August 2023 - trip to UK (part b)
/Wednesday 30th August 2023
The weather conditions were still looking pretty meh for attracting rare birds but there was nothing nearby to twitch either, so we hit the Spurn area again for our third day. We started at Sammy’s Point for some different scenery - the point which is literally not a point, and is more or less concave. It did appear a little more migrant-y than in recent days and I saw a few Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and a Reed Warbler in the Hawthorns. The skies were big and, high above me, I picked up a couple of falcons racing around which revealed themselves to be Hobbies. They gave a brief show chasing each other around before drifting off to the south. We moved on to Kilnsea and had a walk up Beacon Lane where the best ‘birds’ were a Lesser Whitethroat and a Hummingbird Hawk-moth.
Roe Deer - Beacon Lane, Spurn, 30 Aug 23
We spent a lot of the afternoon back at Kilnsea Wetlands watching the birds coming to and fro, it was always a busy place whenever we stopped there. There was mostly a similar selection of wader species as we had in the first two days, just in different amounts. On the furthest pond there was a lovely, showy Little Stint which fed along the water’s edge in front of us.
Easington Lagoons, 30 Aug 23
Little Stint - Easington Lagoon, 30 Aug 23
Little Stint - Easington Lagoon, 30 Aug 23
LRP - Easington Lagoon, 30 Aug 23
lITTLE gREBES, Pintails, Teals, Ringed Plover & Knot - Easington Lagoons, 30 Aug 23
Whinchat - Kilnsea Wetlands, 30 Aug 23
The highlight was again the Short-eared Owls, probably the same three birds, which appeared from nowhere to hunt in the sunshine. We were in a much better location this time and we had excellent views of them from the top of the embankment, sometimes very close to us indeed. We also had a Barn Owl briefly at the top of the hill.
Short-eared Owl - Kilnsea Wetlands, 30 Aug 23
Short-eared Owl - Kilnsea Wetlands, 30 Aug 23
Short-eared Owl - Kilnsea Wetlands, 30 Aug 23
Kilnsea Wetlands, 30 Aug 23
Just as we were leaving the hide for the evening, rather peculiarly, a Common Sandpiper took flight and flew about a bit before landing on the sill of the hide window, just a yard in front of me, sticking its head inside the hide. It quickly realised its error and belted off again before any bewildered birders could grab a photo. So another day gone with not even a sniff of a scarcity. Andy had to return home so we bid him farewell.
Thursday 31st August 2023
Another day with nothing nearby to go twitch so we headed back down to the peninsula to find some stuff ourselves. Again just one or two migrants were noted as we made our way from the visitor centre southwards, but there were a few Short-eared Owls over the saltmarsh and estuary. As we were chatting by the Warren ringing area someone came over with a fabulous Grasshopper Warbler. Smashing to see one up close like this.
Grasshopper Warbler - Spurn, 31 Aug 23
Grasshopper Warbler - Spurn, 31 Aug 23
The word then got out that a Barred Warbler had been found not that long ago just past the breach. We were not that far away so we wandered down there to try to see this scarce species that I actually first ticked at Spurn a mere 34 years ago. By the time we got across the sand a passing birder told us that it had already made its was further down the point and was moving fast! The weather was sunny and we gave it some real welly and made it all the way down to the lighthouse nearly before we decided to give up. There were some birds to see during our hike though, including a Cuckoo, a couple of Lesser Whitethroats, at least 8 Skylarks, a Tree Pipit and quite a lot of Whitethroats. In hindsight, it probably was not worth the six mile yomp.
Looking down Spurn Peninsula/Island from the breach with our destination, the lighthouse, in the distance
Southern Hawker - Spurn peninsula, 31 Aug 23
Returning up the peninsula rather wearily
Back around the visitor centre there were a few migrants in the bushes and I had a Pied Flycatcher and Lesser Whitethroat next to each other in a Willow tree. It looked a little more promising but we still couldn’t dig anything out. We headed back to the caravan in the afternoon, packed everything up and said our goodbyes for another year. I returned north to spend another evening in Driffield before the long drive south the next day.