A day at Spurn Point, East Yorkshire - September 21, 2012

Dave, Roger and I went to Spurn today hoping for some good sea watching.  We had chosen Spurn over Flamborough as rain was forecast and there was a sea watching hide at Spurn.

There had been some heavy rain whilst we were travelling but it eased when we arrived at Spurn and we were able to get to the hide without getting too wet.  It was pretty full and there was standing room only but we did eventually get a seat and remained in the hide from about 08:30 until 13:00.

Most birds were passing south and Gannets were ever present and there was a good passage of Red-throated Divers, I counted 123 although I didn’t get on them all.  There was also fifteen Arctic and Great Skuas again all moving south and we did see a single Manx Shearwater and two Sooty Shearwaters with the Manx bucking the trend and moving north.  There were quite a few auks passing and those identified were all Guillemots with the exception of a single Razorbill on the sea.  Four adult winter Little Gulls moved north and there were circa thirty Sandwich Terns, which appeared to be uncertain which way to go and a single Arctic Tern moving north.

A party of twenty-two Pink-footed Geese moved south and fifty Common Scoters were observed with a single Velvet Scoter moving north.  There were also several parties of Teal and two Wigeon and a single female-type Red-breasted Merganser moved south.

There were few waders with just two Oystercatchers, a single Dunlin and a possible Purple Sandpiper.

After we had, had some lunch we attempted to find a Pied Flycatcher that had been seen earlier without success but did find a single Stonechat.  We eventually decided to call it a day as the rain became more persistent again.