Spurn Bird Obsveratory - Migfest

  Having missed the Spurn Migfest last year, I was keen to make amends, whilst simultaneously taking Lia to her first of these fantastic birdwatching festivals. A promising forecast got everyone excited but it failed to deliver any notable arrival of migrants, although this was compensated for with a few rarities and a healthy Meadow Pipit passage.

  We spent most of our time in Churchfield where we missed most of the Pipit action but did manage to connect with most of the rarities as well as ring a few nice birds. The best of these were five Tree Pipit on the Friday morning, as well as a couple of Pied Flycatcher during the week as well.

  It was also on Friday morning that I had my weekend highlight, when a stunning adult Honey Buzzard came cruising straight over Churchfield showing extremely well. This is a Spurn and Yorkshire tick for me and afforded me better views than the only other one that I have seen in the UK, the bird in Suffolk earlier in the year. We also visited the Citrine Wagtail that had been present for at least a week prior, and although our views were limited we did get to hear the bird calling multiple times, a beautiful sound to hear among the commoner species present in the same area.

  Sadly the rest of Friday and Saturday morning were spent in Hull Royal Infirmary for reasons I won’t go into here. Once we returned to Spurn we enjoyed more pleasant birding with poor views of the female Pallid Harrier that visited the area on the Sunday. The fog arrived at the worst time for us to see the bird, and being in Church Field we did not have good views across the area being hemmed in by hedges on all four sides.

  Other nice birds included a 1^st-winter Caspian Gull on Kilnsea Wetlands, along with three Spoonbill. A couple of Hobby were seen flying south. An Arctic Skua was mobbing terns offshore and there were the usual brilliant numbers of waders moving with the tide. Another brilliant weekend was spent here, and another fantastic Migfest.

  And during the weekend I finally got a new Odonata species when I at last connected with the Willow Emerald Damselflies that have recently established themselves in the area. Since 2020 when the species was first recorded it has gone from strength to strength and is now common at Spurn. I only had one individual which was perched on branches overhanging Pallas’ Pond.

-Tree Pipit

-European Honey Buzzard

-Citrine Wagtail

-Pallid Harrier

-Willow Emerald Damselfly

Species List:
Spurn Bird Observatory: Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Common Shelduck, Northern Shoveler, Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Common Pheasant, Little Grebe, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Common Wood Pigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Common Swift, Common Moorhen, Pied Avocet, European Golden Plover, Common Ringed Plover, Eurasian Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Ruff, Dunlin, Common Snipe, Common Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Common Redshank, Arctic Skua, Black-headed Gull, Little Gull, Common Gull, European Herring Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Caspian Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Red-throated Loon, Great Cormorant, Little Egret, Eurasian Spoonbill, European Honey Buzzard, Pallid Harrier, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Eurasian Hobby, Peregrine Falcon, Eurasian Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Eurasian Reed Warbler, Barn Swallow, Common House Martin, Willow Warbler, Common Chiffchaff, Eurasian Wren, Common Starling, Common Blackbird, European Robin, European Pied Flycatcher, Common Redstart, Whinchat, Northern Wheatear, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Grey Wagtail, Western Yellow Wagtail, Citrine Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Tree Pipit, European Greenfinch, Common Linnet, European Goldfinch, Eurasian Siskin, Common Reed Bunting,