Spring More Like Winter

April 26, 2022

Well I had another nice trip to Spurn at the weekend and it has to be said, it felt more like winyer than Spring and the fare on offer was much closer to winter species than the hoped for Spring migrants.

An hour in Sykes Field upon my arrival gave nice views of a Siberian Chiff-Chaff and a few other chiffs and a calling willow warbler. A sedge warbler belted out his continuous mimicry but there was precious little else. A nagging northerly but a real bite in the air and I had plans to photograph waders on the Humber at dusk-I ditched that idea because quite frankly it was too cold.

I was up early on Saturday morning and a very muted sunrise made for a rather disappointing photo opportunities. Undeterred I headed for Kilnsea Wetlands. A combination of low tide and the biting wind resulted in an almost birdless quarter of an hour. The highlight being a flyover whimbrel-my first of the year.I moved out of the hide and upon getting back to the car I noticed that there were some brent geese quite close to the hide on. long bank marsh. In the absence of anything else I thought I would take a look. There were a few birds around at least. Brent, pale bellied brent and a black brant was some interesting variation. A few stock dove flitted around as did some skylarks.

Nothing was coming out over the radio so I made my way to Sammy’s Point. I walked up to the third paddock in the hope that the previous day’s hoopoe might make an appearance but no joy. A few singing whitethroats and blackcap reminded me that it was supposed to be Spring. The cold wind and cloud was telling me different.

Eventually the sun broke through and I had an hour back at Sykes field photographing swallows. That was pretty much it for the day.

Sunday morning dawned clearer and brighter. The sunrise was again unspectacular but at least it was bright.

Nothing again on the wetlands so back to Long Bank Marsh. The brent geese were quite close to the hide and it was good for flight shots as the grounded flock were joined by more as they left the mud of the humber for the grass of Long Bank Marsh.

Curlew, lapwing and snipe were distant but looked good in the early morning light and they were joined by an equally distant whimbrel. 2 yellow wagtails flew overhead.

A quick tour round of Sammy’s Point, canal scrape and Sykes Field produced very little else, so back to the van for breakfast.

A flyby raven was only my second for Spurn, alas the camera wasn’t to hand.

The day ended with a walk up Beacon Lane and past Beacon Ponds a lesser whitethroat called from deep in the bushes and ringed plover were displaying in the sand dunes.

A couple of avocet were the highlight on a very rough Beacon Ponds.

Until next time, thanks for reading

Spring Arrives at Spurn

April 18, 2022

A fleeting stopover at Spurn this weekend was most enjoyable- since our last visit it seemed like Spurn had stepped out of winter into early Spring.

We were greeted by overhead swallows as we pulled up to our caravan, what a lovely welcome.

It immediately became obvious that there had been an influx of common migrants as a tuneful but distant sedge warbler was accompanied by both chiff-chaff and willow warbler.

A quick look over Sykes Field produced nothing out of the ordinary but a very close encounter with a very surprised roe deer was nice.

I had an evening look at Beacon Ponds on Saturday and the recently arrived pair of red-breasted mergansers were still on view, albeit distantly then a quick look on Kilnsea Wetlands delivered my first yellow wagtail of the year-a spangly yellow jewell lit up by evening light. A feeding first year little gull was another highlight as well as a small group of sand martins feeding over the water briefly before drifting off north.

Sunday morning dawned beautifully. A low mist created some nice atmosphere and the sunrise was a hazy mix of purples and reds.

Given that we had a stiff south-easterly wind for most of Saturday, the day dawned with high expectations.

There were common waders and wildfowl on the Wetlands but nothing new since the night before. Onward to Sammy’s Point and the mist prevailed.

A pair of marsh harriers were hunting distantly towards Welwick and one started to journey south, halted and startled by my presence it made a dramatic u-turn.

My first whitethroat of the year was busily gathering nesting material-then out of nowhere a fine male sparrowhawk popped up right on the branch the whitethroat had been on only seconds earlier.

The morning ended with a fine sight of 5 jays heading south in formation calling intermittently as they approached the point where estuary meets the sea- undeterred, they carried on south.

The last couple of highlights was a flock of barnacle geese heading north and a dapper looking fox crossing the field in front of the caravan.

Not the hoped for Spring migrant fest, however the Springtime feel to the trip more than made up for

Bempton

April 04, 2022

I started the first day of my 2 week holiday wondering if the off-shore wind would have an effect on the albatross that has re-appeared at Bempton. An alert from Birdguides told me it was still there any by 9.30 I was perched on the windswept cliff top in eager anticipation.

No smash and grab today- my attention was soon diverted to other stuff. There were plenty of guillemots and razorbills and a few puffins that were staying low and out of photographic range.

Gannets were doing their usual thing as were the kittiwakes and the odd flyby fulmar. A couple of shags were feeding below on the sea. A passing peregrine falcon caused a brief flurry of activity-the albatross however remained rooted to the rocks.

I tried my hand at photographing incoming razorbills with limited succes, however this does have some potential for a more unusual shot.

I began to make my way back around 2.30 and as I passed the next viewpoint, the albatross had shown some signs of movement. I made my way back to Staple Newk and within 10 minutes it took flight and flew directly out to sea. It stayed there for a further 15 minutes then made its way back in. By tghis time the light was not as good as earlier.

A couple of flybys and it then settled on its favoured ledge just out of sight.

Still a thrilling bird to see and hopefully the first of a few trips this year.