The east coast in migration time is very difficult to beat and with a nice forecast, myself and Bob K headed once more for the Spurn/ Kilnsea area. Upon arrival quite a few birders seemed to be leaving the Church Field ringing area, the reason, a Blyth`s Reed Warbler had been trapped, rung and released minutes before! It`s the same area as the Pallas`s Grasshopper Warbler had been controlled in last week, so we thought our chances of seeing the Blyth`s Reed Warbler would be slim. We joined around 20 fellow birders and waited for the bird to show itself, but apart from various movements in the rushes, we left not having seen the warbler. A fairly quiet, but nice hours sea watch didnt reveal much out of the ordinary, especially after yesterday`s epic, so we again returned to the Kew area. What happened next was a bit unusual. On the Crown & Anchor car park a birder said, I heard the Blyth`s Reed Warbler a few minutes ago and it has just shown. The bird then flew out of cover and showed fairly well to the 15 or so of us that saw it, the bird then headed back towards Church Field. Around 5 minutes later, as the throngs arrived, the bird was reported in the new observatory garden, this seemed strange, it was to turn out that this bird was indeed a Reed Warbler and not the Blyth`s Reed Warbler. The Kilnsea Wetlands were next with a cracking Wood Sandpiper and a Little Stint to watch, also a Marsh Harrier passed over. A Yellow Browed Warbler was seen near the Canal Scrape and along with a showy Jack Snipe completed a nice hour of migrants.
Next news was of a Wryneck at Sammy`s Point, we had to give it a go didn`t we? On arrival the bird was not showing, but a couple of Redstart and Wheatear were nice to see. We walked the horse paddocks and a bird flew across and landed near the base of a tree, could it be the Wryneck? Five birders surrounded the tree and saw some movement, which turned out to be a beautifully marked Grasshopper Warbler. How nice to observe this real skulking bird so close up, the bird carried on feeding oblivious of our presence and we ended the day at Spurn on a high.
Many thanks must go to Mark R and the Greater Manchester crew who helped us locate the Jack Snipe. I wonder who was their driver and what time did they get home?
