And finally......Spurn!

After a hectic day "organizing" things I'm now ensconced at Spurn for a while ! Daily Blogs will follow that I hope will entice you to visit if you haven't yet visited this absolute first class migration site, linked with convenient wetlands nearby, the Humber Estuary and, of course, the North Sea.

This morning wasn't the best with visibility down to 200m at times, drizzle and wet conditions underfoot. I set off across the fields from the farm, but could hardly see across the first two wetland areas and certainly not a part of the sea itself. Guess it could have been a morning for successive tea drinking !  Nonetheless, a few waders, a couple of Sparrowhawks hunting passerines ( Linnet, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Dunnock and a Wheatear ) along Beacon Lane, but basically that was it. A mission to look for the Rose-coloured Starling was somewhat downgraded on discovering around 700 Common Starlings strung out along local telephone wires ( although it was good to see such numbers ! ).

Breakfast finished I was approached by a wee lad, whose bridge camera almost engulfed him, and asked if he'd got a picture of "the Starling" which he proudly displayed.  He most certainly had, and from his bedroom window at that and, whats more, the damned thing was still sitting there outside the farm ! He'd also got some other tremendous photo's and clearly has a developing gift. I wish I'd got his name as "watch this space" I guess is the best compliment I can offer. So not a bad start , particularly as the weather was improving.

Visits to various sites produced a variety of species. A walk along the Humber from Sammy's Point, a spell at Kilnsea Wetlands late afternoon then saw successive waves of Redshank coming off the Humber around high tide to roost, and a number of Mediterranean Gulls in evidence supported by Greenshank, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and a large flock of Golden Plover on nearby farmland.

The end of the day saw me seawatching and witnessing the stream of Common and Sandwich Terns moving south to roost. A couple of Arctic Skuas introduced momentary mayhem, around 150 Oystercatcher flew south , as did a small number of Gannet, so the day wound down in fine fashion with Atlantic Grey Seal and a couple of Porpoise to boot.  I was well satisfied for a first day !