Winds Punctuated by a Downpour

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail Yellow Wagtail Meadow Pipit

Dunlin
Dunlin

Bar-tailed Godwit (red), with Curlew, Redshank & Knot

Curlews

Grey Plovers

Knot

Little Egret

Shelduck

It was almost blowing a gale at Spurn today, so I didn't have much hope of seeing anything. As the tide was fairly high we shared cars to Chalk bank hide first. We were rewarded with thousands of Knot, several Curlew, a few Bar-tailed Godwits, Grey & Ringed Plovers, Sanderling, a female Eider, Dunlin, Turnstone, Oystercatchers and Cormorants. A Red-throated Diver flew over as did 6 Sandwich Terns followed by 4 more. On the return journey we spotted a Wheatear abolut half-way down the point. We stopped off at Canal Scrape where we saw some Yellow Wagtails and several juvenile Meadow Pipits, and another highlight was a female Redstart. Also here was a Redshank, and some Teal, joined in the afternoon by a Snipe (pm), while Little Egrets and Kestrels flew over. A large flock of Shelduck also flew over the Humber. Just as the morning session finished the first drops of rain began to fall, and the next hour or so saw an absolute deluge. Luckily, it stopped raining just before the pm session started! The afternoon had pretty similar birds, but they were harder to see because the tide had gone out. However, we saw over a dozen Sanderlings on the mud near the Narrows, and a Greenshank dropped in briefly at Chalk Bank. At the very point of Spurn we saw a pair of Wheatears, a small flock of Linnets and plenty of Swallows.