Wetlands on Friday evening and almost straight away was treat to sme fantastic views of the spoonbill that arrived earlier in the day. 3 Pink-footed geese flew over then landed for a short while and then a flock of waders flew close to the hide, mainly redshank but included a single greenshank and 5 black-tailed godwits in various stages of summer finery.

The resident barn owl gave an obligatory fly-by before it was time for tea.

I have bought a new moth trap and despite the windy conditions I thought I’d give it a try-while setting it up a fox meandered its way between the highland cattle as dusk approached.

I was up early on Saturday and checked the moth trap-the grand total of two hebrew characters was somewhat underwhelming so I made my way back to Long Bank Marsh. First bird was a wheatear on top of the hide-first one of the year-it was fairly quiet but I did manage distant views of the green-winged teal and a ring ouzel that had dropped into a hedgerow before making its way towards Sammy’s Point. The barn owl was out patrolling the boundaries of Long Bank Marsh and a few common waders were feeding over the exposed mud.

I headed out to Sammy’s Point which was also quiet but then went to the north end of the gas terminal at Easington. There was a rather spectacular sight of 29 wheatear feeding on the rocks and a small group of sand martins flying south over the sea.

A small copse held a surprising number of birds including some vocal willow warblers and another first for the year in the form of a whitethroat.

I made my way back for a spot of breakfast. I had a wander around Kilnsea in the afternoon and whilst conditions were not great for butterflies I still managed two peacocks, a small tortoiseshell, a green-veined white and a speckled wood.

Overnight I set up the trail camera which produced two badgers and a woodmouse in our caravan garden.

I was up early again on Sunday morning and again headed to a very windy Kilnsea Wetlands. The spoonbill was there briefly before flying high south. A marsh harrier was hunting over Long Bank Marsh and a peregrine flew over Kilnsea Wetlands whilst a distant short eared owl was at the east end of Kilnsea Wetlands. News of a bearded tit had me heading towards the canal and whilst the windy conditions didnt help I had quite a few flight views.

I finished the morning with some waders over the humber from the gate.

I finished the trip with yet another first for the year-an orange tip on the outskirts of Easington as I drove out.

So ended another fantastic trip to the wildlife watching Mecca that is Spurn.

Until next time, thanks for reading.

The Burton Riggs Red-Necked Grebe

I had a drive up to Burton Riggs on Sunday. Overcast at first but the sun came out in the last hour of daylight.

Chiff-chaffs singing, fish jumping a beautiful setting sun.

For a couple of hours all seemed good in the world…

Late Winter At Spurn

Judging by the weather on Saturday morning I could have renamed this post early Spring at Spurn as the weather was gorgeous!

I was up early and headed for Kilnsea Wetlands. The sunrise lit up the sky and put some beautiful colours on the flat calm water.

Spring was definitely in the air as skylarks, meadow pipits and curlews were all trying to out-compete each other.

The resident barn owl turned up on cue and common wildfowl duly obliged. The resident whooper swan flock remained distant at the back of the reserve.

After sunrise I headed off for Skeffling. I had a rather optimistic target of the pallid harrier. The main thing that struck me at Skeffling were the two dead whales. Apparently some samples had been taken and it was a shame to see what is a most undignified end to the lives of two magnificent creatures. Alas there was no pallid harrier but again more skylarks and meadow pipits. Waders remained distant but a flock opposite Welwick saltmarsh were unsettled by a raptor that was just too distant to identify.

I headed back to Kilnsea around mid-morning and there was the odd chiff-chaff singing which was nice. Long-tailed tits were nestbuilding and small tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies were on the wing.

It started to cloud over in the afternoon and a coolish breeze off the sea picked up reminding me that it was still winter after all.

I headed home and arrived in a rain shower but content in the thought that I had had another cracking session at Uk’s wildlife Mecca.