With it being the last day of the BTO Young Leaders course, it was the last chance for most of us to get out birding early morning, and there was no way I'd be missing out. So by around 05:15, with the sun shining and the weather being nice and warm, the group of 4 of us (Megan, Ceri and Sam) all set off firstly along the Canal Path. However, we didn't even get there before finding good numbers of Willow Warblers (and Lesser Whitethroat) in almost every patch of tree or scrub. It definitely seemed like a good day for birding...
While the usual wader species were active on the Humber, it didn't take long to bump into our first Whinchat of the day, as it darted around the Triangle. Carrying on, we passed more Willow Warblers, Reed Warblers and Whitethroat, indicating a good overall warbler day was likely. We decided to walk back to Canal Scrape for a little while, where the young Swallows were happily snoozing on most of the signposts. We also had a nice Tree Pipit pass overhead, calling loudly before heading towards the Humber. From the hide at Canal Scrape, a Green Sandpiper was flitting around the water's edge, constantly being chased about by the nesting Swallows. A few Yellow Wagtail also emerged from the reedbeds, giving me the best views yet of this species (pics posted a few blog posts ago.)
After watching these birds for a short while, we left the Swallows to attend their young in peace before heading towards Borrow Pit, stopping along the way for yet more Sylvia and Phyllosc warblers. When we reached the field before Borrow Pit, there were Yellow Wagtails almost underneath every cow, with several of them being young, juvenile birds. There was also a heavily marked male that was hiding in a Linnet flock. Our second Whinchat of the day was also moving along the fence-line, with the moving grass making it surprisingly difficult to photograph. We spent some time here before deciding to head down Beacon Lane and to Kilnsea Wetlands again, while Megan went back for a 'power nap.' Although we found a birder playing an Aquatic warbler tape (I was excited at first as I knew what they sounded like,) we didn't see much else; I did finally find the juvenile Cuckoo sat on a fence post though. Kilnsea was largely quiet for a change, but there were still plenty of Yellow Wagtails, waders and terns to sift through, making it a brilliant end to the morning.
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| Green Sandpiper being mobbed by Swallows |
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| Green Sandpiper being mobbed by Swallow |
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| Yellow Wagtail foreground Green Sandpiper background |
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| Yellow Wagtail out of focus Green Sandpiper in focus |
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| Green Sandpiper |
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| Green Sandpiper |
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| Green Sandpiper |
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| Green Sandpiper |
After watching these birds for a short while, we left the Swallows to attend their young in peace before heading towards Borrow Pit, stopping along the way for yet more Sylvia and Phyllosc warblers. When we reached the field before Borrow Pit, there were Yellow Wagtails almost underneath every cow, with several of them being young, juvenile birds. There was also a heavily marked male that was hiding in a Linnet flock. Our second Whinchat of the day was also moving along the fence-line, with the moving grass making it surprisingly difficult to photograph. We spent some time here before deciding to head down Beacon Lane and to Kilnsea Wetlands again, while Megan went back for a 'power nap.' Although we found a birder playing an Aquatic warbler tape (I was excited at first as I knew what they sounded like,) we didn't see much else; I did finally find the juvenile Cuckoo sat on a fence post though. Kilnsea was largely quiet for a change, but there were still plenty of Yellow Wagtails, waders and terns to sift through, making it a brilliant end to the morning.
We returned back to the obs by around 8, and after some breakfast, myself, Jonny and Sam made a quick visit again to Kilnsea as @stonechat_42 (Megan) wanted to see, for some reason, some Stonechats. As well as a few close Sedge Warblers, this was successful, and so we returned to the obs refreshed for our final leadership morning.
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| Whinchat, Borrow Pit |
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| Whinchat, Borrow Pit |
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| Whinchat, Borrow Pit |
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| Whinchat, Canal |
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| Whinchat, Canal |
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| Whinchat, Canal |
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| Whinchat, Canal |
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| Whinchat, Canal |
BTO Young Leaders
The main plan of action for the day was to lead our activities, which we had been preparing for a few days. To start off, Amy created a role play where each of us had to act as a stakeholder for a Hen Harrier reintroduction scheme. This created a debate on how it would be done, whether it would be possible, where it could happen, why it might fail etc, which was important in highlighting that - no matter what some people think or want - it's impossible to just do something without careful consideration into what other people might think. To follow this up, Alfie took a light-hearted, fun approach, and created a wildlife emoji quiz. Some of these were discrete and well-thought through, making a competitive start to the day.
