14 October 2023 - Spurn
« Newer | Older »Long-tailed Duck, Caspian Gull, American Wigeon, Arctic Skua, Whooper Swans, Bramblings, Hen Harrier, Marsh Harrier
Had a day out to Spurn with Andrew and Simon, though the winds were south-easterly; totally in the wrong direction! We still had some good birding though.
We started at Kilnsea Wetlands where from the hide the juvenile Long-tailed Duck was showing albeit at the back of the pools. We spent some time scanning through the waders and ducks and spotted a young Caspian Gull at one point, which stood out somewhat from the other large gulls with its clean white head. Other birds here included Golden Plover, Avocets, Black-tailed Godwits and a single Knot, as well as a good selection of duck species.
We moved on to Beacon Ponds where we were able to fairly quickly pick up the semi-resident drake American Wigeon amongst hundreds of Eurasian Wigeon. Again it was rather distant, but was noticeable for having a lot of white on the flanks. There were good numbers of Little Grebes here, and a Reed Bunting landed briefly nearby but otherwise was relatively quiet.
Onto Canal Scrape, where there had been a Jack Snipe. We stayed for some time looking at the spot behind a white stick where it had last been seen, and suddenly it showed extremely briefly, just the top of its head and back, before ducking down and disappearing again. Not very good views at all, and Simon didn't even see it, as his camera card was full and he was busy deleting photos to make some room!
After that we wandered down to the North Sea shore and did a bit of seawatching while we worked our way towards the Warren. The best bird we saw on the sea was a fairly close dark-phase Arctic Skua, though there were a few Gannets going past, and several Red-throated Divers.
Back near the Warren, Andrew heard a Brambling calling, and we were able to get onto a couple of them briefly in a Hawthorn before they disappeared. We strolled back up towards Kilnsea, hoping for Yellow-browed, but didn't have any luck. At one point we had Brent Geese and Whooper Swans over, but we decided to cut our losses and head back in the direction of Patrington where some Short-eared Owls had been showing on the Humber salt marsh. It was getting late by the time we found the parking spot, though we did have a Ring-tail Hen Harrier go past us just as we stopped, and a few Marsh Harriers were out on the marsh, though no sign of any SEOs unfortunately.
Caspian Gull, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 100 (view full size image)
American Wigeon, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 160 (view full size image)
Reed Bunting, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 125 (view full size image)
Gannets, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 125 (view full size image)
Brambling, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 250
Goldcrest, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 3200 (view full size image)