27/08/2013 Spurn, East Riding of Yorkshire ‎

Icterine Warbler: My first trip to Spurn and in the words of Scott Reid 'its the bollocks'.

First stop was Beacon Lane where we had reports of an icky Warbler and Barred Warbler, both of which I needed. I decided to go for the barred with Liam as they are really tricky to see so we left Alex to find the icky.

This turned out to be a bad decision as Liam and I walked right passed the barred leaving a group of birders behind us to see it. We were gutted but turned back to see Alex who had successfully relocated the icky.

We also had a Wryneck down the lane, I had two ticks within a few minutes of getting out the car, AWESOME.

Red Backed Shrike: Our next stop and my third tick of the day, we headed across to the warren where some guy just had a RB Shrike. We hopped out the car and after a short wait the bird made an appearance.

We also had a flyover from a Yellow Wagtail  here, but there were discussions that it may have been a Citrine Wagtail - wishful thinking.

Spotted Flyatcher:  Spurn was full of some great birds, beside the rarities the supporting cast included spot fly, pied fly and Redstart.

We spotted all of these in the same area which the RB Flycatcher had been seen, but failed to see it after a long search.

Winchat: Feeling a little deflated after dipping the RB Fly we headed down to Spurn Point to improve on our bad luck earlier that morning, as news came though that another barred was down on the point.

Again we had no sign of the bloody barred but got this nice shot.



Red-breasted Flycatcher: While looking for the barred Liam went back to the RB Shrike site to try again and then sent us a text once he found it.

My fourth tick of the trip, although it showed really well it was difficult to photograph as it stayed in the shade of a tree.

Wryneck: The highlight of the trip for me had to be the Wrynecks, after a huge fall over the weekend we had no trouble finding them.

The Beacon Lane bird was showy and we had good views until we came across this bird on the mound next to the Crown and Anchor at Kilnsea.

We were blown away by the bird as it fed on ants in the grass not bothered by anyone, it was even happily feeding as cars passed right by it.

We came across another bird a bit further down Easington Road which amazed us further as this time it was only a few feet away.

After another failed attempt to locate a barred down Beacon Lane and deciding to call it a day and head back home the Wryneck's were all over Easington Road and there where birders laying an arms length away getting some amazing shots.

Spurn migration festival here I come!