What a weekend!

May 17, 2022

Well its difficult to know where to begin to describe how awesome the last weekend was!

I’ll start with Friday night. We arrived to hear that the red-rumped swallows discovered earlier in the day were still hanging around. The last report I heard was they were at Grange Farm so I set off in that direction. Ian Smiths car on his drive wasnt a good sign but I pressed on, pulling up at Grange Farm a minute later. I hadn’t thought that Ian might be on his bike (which he was!) firstly I looked up and saw 2 red-rumped swallows right in front of me, I then realised that there were 3 birders watching from the private viewing platform at Yew Cottage. Pete Wragg called me up and I spent the best part of an hour admiring and photographing the two red-rumped swallows in gorgeous evening light in the most idyllic setting. What a start to the weekend-a experience that will stay in the memory for a long while. As the light faded, the swallows drifted off and so did I. I had already clocked up 980 photos and it was only Friday night!

I was up before dawn on Saturday and made my way to Kilnsea Wetlands. The star bird there was a spoonbill posing in front of the hide. I made my way to Beacon Ponds for sunrise and was treat to a distant but entertaining display from the newly arrived little terns-always nice to see.

News of a summer plumaged great-northern diver at the Warren had me hurrying back to the car. By the time I got on the road, it had drifted north to near the Blue bell. Quickly I got out of the car and managed a view as it drifted by.

Next was canal scrape and at last the cygnets had hatched and proud parents were busy feeding their 7 youngsters. A couple of jays flew south along the canal.

I then headed off towards Sammy’s Point. I headed up to the third paddock accompanied by a few wheatear on the rocks and 3 whimbrel stayed close for a photo before heading upriver to a quieter spot.

The third paddock held lots of common warblers and the highlight was a spotted flycatcher and a very obliging short-eared owl. More wheatears on the way back and then a bird I didn’t recognise flew swiftly past along the drain opposite. It landed briefly in the first paddock and I got the briefest view as it walked out of sight-a turtle dove! Unfortunately somewhat of a rarity these days. I hoped it would stay for a photo but as I walked round into the car park area I could see that it had taken flight and continued its journey westwards.

I headed to cliff farm area and had a look in the Crown and Anchor car park. Nothing doing so went to the churchyard and had some lovely views of two spotted flycatchers in dappled light. A holly blue posed nicely among the bluebells.

I went back to the caravan for a brew and some breakfast and chatted with my wife Jo about where we would go for a walk. We sat on Wozza’s bench in Sykes field for a while and set off for a walk round the triangle. I scanned a few fenceposts and commented-’today looks like a day for a red-backed shrike’.

We set off and were delighted by the number of orange tips on the wing. A hairy dragonfly near the canal was a nice find. As we walked along the bank news of a probable brown shrike in the triangle crackled over the radio airwaves. We walked the 20m to the birders who had found it and sure enough a very smart brown shrike was sat on the hedgerow. What a cracker and only the second for Spurn. We carried on our journey as excitement grew and people were hurrying to get a view. Twitch on!

I got to the caravan and the shrike had taken flight and settled on Rose cottage hedge-literally straight in front of the van! It stayed loyal to the same spot all afternoon and we enjoyed pleasant sunshine and great company along with periodic views of the shrike as it occasionally sat out on full view.

Later that evening we had a barbecue. Steak and chicken must have given off an irresistible smell to the local fox. He literally came into the garden and wasn’t put off as I went out to get my camera. He’s clearly been in the wars as he’s only got one eye! He let me get a few photos and went off in search of his supper.

The forecast for Sunday was cloudy but you never know at Spurn. I decided to be up before dawn anyhow and fortunately I wasn’t disappointed. The sunrise was stunning and the fact that there were broken clouds prolonged the effect for about an hour. Waders and little terns were the target and whilst everything was distant the light and the whole experience of watching a magical sunrise was another highlight of many.

The rest of Sunday was spent relaxing and reflecting on a special weekend at a very special place.

Green Hairstreaks at Spurn

May 04, 2022

We stayed at Spurn over the weekend and given that Saturday was planned to be the sunniest day, we thought that would be the best day for a trip to the point.

I thought that there would be a good chance of seeing a green hairstreak or two as late April/early May is right in the flight season.

We didn’t see much in terms of butterflies until after we crossed the breach. The odd small white and peacock and then on the narrows a small brownish butterfly took flight and it was flying erratically in a southerly direction- I wondered what it could be as I was only expecting green hairstreaks to be at the point. It soon settled and to my surprise it was our first green hairstreak of the day. Not long after there was another, then another.

We continued towards the point and saw more small whites and singles of red admiral, green-veined white and orange tip. Just past the lighthouse there was a large privet type bush and there must have been at least 7 or 8 in that single location. There were more as we approached the VTS tower abd another 4 on the privets there. We carried on towards the point and saw another 6 by the time we got to the green beaconand a similar number as we looped round towards the lifeboat jetty.

By the time we started heading back the wind had got up a bit but there were still a few more on the wing.

