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| New visitor centre, Spurn Point. (pic credit - Sally Henderson) |
A trip out and overnight stay at
Spurn Point last week was bang on for early returning waders and a good opportunity to check out the new visitor centre and other recent changes at this fantastic
YWT nature reserve.
Spurn was as good as ever and we bagged a great haul of birds but have to say I was a bit miffed to have my stay at the campsite questioned just because I was displaying YWT car stickers! The much publicized dispute between local birders and the YWT over the citing of the new visitor centre continues to rumble on then! Both sides have a point and its easy enough to check out the issues on social media so not something I want to dwell on here, escept to say that as visiting birders we dont need 'awkward' situations on campsites. The sooner the whole thing is resolved the better!
Rant over and these are my personal views as a lifelong visiting birder to Spurn. Lets get back to celebrating the wildlife this place has to offer yeah?
This time of year and right through the autumn this has to be one of the best places in the UK to observe wading birds as they return from up north after breeding. Common and rare they all put in an appearance at Spurn - 3,000
Knot and twice as many
Dunlin were the big numbers when we were there with big flocks of
Golden, Ringed &
Grey Plover, Sanderling, Turnstone, Curlew, Redshank, smaller numbers of
Black &
Bar Tailed Godwits, Avocet, Greenshank, Ruff &
Whimbrel. Green, Common and
Curlew Sandpiper around too plus the odd
Wood Sandpiper - not many UK waders I haven't mentioned there!
Most photogenic were the mass flocks of
Knot and
Dunlin feeding at high tide around
Kilnsea Wetlands and
Beacon Ponds and when a passing
Peregrine put them all up it made for a wonderful spectacle.
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| Dunlin flock, Beacon Ponds, Spurn, 03/08/18 |
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| Knot & Dunlin, Beacon Ponds, Spurn, 03/08/18 |
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| Knot flock, Beacon Ponds, Spurn, 03/08/18 |
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| Knot, Beacon Ponds, Spurn, 03/08/18 |
Best thing about waders at this time of the year is that they're nearly all still in breeding plumage and Knot in particular look great when the light catches their orange bellies, look at these beauties!
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| Knot, Beacon Ponds, Spurn, 03/08/18 |
Just as impressive a lone
Black Tailed Godwit in the flock that I managed to isolate ...
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| Black Tailed Godwit, Beacon Ponds, Spurn, 03/08/18 |
Spending an hour or so with the
Spurn Observatory 'counters' at the seawatch hide was a good insight into the dedication of these guys as they called out a steady southerly passage of waders, terns, Swifts and assorted hirundines ... "15
Swichers south" (Sandwich Terns), "6
Oycs south" (Oystercatchers) - love some these local
colloquialisms! Reassuring too to hear their occassional misidentifications between passing Sanderling and Dunlin because we'd been doing that all day!
To be fair the light was 'glary' and when there's flock after flock, often mixed, it can be tricky. These are Sanderling with at least one in almost full summer plumage.
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| Sanderling south, Spurn, 02/08/18 |
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"Swicher south" (Juv Sandwich Tern), Spurn, 03/08/18
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| Avocet (juv), Kilnsea Wetlands, 03/08/18 |
Poor views of both
Wood Sandpiper and
Curlew Sandpiper at
Kilnsea Wetlands prevented any decent photo opps but to be honest it was the extreme heat in this crazy summer we're having that really prevented me from trying harder! This juvenile
Avocet was easy enough though...right in front of the hide at Kilnsea, likewise a flock of returning
Whimbrel from the camp site ... what a luxury to be sat down and reclining, cold beer in one hand, camera in the other whilst scanning the skies for for passage birds!
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| Whimbrel south, Spurn, 02/08/18 |
Decent numbers of passing
Common Swifts, Swallows and
Sand Martins were a nice compliment to the more obvious southerly drift of waders and there was also a small influx of skulking
Pied Flycatchers on the 2nd day we were there.
Yellow Wagtails were present in good numbers, especially around our campsite, mainly juvs and probable local breeding birds but I also saw several south over the seashore.
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| Yellow Wagtail (juv) & Goldfinch (juv), Spurn, 02/08/18 |
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| Yellow Wagtail (juv), Bluebell campsite, Spurn, 02/08/18 |
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| Lesser Whitethroat, Beacon Lane, Spurn, 03/08/18 |
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With temperatures approaching 30c mid morning the hedgerows and reedbeds were unsurprisingly quiet but warblers were there alright with both
Common and
Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warblers, Sedge and
Reed Warblers all quietly going about their business.
Butterflies aplenty, almost clouds of them, was a very welcome sight with many
Whites, Brimstones, Meadow Browns, Ringlets, Commas, Blues, and
Small Heaths I wouldn't have been unsurprised at a
Clouded Yellow but several
Painted Ladies were a good second best!
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| Painted Lady, Spurn, 03/08/18 |
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| Emporer Dragonfly, Spurn Obs centre pond, 03/08/18 |
Lots of dragonflies floating around the patch too including this superb female
Emporer ovipositing in the pond at the new
Spurn Obs centre where I have to say the birding platform there is top class and provides superbs views across the reserve.
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| Little Tern, Spurn, 03/08/18 |
Last but not least here's a breeding success of sorts. The small colony of
Little Terns has decreased year on year here, mainly due to disturbance and irresponsible dog walkers but at least one pair raised a youngster this year. I saw 20+ here a decade ago, 5 this year as I strolled along the beach adjacent to
Beacon Ponds.
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| Little Tern, adult and Juv, Spurn, 03/08/18 |
All in all a very productive and enjoyable overnighter and with the autumn approaching I'm sure it'll be the first of several visits.
