Spurn Stop Over

After school on Friday my Dad took me to Spurn even though when we got there it was dark it means when we woke up the next morning we wouldn't waste any time getting there.

The next morning we were told that we should go to the Sea watching hide as it is good early morning and it turned out to be great. We spent several hours in the hide. Our totals are:

10 Teal
9 Eider
2 Red breasted Mergansers
4 Gadwal
10 Common Scoter
5 Red Throated Divers
6 Gannets
5 Kittiwakes
7 Knot
1 Pomarine Skua
1 Little Auk
2 Guillemot
2 Razorbill
1 Porpoise

I got 2 lifers from this which were Pomarine Skua and Little Auk, these were great to see also my Dad saw a Porpoise which sadly I missed. We then went to look in the Canal Scrape hide where we saw 2 Redshank and a Little Egret after that we went for a walk along the top of this bank, we didn't see much but we did see lots of Oystercatchers, a few Turnstone and a couple Grey Plover and in the bushes there was a few Reed Buntings. Afterwards we had walk back round to the car, on the way I spotted a male and female Stonechat on the fence just before the Canal Scrape hide, I was watching the male when another bird popped up next to him, I expected to see another Stonechat but when I looked through my bins I got a very big surprise, a Whinchat!!! I still couldn't really believe it, how late is this! I thought all of them would be gone by now. What a great record and I have just found out that it is the latest ever record for Spurn! I was really pleased to find it and I hope the little guy survives.

Stonechat

Whinchat

 

We then went to tell the people at the Obs who were just as surprised as me, most of them then went down to see it. We also went to try get some better shots.

 

Whinchat

 

We then left him in peace and headed of to North Cave on the way back in hope of seeing the Tundra Bean Goose but we had no luck but we did see a Green Woodpecker, a Kestrel and a male Goldeneye.

 

Long Ears and Sawbills at Fairburn

Today me and my Dad went of to Fairburn in search of a couple of Long Eared Owls which have been hanging around Fairburn for quite a while. They have been spotted past the Lin Dike Hide, past the railway bridge and then you need to look across a small pool to see them.

When we arrived in the Lin Dike Hide car park we headed of to see the LEO's. When we reached the spot one was immediately on show which was a great start to our day. It was a little distant but it was still great to see. Here are a couple of record shots I took.

Long Eared Owl

 

On our walk back to the car there was lots of Redwings, Fieldfares and Blackbirds in the bushes next to the path which were nice to see, some of them came pretty close also we spotted at least 2 Willow Tits and we had a Little Egret fly over.

 

Afterwards we had a little look in the Pickup Hide where we saw a male Bullfinch, a couple of Great Tits and a Kestrel flew over. Before we left we had a quick look over the main lake which turned out to be great as I spotted a pair of Goosander which were fairly close to the viewing platforms. Amazing birds, their bills are amazing.

 

Goosanders