This was easily the best count of green hairstreak I have had at Spurn. Whether the recent cold weather has delayed the emergence until Saturday when conditions were almost perfect I dont know.

The combination of sunlight and a fresh emergence really did show these charismatic butterflies in their best light.

Yet another memorable wildlife encounter at Spurn. Fantastic!

May Day Break at Spurn

May 03, 2022

Well what a weekend that was!

Just getting through the photos from a long weekend at Spurn was a job in itelf but that only tells half the story.

From watching foxes and hares as we ate our tea to a (record?) emergence of green hairstreaks to a dusk walk that revealed some of the sounds at Spurn that would otherwise go unnoticed, this weekend had it all. To quote my wife Joanne, ‘its like watching a life episode of Springwatch’.

It started with a quick trip up to Sammy’s point on Friday night and in clear blue skies 3 ring ouzels, 3 fieldfares and a yellow wagtail fed out in the open in glorious sunshine, punctuated by brief views of a stunning male redstart. As dusk approached and watching from the caravan we were treat to close views of a fox, a couple of hares and after sunset the bats appeared- what a great start!

I set the alarm for 4.30 on Saturday morning and was on Kilnsea wetlands for 5.00. No real movement of waders (I expected a few coming in off the Humber coinciding with high tide) but still there were a few egrets and herons as well as the predictable common wildfowl. A flyover spoonbill at 5.36 was the highlight.

I made my way to Sammy’s Point as the sun gained height, my target was grasshopper warbler and cuckoo-no sign of either but the rapturous chorus of warblers indicated a marked increase from last week.

At the first paddock there was still a ring ouzel and a couple of fieldfares and more common warblers including a showy whitethroat with oilseed rape in the background making for a lovely photo opportunity.

Next stop was Canal Scrape-it was only a brief visit as it was very quiet, I thought I would check out Southfield Farm as my next port of call. No sooner as I parked up a bird flew over my shoulder and landed on the tree in front. It immediately caught my eye as being something unusual and so it proved to be=a wryneck. It was probably the one that has been hanging around for a couple of days, however it didnt stay still for long and it flew off in the direction of Blue Bell car park.

Given there was little ‘new’ stuff around we elected to go for a walk down to Spurn Point in the afternoon. It was pretty quiet bird-wise with just a trickle of swallows heading south and the odd meadow pipit and linnet. Also with the tide being out all of the waders were just distant dots on the low-water mark. The lack of birds was more than made up by the amount of butterflies on the wing. Plenty of small whites, a few peacocks and singles of green-veined white, orange tip and small tortoiseshell-the undoubted stars of the show were green hairstreak. From the narrows down to the point we counted at lest 25 and that was without looking too hard. This was even more remarkable given that there were no green hairstreaks the day before. There must have been a mass emergence and all were in pristine condition-fantastic.

The walk back from the point seemed longer than the walk there but we were back at the caravan or late afternoon. I had another quick visit to Southfield Farm and a distant whinchat was my first of the year. I went to photograph a yellow wagtail on a roadside muck heap, although cloud rolling in off the sea killed off any decent photographic opportunity.

Sunday was forecast to be cloudy and so it was. I thought I’d try a spot of watching visible migration. There was a steady stream of hirundines heading south, the highlight being a Jay and a pod of porpoises feeding off shore.

In the afternoon a cuckoo first heard calling from the caravan then seeing flying accross the triangle was a highlight.

On Sunday evening I had a walk along canal bank in the hope of better views of the wryneck-there was no sign but a flyby from the resident barn owl was nice.

On Sunday evening we went for a walk at dusk. It was almost silent nut interesting to hear birds calling. Wrens, carrion crow, blackbirds, moorhen were all evident but a flyover snipe was the highlight. That was a memorable experience and no doubt we will be doing that more often.

On Monday morning I headed to Beacon Ponds in the hope of seeing one of the newly arrived little terns. I could hear them distantly but couldn’t see them. I headed again to Sammy’s Point but there was nothing of note. I went to the Humber bank with the hope of a flight shot of a whimbrel. No luck with that but a flyby short-eared owl was nice. I called in at the churchyard for a newly arrived spotted flycatcher which remained flighty in the tree-tops.

Our last walk of the weekend involved a walk up to chalky point-the most obvious sight was up to a dozen wheatear flicking up off the path and on to the rocks as we walked along. We made our way towards Long Bank and were rewarded with fantastic views of a marsh harrier, then a newly emerged orange tip posed nicely for a photograph.

The day ended with a very brief visit to Sammy’s Point car park where a pristine male redstart posed nicely in the bushes.

Whilst nothing particularly rare this trip epitomised spring at Spurn. Plenty of new arrivals, birdsong wherever you went and a sprinkling of nice butterflies for good measure.There is no doubt that Spurn in my mind is the number 1 place for wildlife watching in the UK.

Until next time…

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What a weekend!

Green Hairstreaks at Spurn

May Day Break at Spurn