randombirder

A quick dash from the hotel to Spurn for sunrise.  A decent crowd had already assembled that built up through the subsequent hour or so.  Standing by the Discovery Centre, the two-barred warbler was seen to dart into a Sycamore and then for the duration - gave the coffin dodgers a right old hobble-around. Such a smart bird, finally showed well at the end of the tree line, zipping around, stationary for few fleeting moments, voraciously feeding as it moved in and out of the foliage.  Great to watch - ending an extraordinary couple of days in Yorkshire.

We're fortunate in the UK to enjoy hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline - the geopolitics of being an island nation certainly has it's disbenefits, but what it does to enhancing biodiversity is unrivalled. However, a few places possess real magic.  Spurn is definitely one of them.  It's a long old slog to get there - I hadn't planned this trip - a spontaneous decision during the early part of Friday evening had me heading up the A1 for an overnight stop near Lincoln, a nice dinner and a couple of beers. The weather was glorious - arriving just before 8am, I headed straight down for the eastern subalpine warbler only realising afterwards that I had walked straight passed a bluethroat that showed intermittantly at the end of the canal by the Warren. The warbler however was much more obliging - a real cracker of a bird - one that makes trips like this so worthwhile.  Disappering for short periods, it would then pop out, and on occasions popping around close to the pat...

A much better day today but it was blowing a gale despite the bright conditions.  First stop was for the juvenile Rosy Starling that finally showed itself in a hedge by the cottages on Hull Road. The Red-breasted Flycatcher in the Crown and Anchor car park was typically elusive but two clear views of the bird was really satisfying with the Pied Flycatcher still present there. There was interest at Kilnsea Wetlands with the two continuing Little Stint there along with two transitional plumaged Knot , five Ruff , 2 Black-tailed Godwit , and a first and second winter Mediterranean Gull . Birds were moving through and a distant Short-eared Owl in-off the sea was a welcome sight.  The walk back to the car park produced a first year male Common Redstart that showed nicely in the solitary bush there. Sea-watching from the hide too delivered interest particularly in the form of a ring-tailed Hen Harrier that battled the breeze in the company of a  Marsh Harrier ...

I headed out of the Hope and Anchor pub as the light began to fade away for one last scan of the trees that surround the car park.  Birds were active, and within the foliage a  Pallas's Warbler , a Yellow-browed Warbler , and a Firecrest were picked up within ten minutes.  And this was pretty much the order of the day. There were birds everywhere, and having driven up the night before and rested in a hotel on Hedon, Kat and I were up at first light to head over to Easington for the SIBERIAN ACCENTOR .  I'd seen the photos from the day before of queues wrapped round corners as hundreds of anxious birders descended on this migrant hotspot for their moment with this super-sibe, The 'invasion' of this species across northern Europe has been unprecedented. There was a queue, but it was a relaxed atmosphere, a few familiar faces mixed into the homogonised crowd, a convivial atmosphere, and an abbreviated wait before groups of 30 were allowed access to a tarmac area o...