Spurn twitching Red-eyed Vireo

When a Red-eyed Vireo turned up at Spurn I was pretty thrilled, a proper rarity on the east coast. My chances of seeing it were small, given I already had plans for the Saturday, but when the bird was still present on the Sunday I decided, why not, and drove over for a few hours to see the bird before driving north to Cumbria for work.

The bird was present on Vicars Lane in Easington, and when I arrived there was still a small crowd despite the rain and the fact that it was early afternoon. My initial experience was everything I hate about twitching, with a crowd following a bird that isn’t showing particularly well. But then, when a few more locals arrived it became apparent that the bird was favouring a Dogwood tree with berries, appearing every half hour or so and showing nicely. With this routine established, I got fantastic views of the bird, my first American passerine in Britain.

-Red-eyed Vireo

Whilst this was going on, news broke of a Great Snipe on Beacon Lane. Once I was happy with the Vireo I headed down to see that. Remarkably the bird was sat on the path, although obscured by grass. Given most Great Snipes are flushed and never seen again, this was a real treat and it was nice to be able to actually look at the bird. This was obviously the icing on the cake for the afternoon. Two British ticks in a single afternoon.

-Great Snipe

All while enjoying the rarities there were thrushes dropping out of the sky, Redwings and Fieldfares appearing in every bush. And then there were hundreds of Siskins piling through, and Bramblings feeding on the path as we walked along. It really was a fantastic day out at Spurn.

Species List:

Spurn Bird Observatory: Mute Swan, Common Pheasant, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Great Snipe, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Grey Heron, Common Kestrel, Merlin, Red-eyed Vireo, Eurasian Magpie, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Barn Swallow, Yellow-browed Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Wren, Redwing, Fieldfare, Blackbird, Robin, Pied Flycatcher, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, Brambling, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Siskin,