Spurn Head : A different trip!

25-26/10/05 Spurn Leaders:Simeon, James, Matthew and Connor.
We took the oportunity of a trip to Spurn head to try and get some of the rare migrants that were coming in. We got there and went straight to the seawatching hide. In about one hour we got the following; 3 Little Auks, 12 Guillemots, 1 Razorbill, 2 Red-throated divers, 5 Gannets, 14 Kittiwakes and an unidentified Skua sp. We were all very pleased at this and were looking forward to the rest of our time there. After this we went to the lighthouse area to try and get the Black Redstart that had been there recently. We had no such luck, but James spotted a Yellow-browed warbler in a private garden in a bush. I saw it later flying across a path behind James. Matthew spotted it again on the ground and had a good look at it, but James and Connor didn't get very good views of it unfortunately. The last thing we did that day was to take a trip to Beacon Ponds and down Beacon lane where there had been a Lapland Bunting for nearly two days feeding in a dyke. on our way down Beacon Lane we managed to flush two Jack Snipes from Shooting Pool, which was a small reed-covered pond. We got to the dyke and saw the Lapland Bunting in the end. When we did see it, it was either on the path or feeding on the banks, giving superb views. When it flew past you, you could see the head patterns really well! At the ponds we got; a Greenshank, a Dunlin, several Curlew, a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits, two Little Grebes and four Gadwall. It had been a brilliant day for all of us and we were looking forward to the next day.
We went straight down to the narrows next morning and got a good flow of overhead passage in just over an hour. This is what we saw; 200+ Meadow pipits, 5+ Skylarks, 10+ Rock Pipits, 1 Yellowhammer, 2 Siskin, 250+ Greenfinch, 150+ Goldfinch, a few Chaffinch, 200+ Starling and 5 Whooper swans joining with some on the mudflats to make 16. On the sea there were 3 Gannets, a Great-northern Diver, a Greylag goose and several Brent geese. After this we went up to the head to be greeted by the Black Redstart, 4 Chiffchaff and 4+ Goldcrests, of which 2 came really close on the ground giving us a chance to take some excellent photographs. We went round the point and saw the Little Bunting and 2 Ring Ouzels. We had a brilliant time at Spurn and I left with 2 more lifers and 8 more yearers! We all thoroughly enjoyed it!