It seems like a long while since I have put pen to paper but, lots of things have happened, like having to say goodbye to two friends. Our little team has also changed with Kevin C re-joining us after a long time away, welcome back Kev. Me, Bob K & Kevin C decided on a trip to Spurn to catch up with a few waders at Kilnsea wetlands. We met on a dry morning at 6am with Kev at the wheel and arrived at Kilnsea at 8am. We headed to the hide and were soon looking at a nice selection of waders: - Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Redshank, Curlew Sandpiper & Ruff. We enjoyed a passing Marsh Harrier along with Kestrel, Swallows & House Martins. A Pectoral Sandpiper had been in the area for a short while on the pools at Holderness fields, we went to try to find it. After not finding it initially, another scan around had the desired effect and the bird showed really well to us. A Greenshank was found on Beacon Ponds along with a few Little Grebe, no Little Terns were seen but a decoy on the raft fooled us for a while! Back at the hide, which by now was very full, we had second helpings of the waders in nice sunshine. We made our way along the road towards the warren, passing the building site of the new visitor centre & carpark. I know not many keen birders are really in favour of the positioning of this building etc but looks like we will have to put up with it! At this point Bob found a small family of Swallows being fed by their parents and he took a few pictures of them. We only saw a Willow Warbler & a Whitethroat in the Canal area. With not much bird movement in the Spurn area we decided to move on. A White Rumped Sandpiper had again been reported from Tetney Marshes, near Cleethorpes and was showing quite well. Now I thought it was at Tetney Lock RSPB reserve and duly entered the location into the trusty satnav. It was a mere 53 miles from Kilnsea that we managed to do without much of a problem, until we were heading up a dirt track near what looked like an oil dump! A chat with a few locals outside a pub didnt really solve much, regarding a nature reserve, but it was fun. We retraced our footsteps and headed through a rather strange place called Humberston Fitties, more head scratching. We pressed on and finally found the nature reserve at Tetney Marshes and a few birders watching the White Rumped Sandpiper, a good result for our endeavours. We watched the bird from varying distances, as lots of holiday makers surrounded us in the pursuit of catching crabs, all a bit of a new experience. We began the long drive home at 4-30pm and it took us almost 4 hours due to the M62 being closed and roadworks around Rochdale, the joys of being a birder, we all enjoyed it though with around 12 species of wader seen. Dave O.