Paul Matson's Birding Blog: Thursday 28th October - Monday 1st November.

A bit like my weekend at Portland Bill, before last year I'd managed to stay at Spurn for a few days in previous autumns so was keen to do so again. This time I went with Paul Bowley. The weather did not look promising at all with blustery W or SW winds and rain predicted, not always the best for East coast migration, but we would play the cards we were dealt with and try and find what was available.

Thursday 28th

Leaving early we had an easy journey and our first birding stop (not counting the service station where a roost of Pied Wagtails was seen before dawn) was at Blacktoft Sands RSPB on the south side of the Humber, intending to connect with the long staying White-tailed Lapwing which duly obliged and was one of the first birds we encountered. A large Pink-footed Goose flock was in the surrounding fields and the small wader flock held a Little Stint along with Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Dunlin and Snipe. 3 Marsh Harriers were seen over the reeds and a small number of Tree Sparrows around the entrance path in the increasing wind.

Next stop was North Cave Wetlands which was en-route the other side of the Humber Estuary. Not a place either of us had visited but a series of old gravel extraction pits which had been turned into a nature reserve and had a couple of decent hides and viewing points. Our target here was a Green-winged Teal and we soon found this bird although it remained mostly asleep on an island close to one of the hides. In addition to the large flocks of feral Geese, Shoveler, Teal, Wigeon and Tufted Duck were found along with Ruff. A decent butty van was also a highlight for brunch !.

We then headed through Hull and out towards Kilnsea it was greta seeing more Pink-feet in skeins as we got close to Spurn, with the wind so strong the only place worthwhile a visit was the hide at Kilnsea Wetlands. 23 Whooper Swans were in the fields next to the Wetlands with around 150 Brent Geese, which included a Pale-bellied Brent Goose and a slightly leucistic bird. There was also a 1W Caspian Gull in with the gulls. We stayed in the hide for a couple of hours, then dumped our bags in the observatory and went for an evening walk around the Triangle until the light went although it was a little too windy for many more birds.

Friday 29th

The morning was spent, mainly seawatching, with a fairly strong SW wind and some squally showers. It was pretty decent (by south coast standards !) a large movement of duck and waders were the highlight , 7 Eider, 78 Common Scoter, 194 Wigeon, 138 Teal and large numbers of, Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin and unusually 5 Snipe moving with the other waders. Also Little Gull, Sandwich Tern, 3 Red-throated Diver and inbound passerines totalled 11 Skylark over 100 Starlings and 8 Blackbird.

After a wet interlude around midday seeing around 30 Chaffinch, Tree Sparrow, Redwing and a Brambling form the Obs window, we walked in a circuit and ended up at the wetlands. A Spotted Redshank and 17 Med Gulls were on the wetlands and a Peregrine as hunting and the 23 Whooper Swans were still on the fields.

Saturday 30th

With a marginally dryer morning we spent more time at the vis-mig watchpoint whilst keeping an eye on the sea. There was still an excellent movement of duck flying South with >250 Wigeon an a similar number of Teal, 5 Pintail, Pochard, 3 Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Great Northern Diver and Red-throated Diver. Amazingly there was a large movement of Siskin all flying South in small groups into the very strong wind with over 1,600 counted in the day also counted were a Twite, 3 Brambling, 11 Lesser Redpoll, 20+Linnet, 18 Rock Pipit, c20 Skylark, the occasional Swallow and several hundred Starling.

We ended the day again at the wetlands, this time waiting until dusk, when the incredible spectacle of c2,000 Pink-footed Geese coming to roost into the wetlands from elsewhere around the Humber, with the 23 Whooper Swans also coming off the fields to roost on the water.

Probably our best day of the trip.

Sunday 31st

The weather didn't help this morning and although we tried another sea-watch, there was very little moving compared to previous days and visibility soon became poor when the rain started.

The rain cleared through early afternoon and we walked from the Obs walking up Beacon Lane to Beacon Ponds and found 2 very obliging Snow Bunting on the beach. We had several more groups of Siskin moving with several Skylark and a few newly arrived Redwing but otherwise the afternoon remained quite.

Monday 1st November

We wanted to leave by around 10.30am as a small diversion to Nottingham on the way back to pick up Hannah was in the plan. We managed a short sea-watch and vis-mig session, adding Merlin, 2 more Snow Bunting and an inbound Pink-footed Goose with a similar movement of Siskin and Linnet which ended an enjoyable trip.