About Spurn Point

The unique long, narrow hook of Spurn at the southern end of the Holderness coastline has formed from a build-up of sand and shingle carried by the sea and is in a constant process of change. In 2013 for instance part of the road was washed away by a tidal surge so that the end of the Point and old lighthouse can now only be accessed on foot.  

Spurn is a National Nature Reserve consisting of various habitats including mudflat, saltmarsh, beach, dune, lagoons, ponds, grassland and buckthorn scrub, and one of Britain’s best sites in autumn and spring for rare and scarce migrant birds from warblers, shrikes and Wrynecks to egrets and terns. It’s a great place to observe visible migration as arriving or departing birds are funnelled down the narrow spit of land. Numbers of hirundines and Swifts, and of Redwings, Fieldfares, Blackbirds and Song Thrushes can be impressive at certain times of year.  Large flocks of waders such as Knot also make impressive viewing on the mudflats and saltmarsh as they fly in to roost at sunset.

Little Terns are among Spurn’s breeding birds with a colony at the lagoons. In winter Brent Geese and Shelduck are among the wildfowl on the mudflats while an occasional Merlin passes through.

Roe Deer frequently move out of the grassland to feed on the beaches. Moth-trapping has turned up many rare species over the years. Flowering plants include Pyramidal and Bee Orchids, Sea Holly, Sea Aster and Common Sea-lavender, as well as rarer species such as Suffocated Clover.