A WALK ON THE WILDSIDE---PAUL FOSTER

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Monday 17 October 2016

A trip to the East coast!Spurn (part 1)

Easterly winds were forecast for the coming weeks, so I decided on having a few days out towards Spurn on the East coast.With these conditions forecast and it being October this cold only mean one thing,and thats lots of birds being blown across on their migration South!

I was also hoping that it would bring in one or two rarities,such was the strength of the wind.Yellow browed warblers had been recorded in excellent nos,so everything was going to plan.Redwing had began to arrive on our coasts with hundreds of song thrush and blackbirds,all coming for the autumn berries which would be their staple diet for the next few months!

October on Spurn always draws crowds of birders from far and wide,if there is a better place to go in mainland britain to enjoy migration at close hand,then I would like to know,its an absolute mecca!
 Goldcrest were constantly flitting through the bushes and numbers of these diminutive birds were high.There was always the chance of a firecrest amongst them,so you had to be on your toes!I was lucky enough to find a Firecrest up by Sammy's point,which gave a very good show of itself!
                                                   Firecrest at Sammy's Point

    Some    cracking birds began to filter through the grapevine,one such was this Red Breasted Flycatcher           below!This was discovered at Easington cemetery,high up in the sycamores!
 A first for me was this Red Flanked Bluetail also on show at the cemetery.Another of these had been found at the point a few days earlier,but I didn't fancy the 3 mile walk there and again back,with all the camera gear it wasn,t for me!

The bird was flitting about the many headstones that were in the cemetery,but always kept its distance!
Sometimes it flew down to ground level to search for insects and flies.It was only on show a few hrs after being located and when dusk approached it wasn,t seen again!

1 comment:

  1. Paul. What a wonderful selection of stunning birds you had on your recent trip to Spurn.Your self found firecrest is an absolute stunner !! All the others aren't bad either !! Well worth the long trip to the East Coast.You never know I may join you one day !!! Looking forward to the next instalment.

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