What has become an annual event, my daughter Katherine and I spent a weekend at Spurn Point, arriving late on the Friday 29th September and leaving midday on the following Monday. We stayed at the observatory again, this giving us easy access to all of the main birding areas.
As we did not arrive until close to dusk we decided to try Sammy's Point and very quickly saw three Short-eared Owls. Rather bizarrely they appeared to be mobbing a black cat that had wandered into their usual area.
Over the next three days we explored many of Spurns birding hot spots. However the highlight was on our last morning while we were sea watching. Regular Spurn ringer Sarah Harris caught a nice Redstart which she showed to us. Then about half an hour later she caught a Red-eyed Vireo in the mist nets just 30 metres from where we were sea watching! Word went out and about 30 birders were present when the bird was released. There has been a small number of this North American species arriving into the UK but mainly on the west coast. This one managed to reach the east coast and was apparently in excellent condition with good fat reserves. It was the third record for Spurn.
Red-eyed Vireo - Bird of the weekend! A UK tick!
Redstart - Also caught at the Warren.
We walked the canal path several times and watched thousands of waders moving with the high tide. Many landed on the mud flats allowing some good wader ID practice! A few hundred Curlew landed fairly close allowing some photographs.
Curlew along with a few Bar-tailed Godwits flying along the Humber river.
Curlew resting in tall vegetation by the Humber at high tide.
Golden Plover - I estimated there to be about 8000 present. They flew high overhead until the tide receded and then landed on the mudflats on the Humber. One of the local birders picked up an American Golden Plover which we managed to see distantly. It's no doubt in the photo somewhere!
A Whitethroat along the canal path. earlier an Eastern race Lesser Whitethroat was ringed in Church Fields.
Two or three Guillemots were seen close to the bank along the canal path. This was taken early morning in poor light and looked fairly healthy.
Jack Snipe - This had previously been found by Bucks birder Harry Appleyard in the Canal Scrape. We called in late afternoon not expecting to see it but soon located it in low marshy vegetation.
A short video clip of the Jack Snipe
Pink-footed Geese - A small part of those seen.
Each day we paid a visit to Kilnsea Wetlands. The initial attraction was to se the American Wigeon that was there but there was plenty more to see. The most productive visit was late on Sunday when the tide was rising and a 1000 or so Redshank flew in with wings whooshing over our heads. There was always plenty of ducks, waders, geese, Egrets and gulls to see.
Pink-footed Geese - 5 with some Greylag Geese on Kilnsea Wetlands
A wider view of Kilnsea Wetlands. Quite a few Wigeon resting including the American Wigeon if you can see it!
This short video clip does show the American Wigeon
Little Egrets now very common here. Great Whites also seen.
Avocet asleep at Kilnsea Wetlands
Caspian Gull - Still uncommon at Spurn but becoming more regular. Initially seen on the ground.
Barn Owl - A very distant bird hunting at Kilnsea Wetlands. We had two hunting at the same time.
Each morning saw us starting with a seawatch for an hour or two. Plenty of Red-throated Divers and Gannets, two distant Arctic Skuas, several Sandwich Terns, a Shag were seen along with many waders. On the Saturday we saw several skeins of Pink-footed Geese, numbering several hundred arriving from the north.
These two photos were a bit of an experiment to see if I was able to photograph mid range birds while seawatching and confirm identify later. These Red-throated Divers prove that it is possible but as expected, not great photos.
Common Scoter also fairly distant.
A trip to the very end of Spurn Point was interesting but did not produce many bird apart from a good number of Wheatear.
Wheatears - This species was seen every day with 10 on one day towards the end of Spurn Point.
Birds of prey were rather scarce but we did see two or three Marsh Harriers, this one rather distantly in poor light.
Merlin - Rather distant on the beach near Beacon Pools.
It is always nice to see other wildlife and Roe Deer were seen every day. This one was fairly obliging.
Convolvulus Hawk Moth - This was clinging to a low post at the Warren. A new moth species for me.
A short video clip of Dolphins seen from the sea watching hide.
My daughter and I visited Blacktoft Sands for a few hours while on-route to Spurn Point for the weekend. There was an excellent selection of waders which were viewable from the Singleton Hide. These included Dunlin, Ruff, Redshank, Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Snipe, Spotted Redshank and single Little Stints and a Purple Sandpiper.
Cattle and Little Egret from the Singleton Hide
A small part of the lagoon holding many waders. Included in the photo are Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper and Ruff.
Another view of the waders including a Little Stint which was absent for most of the time.
Redshank - This individual flew reasonably close to the hide allowing this photo to be taken.
I have only had the Sony RX10 for a few weeks and I wanted to see just how much detail I could see in photos taken on my local patch at Little Marlow. I basically wanted to see if I could get sufficient detail to ID difficult species (but none present today) so I practised on the common species.
Little Egret taken from the south bank.
Gulls - Taken from the Point
Herring Gull from the Point
Gulls taken from the Point
Lesser Black-backed Gull - taken from the Point.
Black-headed Gulls from the Point.
Black-headed Gull - Reasonable close
Black-headed Gull - Fairly distant and against trees.
This was a brief visit and a stopover when we were travelling home from the Minehead area.
Ham Wall is a fantastic wetland reserve with a huge area of reed beds and open water. Good numbers of Bitterns and Great White Egrets breed here as well as Marsh Harriers and many other species. My visit was not at the best time of year as the birds were generally not showing well and rather quiet. A Spring visit is recommended.
Great White Egret - One of several seen. Rather distant.
I was trying to see what sort of quality photos I could get using the Sony RX10 handheld and taking photos of fairly distant birds. This would then compare to my previous camera which was a Panasonic G6 Micro 4/3rds camera.
Starting with a few close ups.
White-tailed Bumblebee in the garden of our holiday accommodation.
Honey Bee
Goldfinch - Rather distant and because of this I am happy with the end result.
Crow - I'm pleased with the end result of this rather distant black bird.
The following in flight photos of Herring Gulls show all of the main ID features of the species. The birds were all fairly distant. I have to admit that not all of my attempts at in flight shots came out as well as these.
Starling - Taken in poor light and again rather distant.
Overall I am very happy with these results. The camera is able to take good quality photos at a distance. When close the photos can be stunning!
My new Sony RX10 Mk IV arrived a few days before I went on holiday. So this was the first few attempts using the new camera after setting the camera up for wildlife use.
This House Sparrow conveniently turned up in the garden of our accommodation while I was testing the camera.
This Curlew was rather distant as the full zoom, full frame photo shows.
This crop of the Curlew gives a reasonable result.
A stationary Herring Gull was easy enough
Finally a couple of flight shots of Herrings Gulls worked well.
