cliftonbirding: A better than expected day at Spurn

Monday 28 September 2015

A better than expected day at Spurn

I was out with Pete Watson today and we thought we’d do Spurn, there had been a couple of Yellow Browed Warblers yesterday and Easterlies forecast although it was going to be a nice day so we didn't expect anything great, it was a foggy start but had cleared by the time we got there, we started at Canal Scrape looking for a couple of Jack Snipe but they had hunkered themselves down and we couldn’t find them, thought we’d try again later. We went off to the Warren for our first Yellow Browed Warbler, a bit distant but it showed well, a second bird was trapped while we were there but happy with our views of the first one we went back to walk the triangle, a handful of common migrants were seen then our second Yellow Browed was in the Garden on the corner and across the road in the Crown and Anchor car park, while watching that we were informed a Red Breasted Flycatcher had been found along Beacon Lane, we high tailed it down there but found the bird had become rather elusive however as the crowd thinned out and after a patient wait it started showing well again, a nearby radio crackled Arctic Warbler at Driftwood Caravan site so off we went, smart bird showed well, a lifer for Pete, also our third Yellow Browed nearby and a Med Gull flew over. Mid-afternoon found us back at Canal Scrape, still no sign of any Jack Snipe but a Redstart and another Red Breasted Flycatcher were in the bushes there, it was on to Kilnsea Wetlands next where we enjoyed the spectacle of hundreds of Redshanks coming in to roost accompanied by smaller numbers of several other Wader species plus Little Egrets, last count was an impressive 28 birds, we ended the day at Sammy’s Point where a Barred Warbler eventually gave itself up, a fitting end to a really good better than expected day.