With climate change being noticed more after the climate strikes this year, I enjoyed Luke's idea of chairing an environmental debate, where we argued for a certain thing in our opposing teams. To follow the pattern of debate then game, Geth led a Wildlife/Conservation quiz, which created further competition. The 5th activity of the day was very interesting. After Ceri laid out a weird situation involving Aliens invading the Earth, this gradually merged its way into the current scenario that nature faces, where humans have pushed wildlife and nature away from them, isolating it, with the humans here presented to be like the abandoned wildlife on Earth.
Our 6th activity was a Bird Race led by Megan, where we split into two teams and had to try and find as many species as possible in 10 minutes. As it was high tide, there weren't many waders in the area my team walked; the other team were much more successful (unfortunately,) seeing Cuckoo, Bullfinch and even Tree Pipit...
To end the morning, which had gone much quicker than we thought, I teamed up with Jonny to lead a BioBlitz of the obs garden. Having done this a number of times while volunteering at my patch Morden Hall Park, it was a great opportunity to do this somewhere else. With everyone working in pairs, we managed to see and record some really exciting birds and butterflies, while Nick Moran found a Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly, which created excitement as nobody else saw it...
After recording all these species (which was an impressive total of 65 species,) Jonny wrote them down on a word document inside the obs, where Sam finished off by leading a research activity where everyone chose a species to find out more about, which helped us learn some fascinating things we'd never have known before. It was an awesome end to the morning, and enjoyed by all.
We then had lunch, where we spent most of the time talking to each other before our course ended. At this point, we each had 10 minutes to talk to the 3 leaders individually, being given a chance to get specific feedback and advice (which I've really tried to follow since,) as well as give suggestions on improving the course for the future, as we were the first group of people on it. Once we'd done this, we had a few final discussions on how to measure success.
Now with the course finished, everyone left to return home, and I've got to admit that I was quite sad to see everyone go, and I can only hope to meet-up/go birding with some of them again soon.
Birding: (map ref https://www.spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/find-us/)
Since Sam was staying for another day, I had agreed to stay on for another day's birding as well, and we had no time to waste, since we wanted to walk to the point and back before dark. We left at around 3pm, and began the 4km walk there. We tried not to stop too much, but just as we reached the breach (the old causeway,) a few bits were out on the saltmarsh. It was also pretty awesome to watch Painted Lady and Red Admiral butterflies appearing in-off the sea - the journeys these tiny little critters undertake in their thousands to reach the British shores really are just extraordinary. The biggest excitement came when a dragonfly flew past us extremely close by, and was clearly a Southern Migrant Hawker. As it was the 4th Yorkshire record, we scrambled to get some photos but it began a dispute with a Red Admiral butterfly (which was quite cool to watch,) before disappearing out onto the marsh. It was extremely frustrating as we both knew what it was, yet failed to get any pictures or video...
Eventually, after failing to find anything else, we reached the end of the breach, where the very first bush had a Willow Warbler in. This bird was possibly the brightest, fiery juvenile I had ever seen, and was tucked away, preening in a dark bush. Dream start...
With a burning birding desire to find a rare warbler, we headed onwards along the Narrows, with many more Willow Warblers along the way (possibly had seen nearly 50 in the day already!) Along with the Migrant Hawkers, another (or maybe even the same) Southern Migrant Hawker appeared before disappearing straight away onto the beach...
In an area called Middle Camp, we started to pick up even more warblers, with around 10 Willow Warblers, 2 Chiffchaff and a Garden Warbler (first of the week, no Blackcaps.)
Now was possibly one of my most amazing birding memories I've ever had.
As we reached Chalk Bank, we started to find more and more Willow Warblers, with most of them being juvenile birds, their intensely coloured undersides shining out from the bushes. Most of them were calling and moving actively through the area of low scrub in tight groups, making them difficult to track.
When in Surrey, I'm used to large tit flocks of Long-tailed Tits with other things mixed in with them, and a Willow Warbler is often an exciting bonus. Every bush we looked at around here was dripping with Willow Warblers, with the birds moving around constantly around us. One tree had 9 birds in, with each fiery bird having strong superciliums and dazzling yellow undersides. At one point, I split up with Sam to cover both paths to increase the chance of counting all the birds present; I was just surrounded by the birds moving about around me, with their disyllabic 'hoo-eet' call coming from almost everywhere. Earlier on in the day, a birder had claimed to be so 'mesmerised' by an Icterine Warbler that he forgot to take a picture of it. This was much more 'mesmerising' to me than finding a mega, as being so close to so many of these birds, preparing for their journeys back to their wintering grounds in Africa. I've got so much respect for all these migrating birds, I only wish more people knew about their journeys. It was one of those experiences that made me put my camera away for a bit and focus on watching/counting them; for someone who's not used to seeing many Willow Warblers anyway, being able to experience this was just insane, and will probably be the bird I remember Spurn for a long time...
