Wednesday 18 August 2010

Spurn's Autumn Migration

Whimbrel
Kestrel (juv)
Kestrel (Juv) White-winged Black Tern
White-winged Black Tern (bathing) with Black-headed Gull (foreground) & Little Gulls (right)
White-winged Black Tern & Little Gulls
Little Egrets
Little Egret
Grey (or, as I prefer Silver) Plovers
Pied Flycatchers
Roe Deer (doe)
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
Mute Swan
Common Frog
Painted Lady
Wall Brown


Silver-Y Moth
Common Blue
Common Blue
It may seem depressing to say it but the Autumn migration at Spurn is in full swing. On Saturday 17 Pied Flycatchers were seen, as well as a much scarcer Citringe Wagtail and others. This blog post contains phots taken on Saturday, Monday & today. On Monday most of the exciting birds of the weekend had either cleared off, or were hunkered down in the strong westerly winds. We (Vince & I) did see some Willow Warblers and Whitethroats, and this was the case today. However, one of the biggest surprises today was a Treecreeper half-way down the point. Those of you who know Spurn will understand why this is so unusual. It is the first of this species I've seen there in the 3 decades I've been visiting, but they are occasionally seen in small numbers at this time of year and in October. There were about 60+ Grey Plovers at Chalk Bank at high tide, plus breeding plumaged Bar-tailed Godwits, Knot & Dunlin. There were also 2 Peregrines around, and we found a large female in a field in Sammy's Point keeping her beady eye on 30+ Golden Plovers. We (Jim, Graham & I) also saw a juvenile Cuckoo, but the best bird in the area was the long-staying White-winged Black Tern at Hornsea Mere. Unfortunately, the very confiding Whimbrel at the top of this blog post has a broken leg. It can fly OK, but its right leg was facing backwards instead of forwards! All we need it are a few north-easterly winds in the next few weeks and there should be lots of interesting species seen at Spurn.

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