An invite to spend the day birding at Spurn Reserve is a no brainer.
So I decided to make a stop-over as I knew it would be a very early morning start. I can thoroughly recommend Westmere Farm, Kilnsea – www.westmerefarm.co.uk – Sue & Andrew Wells made me feel very welcome. Sure enough I met Martin Garner at 5:45am this morning at the Warren, kicking off the day. There were plenty of roosting waders on the high tide and many were in summer plumage. Always good to see Grey Plover, Knot, Sanderling and Dunlin in breeding plumage. There are not many common British waders that can beat a summer plumaged Grey Plover. Still plenty of Dark-bellied Brent Geese around but little in the way of any “vis mig”.. Hey, anything can turn up at Spurn!!
We worked several areas, The Canal Bank, The Chalk Bank & the Point. Martin’s expert knowledge of Spurn was put to the test and I saw areas of the reserve that I had not seen before. Although it was a quiet day bird wise, Martin discovered a Spotted Flycatcher at the point & male Greenland Wheatear and a Tree Pipit along the Canal Bank, not an easy bird to identify confidently when crawling around in thick grass, away from the usual habitat where one expects to see Tree Pipit in May. A definite migrant. Later in the day I did manage to find a couple of Mediterranean Gulls at Beacon Ponds and late in the afternoon a Golden Oriole. Hope the old knee gets better Martin??
With Little Tern, a stray Barnacle Goose and numerous common migrants such as Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Blackcap, along with cracking views of Roe Deer and plenty of waders, it wasn’t a bad day.
With a few year ticks my year list moves on to 211.
IMAGES – No:1- male Blackbird, Beacon Lane, Kilnsea / Nos:3, 4 – Swallow, The Warren, Spurn / Nos: 5,6 – Mixed Waders, The Humber, Spurn (Can you guess how many species??- drop me an email) /
Nos: 7,8,9 – Studies of Roe Deer, Spurn Reserve / No:10 – Brown-tail Moth Caterpillars (massive infestation of these cocoons, the hairs off the caterpillar are a nasty irritant) No: 11 – Pretty sure this is a Drinker Moth Caterpillar / No: 12 – Mother Shipton – Canal Bank, Spurn.