We continued to move through Willow Warbler paradise, reaching Sheep/Potato Fields, where we found even more of the birds. Soon we met with Jacob Spinks and Sandy (the tern warden,) who'd also seen similar numbers at the point, including birds just dropping in out of the sky. As they'd also been counting, we calculated a slightly crazy tally of 140 Willow Warblers, with an estimate of 110-120 of these being juveniles, only a few months old. I can't explain quite how amazing this had been so far.
With time getting on, we walked on towards the lighthouse, where it was much quieter, and only a few more of the WWs were nipping around the dense scrub. Although we did a loop of the head, the numbers of birds were low, and I only had a tiny bit of disappointment that we hadn't found anything rare, or even a Pied Flycatcher. From the point though, we got to watch the wader spectacle out on the estuary, where thousands of waders (especially Knot, Redshank and Dunlin) rushed about over the water, all while Sanderling zipped about the mud below us. I think this is where I really soaked in the views and experience, regretting the thought of returning home...
Eventually, as it reached around 18:30, we began to trudge back along the path, feeling tired but very pleased about our day. The biggest moment of excitement/frustration came when a medium-sized passerine bird leapt out of the scrub next to us with a buzz-like call that we didn't know and a bounding flight pattern we didn't know. Despite a good search of the area, there was no sign of the bird, and although it could have been another odd juv Meadow Pipit (had seen plenty on in the day already,) we both felt we'd let something get away from us...
While walking back, as it was nearly dark, we stopped less as most birds had gone to roost, although a female Merlin was my first for a few years.
This brought an end to an awesome day at a place that is unlikely to ever disappoint, and with stormy, easterly winds on the next morning, we remained hopeful at what else we might find!
With climate change being noticed more after the climate strikes this year, I enjoyed Luke's idea of chairing an environmental debate, where we argued for a certain thing in our opposing teams. To follow the pattern of debate then game, Geth led a Wildlife/Conservation quiz, which created further competition. The 5th activity of the day was very interesting. After Ceri laid out a weird situation involving Aliens invading the Earth, this gradually merged its way into the current scenario that nature faces, where humans have pushed wildlife and nature away from them, isolating it, with the humans here presented to be like the abandoned wildlife on Earth.
Our 6th activity was a Bird Race led by Megan, where we split into two teams and had to try and find as many species as possible in 10 minutes. As it was high tide, there weren't many waders in the area my team walked; the other team were much more successful (unfortunately,) seeing Cuckoo, Bullfinch and even Tree Pipit...
To end the morning, which had gone much quicker than we thought, I teamed up with Jonny to lead a BioBlitz of the obs garden. Having done this a number of times while volunteering at my patch Morden Hall Park, it was a great opportunity to do this somewhere else. With everyone working in pairs, we managed to see and record some really exciting birds and butterflies, while Nick Moran found a Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly, which created excitement as nobody else saw it...
After recording all these species (which was an impressive total of 65 species,) Jonny wrote them down on a word document inside the obs, where Sam finished off by leading a research activity where everyone chose a species to find out more about, which helped us learn some fascinating things we'd never have known before. It was an awesome end to the morning, and enjoyed by all.
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| The BTO Spurn Young Leaders 2019 |
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| Myself and Jonny's BioBlitz from the Migration Platform (pic Nick Moran) |
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| Spurn at Dawn Day 4 |
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| Spurn at Dusk Day 4 |
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| The Humber from the Canal |
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| A terrible Panorama |
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| Spurn at Dawn Day 4 |
We then had lunch, where we spent most of the time talking to each other before our course ended. At this point, we each had 10 minutes to talk to the 3 leaders individually, being given a chance to get specific feedback and advice (which I've really tried to follow since,) as well as give suggestions on improving the course for the future, as we were the first group of people on it. Once we'd done this, we had a few final discussions on how to measure success.
Now with the course finished, everyone left to return home, and I've got to admit that I was quite sad to see everyone go, and I can only hope to meet-up/go birding with some of them again soon.
Birding: (map ref https://www.spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/find-us/)
Since Sam was staying for another day, I had agreed to stay on for another day's birding as well, and we had no time to waste, since we wanted to walk to the point and back before dark. We left at around 3pm, and began the 4km walk there. We tried not to stop too much, but just as we reached the breach (the old causeway,) a few bits were out on the saltmarsh. It was also pretty awesome to watch Painted Lady and Red Admiral butterflies appearing in-off the sea - the journeys these tiny little critters undertake in their thousands to reach the British shores really are just extraordinary. The biggest excitement came when a dragonfly flew past us extremely close by, and was clearly a Southern Migrant Hawker. As it was the 4th Yorkshire record, we scrambled to get some photos but it began a dispute with a Red Admiral butterfly (which was quite cool to watch,) before disappearing out onto the marsh. It was extremely frustrating as we both knew what it was, yet failed to get any pictures or video...
