Spurn Waders and a Crake coming to Reedbed near you (or me as the case may be)

Out with Mark on Sunday 28th and as there had been Easterlies and overnight rain we thought Spurn would be a good bet although it proved to be rather quiet, we started at Easington where a juv Caspian Gull had been reported on the beach by the Caravan Park unfortunately it had flown off inland but there were a good few Terns on the beach and an impressive 30+ Med Gulls. After a brief look around a very quiet Canal Scrape area we ended up at Kilnsea Wetlands where at least there was a good selection of Waders including Curlew Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper and Little Stint, plus some passerine interest with three Whinchat in the field behind, we spent some time there eventually moving off on news of a Wood Warbler in Easington Churchyard, that proved very active and elusive and we soon gave up on it and went to Sammy’s Point for a late lunch, a Marsh Harrier flew up river but there was little else there. By mid-afternoon we decided to head for home and call off at North Cave Wetlands on the way as Mark still needed to see the Spotted Crake, after getting round to the Reedbed Lake the bird soon appeared in the same area as last week but after 5 mins it flew up the channel to the right, amazingly some 30-40 mins later it popped out of a lot nearer patch of reeds and we got some really good views although photography was a challenge through all the vegetation.

Waders at Spurn, Greenshank

Wood Sandpiper

Dunlin

juv Little Ringed Plover

and a certain Crake at North Cave that showed a little bit better than last week

in a bit of evening sunshine

Flamborough to North Cave

I headed off to Flamborough this morning starting at Thornwick Pools where yesterdays juv Curlew Sandpiper was still present along with half a dozen Dunlins, spent around an hour there in case something else dropped in but it didn’t so after a brief look over a quiet sea at North Landing I went on to Old Fall, bumping into a couple of locals they informed me the Greenish Warbler from mid-week had been seen again so once again I invested a lot of time trying to find it but to no avail just a Wheatear, a Pied Flycatcher, a Treecreeper and several Willow Warblers seen. Part two of the plan today was to go to North Cave Wetlands in the afternoon for the Spotted Crake, it had apparently been showing well today but as I got to the viewing area at the Reedbed Lake I was informed it had gone back into the reeds some 15mins previous, it was to be almost 2 hours before it reappeared although when it did it showed well if a little distant.

Juv Curlew Sandpiper

plus Dunlins

a few Swifts moving through

Willow Warbler at Old Fall

and Wheatear

and a few Painted Ladies

North Cave juv Spotted Crake finally showed

in a flap

Top(hill) Waders

Nipped over to Tophill Low after work this afternoon for a Pectoral Sandpiper that had turned up yesterday, a very smart individual if a little distant for the camera, there was also a good supporting cast of Waders including Ruff, Snipe, Greenshank, Green and Common Sandpipers and a Kingfisher posed for a while.

Ruff

deep water Snipe

the Pec

a good selection of Insects about as well on a nice sunny afternoon

little cracker posing well

probably a Red-eared Terrapin hauled out

Greenshank

Common Sand

and Green Sand