That title's a little harsh by the way, as Spurn is one of my favourite places for birding. The plan was brilliant. With all those rarities making landfall to the north, it would only be a matter of time before they made their way towards the Humber. And nearer to home as well. What could go wrong?
This was the large spanner in the works, not a cloud in the sky! I couldn't believe it, after all that rain at home it was a lovely, warm and sunny day here. Despite reports of an Icterine Warbler, most birders there hadn't seen it.
The best of the passerine migrants seen were a number of Whinchats and Wheatears, Chiffchaff and Whitethroat. Other than a few Gannets and Sandwich Terns out at sea, absolutely zip in terms of Skuas and Shearwaters. Didn't even manage to see the over-summering Shorelark from the Chalk Bank hides, but a nice selection of estuary waders. You just know when it's not your day! It didn't seem right to look for Shorelark on a day like today anyway.
It just shows how reliant bad weather is on forcing migrant birds to land, and with the wind in the right direction. The rarity fall was odd in the end. It only really occurred along the coasts of Northumberland, Durham and Cleveland. Nothing along the east coast of Scotland, and very little south of Scarborough.
If every day was filled with rare birds it would just become boring. At least I hadn't joined up with a well known birding tour company that were also at Spurn today. Spent all that money for the privilege of seeing very little.
One thing I've never noticed at Spurn before is this:
It's one of those sound mirrors. They were used to listen out for enemy aircraft, until radar was invented during the war. I've seen Coast on BBC2, I know what I'm talking about!
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