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| waders on the Humber |
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| waders on the Humber |
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| Sanderling on the Humber |
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| juv Meadow Pipit on the saltmarsh |
Eventually, after failing to find anything else, we reached the end of the breach, where the very first bush had a Willow Warbler in. This bird was possibly the brightest, fiery juvenile I had ever seen, and was tucked away, preening in a dark bush. Dream start...
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| juvenile Willow Warbler, Narrows |
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| juv Willow Warbler, Narrows |
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| juv Willow Warbler, Narrows |
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| juv Willow Warbler, Narrows |
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| juv Willow Warbler, Narrows |
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| juv Willow Warbler, Narrows |
With a burning birding desire to find a rare warbler, we headed onwards along the Narrows, with many more Willow Warblers along the way (possibly had seen nearly 50 in the day already!) Along with the Migrant Hawkers, another (or maybe even the same) Southern Migrant Hawker appeared before disappearing straight away onto the beach...
In an area called Middle Camp, we started to pick up even more warblers, with around 10 Willow Warblers, 2 Chiffchaff and a Garden Warbler (first of the week, no Blackcaps.)
Now was possibly one of my most amazing birding memories I've ever had.
As we reached Chalk Bank, we started to find more and more Willow Warblers, with most of them being juvenile birds, their intensely coloured undersides shining out from the bushes. Most of them were calling and moving actively through the area of low scrub in tight groups, making them difficult to track.
When in Surrey, I'm used to large tit flocks of Long-tailed Tits with other things mixed in with them, and a Willow Warbler is often an exciting bonus. Every bush we looked at around here was dripping with Willow Warblers, with the birds moving around constantly around us. One tree had 9 birds in, with each fiery bird having strong superciliums and dazzling yellow undersides. At one point, I split up with Sam to cover both paths to increase the chance of counting all the birds present; I was just surrounded by the birds moving about around me, with their disyllabic 'hoo-eet' call coming from almost everywhere. Earlier on in the day, a birder had claimed to be so 'mesmerised' by an Icterine Warbler that he forgot to take a picture of it. This was much more 'mesmerising' to me than finding a mega, as being so close to so many of these birds, preparing for their journeys back to their wintering grounds in Africa. I've got so much respect for all these migrating birds, I only wish more people knew about their journeys. It was one of those experiences that made me put my camera away for a bit and focus on watching/counting them; for someone who's not used to seeing many Willow Warblers anyway, being able to experience this was just insane, and will probably be the bird I remember Spurn for a long time...
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| Willow Warbler, Chalk Bank |
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| Willow Warbler, Chalk Bank |
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| Willow Warbler, Chalk Bank |
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| Willow Warbler, Chalk Bank |
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| Willow Warbler, Chalk Bank |
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| Willow Warbler, Chalk Bank |
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| Willow Warbler, Chalk Bank |
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| Willow Warbler, Spurn Point |
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| Willow Warbler, Chalk Bank |
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| Willow Warbler, Crown and Anchor Car Park |
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| Willow Warbler, Holderness Field |
We continued to move through Willow Warbler paradise, reaching Sheep/Potato Fields, where we found even more of the birds. Soon we met with Jacob Spinks and Sandy (the tern warden,) who'd also seen similar numbers at the point, including birds just dropping in out of the sky. As they'd also been counting, we calculated a slightly crazy tally of 140 Willow Warblers, with an estimate of 110-120 of these being juveniles, only a few months old. I can't explain quite how amazing this had been so far.
With time getting on, we walked on towards the lighthouse, where it was much quieter, and only a few more of the WWs were nipping around the dense scrub. Although we did a loop of the head, the numbers of birds were low, and I only had a tiny bit of disappointment that we hadn't found anything rare, or even a Pied Flycatcher. From the point though, we got to watch the wader spectacle out on the estuary, where thousands of waders (especially Knot, Redshank and Dunlin) rushed about over the water, all while Sanderling zipped about the mud below us. I think this is where I really soaked in the views and experience, regretting the thought of returning home...
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| waders over the Humber |
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| Waders over the Humber |
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| Waders over the Humber |
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| Waders over the Humber |
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| Whimbrel and Redshank |
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| Red Fox, Spurn Point |
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| Red Deer, Spurn Point |
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| rabbit kit, Spurn Point |
While walking back, as it was nearly dark, we stopped less as most birds had gone to roost, although a female Merlin was my first for a few years.
This brought an end to an awesome day at a place that is unlikely to ever disappoint, and with stormy, easterly winds on the next morning, we remained hopeful at what else we might find!
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| Wall Brown butterfly. Spurn is an important site for this rare species. |
