Back to Blog
What a brilliant trip! The Magic of Spurn Autumn 2022
Mon 7th Nov, 2022
Our two Spurn Birding autumn weeks 2022 have been a roaring success. Full of birds, great wildlife experiences and wonderful guests.
Spurn Point looking south © George Stoyle
The first week (October 17th – 21st) kicked off in style with easterly winds for almost three days. These were the first proper easterlies of the autumn so there were a lot of migrant songbirds waiting for the right conditions to move across the North Sea. The first day was dry with many birds flying over but not the bird deluge we had experienced on previous YCN Spurn tours. We really couldn’t complain though as we saw thousands of Golden Plovers, Cattle Egret, Short-eared Owl, Merlin, Marsh Harrier and Hen Harrier all on our first full day.
European Golden Plovers over the moon at Spurn October 2022 © Richard Baines
Wednesday the 23rd was very different. The forecast was bad with heavy rain most of the day, but we suspected things would be different at Spurn and they certainly were. Easterlies with rain for a couple of hours then dry periods long enough to find great birds created a day to remember. Hundreds of thrushes mainly Blackbirds and Redwings fell out of the sky with the rain above our heads. The migration spectacle was very exciting as we drove down to Spurn Point in the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT) Unimog. I hung out of the side of the truck looking down the road and in front of me sat on a bush was a Great Grey Shrike!
Redwing after landfall Spurn October 2022 © Richard Baines
At Spurn Point we enjoyed great close-up views of five Black Redstarts hopping around the coastguard station and nearby we found two Firecrests in a Sycamore with the sound of Goldcrests everywhere. Nearby several Woodcocks exploded from the dunes in typical fashion.
Pallas's warbler Spurn October 2022 © Richard Baines
Back down in Kilnsea things were going crazy with many new arrivals. In the afternoon we saw lots of Brambling, two Long-eared Owls, Jack Snipe, Little Bunting, Yellow-browed Warbler and two Pallas’s Warblers! Meanwhile in Easington two Red-flanked Bluetails had arrived, but we were so busy at Spurn they had to wait until our last day, and very obligingly one of them did and gave our group great views.
Red-flanked Bluetail Easington October 2022 © Richard Baines
Our second week was very different but still great birding. The forecast of south-westerlies changed a little at the start of the week with strong south-easterlies. This brought small numbers of Scandinavian thrushes and more Fieldfares than we had seen earlier in October plus a fantastic early morning migration of 3,000 Woodpigeons. Spurn must be one of the best places to see a Merlin on the Yorkshire coast in autumn and we struck falcon gold again on our first afternoon walk. At Beacon Ponds no less than 59 Twite gave excellent prolonged views feeding on tiny seeds in the salt marsh.
Twite on the Yorkshire coast © Richard Baines
Tuesday the 1st November was a strange day to see a Red-rumped Swallow but in glorious expert fashion our YCN day trip group led by Mark was in the right place at the right time. Two days later Mark was lucky again as another Red-rumped Swallow flew around his group as they drunk cups of tea at the YWT visitor centre! A single Tundra Bean Goose was another good scarce bird to see and the Siskins kept on moving through some in big flocks, a great visible migration spectacle.
Waders everywhere! the high tide roost at Spurn November 2022 © Richard Baines
On the Wednesday my holiday group were really keen to get some wader murmuration action so we headed down to the breach area at exactly the right time for a wonderful display by hundreds if not thousands of Dunlins, Knot, Grey Plover and Sanderling on the rising tide. The local Brent Geese were feeding on eel grass planted by YWT a very successful local conservation project. On the way back we managed to bump into a Pomarine Skua hunting down gulls over the sea which was very nice.
Fieldfare fresh in from Scandinavia Spurn October 2022 © Richard Baines
Our ringing demo by SBOT started our day on the Thursday. Siskins and Lesser Redpolls were the star birds with the trees in the Observatory field full of finches on migration. Down at the wonderful Kilnsea Wetlands there was a great show of wildfowl, waders and gulls with both Caspian Gull and Mediterranean Gulls keeping our sharp-eyed guests on their identification toes. This was a great opportunity for Paul Wheatly to show our guests the fine art of phone-scoping. Paul has been filming birds for many years and his results are amazing. You can see his web site here; Film Nature.
The end of the week’s best birding moments was down to a strange combo – Snow Bunting and four migrant Bearded Tits. Our holiday group basked in a beautiful sunset on the beach whilst watching a beautiful male Snow Bunting. The next day Marks Day group were again in the right place at the right time as a male Bearded Tit was caught by the SBOT ringers, what a great bird to see in the hand.
Big beaches and big skies, the magic of Spurn © Richard Baines
On all of our YCN Birding trips we concentrate on drinking in the experience, with very little rushing around this is an opportunity to enjoy your birding in a relaxed fun environment whilst learning from the experts. We also give an annual grant to SBOT from our trips so you’re booking really does help wildlife.
Bearded Tit (male) © Mark Pearson
Despite not rushing about trying to see the biggest number of birds we could, it’s amazing how many we did see. Our final bird list for both weeks, ten days, was an impressive 135 species, which just goes to show how many species can be seen in a small area with no driving!
All aboard the Unimog! YCN Birding holiday guests with Richard and Paul Spurn November 2022
Throughout both weeks we were warmly welcomed by both YWT and Spurn Bird Observatory, many thanks to Rob and Tim for two great talks, Rob for opening the Hub and keeping bird news flowing, Simon and Paul for some great bird ringing demos, great food and drinks at the Crown and Anchor and of course Westmere Farm, Andrew and Sue are always great bed and breakfast hosts.
Our 2023 Spurn Migrant Birding Days are now on our web site see all the details CLCIK HERE
Chose from Four Spurn Migrants Birding Holidays, see all the details CLICK HERE
Happy guests with Mark on one of our Spurn migrant Birding Discovery Days November 2022
Guest review from our November 2022 Spurn week;
“What a brilliant trip! I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the entire week. It’s the first time I’ve had what felt like total immersion in birding over a number of days. I’m so grateful to you both for sharing your amazingly deep knowledge with us all and for being so patient in having to point out the same key features on birds over and again. That’s exactly what I needed”. Christine Leon
Richard Baines
YCN Director and Wildlife Guide