Spurn Day 3

Friday is, or course, when the festival begins, with an evening talk and the first guests beginning to arrive. As such it was all hands on deck for the duration of the day.

The Seawatch in the morning was pretty steady but the species list was good, with a Great Northern Diver flying south with a few Red-Throats so that the size comparison really stood out. We also had both Great and Arctic Skua as well as a young Yellow-Legged Gull.

Once we had put the final pieces of the festival together I was placed on car managing duty, which meant instructing visitors as to where to go and how to register. It was a pretty slow job, and did mean I missed a treecreeper, but while stood there I did get some decent birds.

The undoubted highlight of these was a ringtail Hen Harrier. It had come in off the sea that morning and been blogging around the area for some time before I saw it flying low over Holderness field. It’s my first one for a very long time, but circumstances meant that I was unable to get a photo of it, and my views were only brief as a return to duty soon called.

In the evening the festival started with a talk about the east coast bird observatories and watchpoints followed by the pub. It all went very well, a really nice start to the events. 

Species List:

Seawatching: Teal, Wigeon, Red-Throated Diver, Great Northern Diver, Arctic Skua, Great Skua, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Gannet, Common Scoter, Black-Headed Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Dunlin, Swallow, Razorbill, Knot, Grey Plover, Fulmar, Oystercatcher, Swift, Bar-Tailed Godwit, Great Crested Grebe, Yellow-Legged Gull,

Westmere Farm: Hen Harrier, Snipe, Greenshank, Dunlin, Little Egret, Swallow, House Martin, Sedge Warbler, Wren, Redshank, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Starling, Black-Headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Herring Gull, Mallard, Graylag Goose, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Collard Dove, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel,