Ironically we were heading for
Spurn again today as there was an Isabelline Wheatear, which was a lifer for
Malcolm, and Siberian Stonechat at Easington.
We parked in the old bus depot as instructed and the walked through the
village and along Seaside Road to reach the sea front and then south a few
hundred yards to the area where the birds were being seen.
The Isabelline Wheatear had
apparently been very close earlier but was now feeding in the centre of a
rather large ploughed field. The views
were ok through the scope but after a few minutes we decided to go and have a
look for the Stonechat, which was less than 100 yards away. It was feeding in a scrubby area but wasn’t
on view when we got in position but it wasn’t long before it popped up and not
too far away and I was able to get a few shots off. It worked the area of scrub all the time we
were there and was never out of view for too long, although it was often quite
distant.
Siberian Stonechat
Siberian Stonechat
Siberian Stonechat
During the brief spells when
the Stonechat wasn’t visible we looked out to sea but like Norfolk last week it
was pretty quiet. We did see three
Common Scoter, sixteen Gannet and I picked up three Great Skuas heading south.
Malcolm had gone back to have
another look at the Wheatear and apparently it had been close again but when we
returned in was back on the far side of the field. It did start to make its way back but as I
was watching in the scope it flew again and we couldn’t find it afterwards and
so we made our way back to the car.
Another birder asked me where
Sammy’s Point was and when I asked why he said yesterday's Pallas’s Warbler had
been showing again, although there hadn’t been a tweet.
With nothing else of note
being reported we headed for Sammy’s Point and I hoped a Pallas’s Warbler. However on arrival we saw Richard who said
that the warbler hadn’t been seen but that he had seen a couple of Ring Ouzels
in the meadows. There was no sign of
these now and so we walked out along the point still hoping that the Pallas’s
would appear. The tide was high and
consequently there were few waders the best being a close Turnstone and there
was also a Wheatear along the shoreline.
There were plenty of Goldcrests in the scrub and also good number of
Redwings and Tree Sparrows but there was no sign of any other small migrants.
Turnstone
Curlew
Goldcrest
Goldcrest
Goldcrest
We eventually headed back
towards the car and found a small group watching one of the Ring Ouzels, which
was a nice male and close enough to photograph.
Male Ring Ouzel
Male Ring Ouzel
Male Ring Ouzel
Male Ring Ouzel
Male Ring Ouzel
It was now lunch time and so
we drove to Kilnsea and had our lunch in the car on the beach car park. As there was still no news of anything of
note and so David, Roger and I decided to walk along Beacon Lane, whilst
Malcolm was going to the hide in the hope of finding a Jack Snipe.
As we approached the lane I
received a tweet of a Snow Bunting at Sandy Beach Caravan Park. We weren’t too sure where it was but found we
were standing right next to it and another birder then told us that it had been
seen from the cliff top path. We walked
north from the car park as Malcolm had seen a group of birders apparently
looking at something on the ground. We
saw a couple of birders wandering around the site but we went to the other side
of a building and as I got to the edge several birders indicated the bird was
on the ground in front of us. We stopped
and initially couldn't see it but we then realised it was a lot closer than we
thought and had some excellent views as it fed around the edge of a small pool.
Male Snow Bunting
Male Snow Bunting
Male Snow Bunting
Male Snow Bunting
We eventually left the Snow
Bunting and went back to our original plan, which was to walk along Beacon Lane
to the Kilnsea Wetlands. We didn’t see a
great deal but there were a few Redwings in the first fields.
Redwing
Malcolm had not had any luck
with the Jack Snipe and so we decided to return to Sammy’s Point as there had
been a report of an eastern Lesser Whitethroat.
When we got back the tide was receding and there were now plenty of
waders on the Humber, mainly Dunlin and Redshank but there were also a few
Oystercatcher, a Ringed Plover, a Grey Plover, two Bar-tailed Godwit and
several Curlew. There was no news on the
reported Lesser Whitethroat but we did see the Wheatear again. Another birder then told me that they had
seen a Black Redstart at Kilnsea and so we returned hoping to find it.
When we arrived there was a
bit of crowd clearly watching a bird on the shore and we were hoping it was the
Black Redstart. As we walked along the
footpath we saw the bird and David and Roger considered it to be a bird they
had seen last week but were unsure of its identity. We eventually got some nice views of the bird
and I thought it was just a juvenile Redstart, which some other birders then confirmed.
Juvenile Redstart
Juvenile Redstart
Juvenile Redstart
Time was now pressing as David
and Roger needed to be home before 18:00 and so we walked back to the car and
after a quick coffee set off home.
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