The Spurn Two Barred Warbler

October 18, 2021

Well, it’s been an interesting weekend.

Saturday dawned bright and breezy with a wind from the west so anyone could be forgiven for thinking that it wasn’t to be a classic birding day, and it wasn’t up until around 3pm.

News of a red-breasted flycatcher at Flamborough stirred some minor interest for me, if it had been a male in its finery I might have thought about going. In other news there was a report of a yellow browed warbler and some bearded tits at Spurn. All was well and I was content in the knowledge that my planned fishing trip for the Sunday was not in danger of being overshadowed by any dramatic bird news.

Late afternoon and all of that changed. The red breasted flycatcher had been re-identified as a Taiga Flycatcher and only the 5th for Britain. The yellow browed warbler had been re-identified as a 2 Barred Greenish Warbler- a first for Spurn and only the 8th for Britain.

I could only hope that at least one stayed a second night so I could go out to see it on Monday (given that I am half way through a 2 week holiday).

Well the Taiga Flycatcher predictably disappeared overnight but the 2 barred warbler stayed on at Spurn and thankfully was present again this morning.

At first it was viewable from the roadside next to canal hedge. It then moved into the Canal Bushes and regularly completed a wide ranging circuit giving the assembled crowd some decent views, albeit sometimes fleeting.

The Two Barred Greenish Warbler is a very rare Autumn vagrant in Europe. It normally breeds in Central and Eastern Siberian taiga. If this is accepted it will be the 400th bird species recorded in the Spurn area, I feel privileged to have been able to see it and photograph it.

There was a movement of redwings overhead as the rain started as well as a few goldcrests which showed at least some signs of migration.

An Autumn Day in East Yorkshire

October 16, 2021

I had a nice day out in East Yorkshire yesterday.

The morning dawned bright and I headed out to my favourite place-the Spurn peninsula.

Nothing too dramatic about the ride out although a skein of pink footed geese against the morning sunrise was a nice start.

I headed for the beach at Kilnsea to start with in the hope of some passage wildfowl or sea birds but there was very little on offer.

My next port of call was the Warren and apart from a few finches, again it was very quiet.

News of a snow bunting on the foreshore near the tank blocks crackled over the airwaves, so I headed for the canal banking. On the way I was fortunate enough to have a very brief encounter with a flock of 10 bearded tits before they took flight and headed south.

The snow bunting was typically oblivious to anyones presence so allowed for some nice photos in the early morning light.

It became apparent that there was not a lot about so I headed for the churchyard in the hope of getting a view of the recently arrived Western Bonelli’s Warbler. however it was not to be.

The Church Field can be good at this time of year and yesterday was no exception. Lesser redpolls feeding on seeds and joined by a brambling were a nice autumnal treat.

I had a drive up to Sammy’s Point but again it was very quite. A family of grey partridge were looking resplendent in the sunshine and a common buzzard sat briefly by the side of a dyke.

At around lunchtime, with news of a Western Bonelli’s Warbler at Flamborough, my resolve finally broke and I made my way north.

An hour and a half later I was watching a neat rarity from the Mediterranean (only my third ever-but strangely my second this week following very brief views of the one at Spurn on Tuesday).

It was on a circuit around the pines on a lovely south facing section of the footpath network around south landing. The combination of shelter from the wind and heat from the sun made for the most pleasant of viewing conditions.

Waders at the Wetlands

August 08, 2021

In the last week I have spent 3 sessions just in the hide at Kilnsea Wetlands and it has bee fantastic.

This time of year is always great for waders and this year it has been no exception (there’s still more to come) but when you have the added attraction of herons, gulls and terns, sometimes its difficult to know where to look.

Waders have included white-rumped sandpiper, curlew sandpiper, wood sandpier, common sandpiper, curlew, whimbrel, bar-tailed godwit, black-tailed godwit, lapwing, snipe, dunlin, ringed plover, little ringed plover, knot, redshank and greenshank.

There has been some fantastic performances by the three semi-resident spoonbills as well as a quite a showy great white egret, high counts of little egrets and the odd grey heron.

Gulls have included common, little, black-headed great black-backed, mediterranean and caspian and there has been a good number of sandwich terns, little terns and common terns.

Kilnsea Wetlands is one of those places that has its best times for viewing. Its always best over high tide and the bigger the tide the more birds there are as the water rising on the humber pushes the birds off and they relocate for a few hours on the wetlands. Big tides invariably occur either early morning or in the evening and if you get the timing right you could plan a visit that includes two high tides.

There has been the added distraction of birds of prey with marsh harrier, sparrowhawk, kestrel and peregrine falcon as well as a short-eared owl.

Mid-day and low tide is the wrong combination and would normally result in seeing the least activity, combined with the harsh mid-day light its best avoided.

All in all it is a truly magnificent place ant arguably at its peak at this time of year.