Steve's Birding And Wildlife Blog.: The Spurn Area....Sunday 14th July 2013.

With nothing in the immediate area on offer on the rarity front,Chris and myself travelled over to the Spurn area today to see what we could find.A bright and early start,as is becoming the norm,saw us arriving at Kilnsea Wetlands in fairly gloomy and drizzly weather,with a soaking sea fret to begin proceedings.We decided to have a look from the hide here until things began to improve slightly,before making our way over to Beacon Ponds.Some lovely views of the locally breeding Avocets and their chicks were had and this included some comical interactions with a breeding pair of Oystercatchers,as both species defended their own particular area.Eventually the weather looked like it was breaking,but we were mistaken and we got a bit of a soaking,but it did eventually clear thankfully.It was all worth it though with some nice birds on offer here which included 5 grounded Little Gulls(4 adult and 1 2nd cal.yr.),3 Arctic Terns,at least 50 adult Little Terns and 11 juveniles,which was a great success story from all the hard work from the wardens and masses of roosting Dunlin,Knot,Bar-tailed Godwit,2 Whimbrel and Ringed Plover.The latter had several small chicks running around,looking like miniature robotic balls of fluff.Also feeding on here were a decent count of 17 Little Egret,which included a colour-ringed bird,of which we are awaiting the details on.Their crow-like calls being heard frequently as they had territorial disputes over the best fishing spot.On the return to the car,the weather had properly broken into full sunshine and we watched a male Marsh Harrier as it hunted Long Bank Marsh.After all this activity,we made the short journey over to the car park at the Bluebell and this was our base for the remainder of the day.We spent most of our time around Clubley's and found a couple of juv. Little-ringed Plover on the scrapes,which flew south and several dragonflies which included 3 male Emperor,an immature male Ruddy Darter,5 Black-tailed Skimmer,1 Four-spot Chaser,at least 10 Common Darter and 5 Emerald Damselfly.I tried hard with the latter to make them into something else,but with no luck!.Other insects around the area included Chris's first Lesser-marsh Grasshopper and several Five-spot Burnet Moth.We had a few brief looks on the sea and managed to see a few Gannets,Common Scoter and 2 Grey Seals.Other mammals seen during the day included Brown Hare and Roe Deer.Some nice plants and wildflowers can be found when you look here and they included Common-spotted Orchid,Southern-marsh Orchid,Common Centaury and Greater-sea Spurrey.So a visit here isn't always about rarities,there is also plenty on offer on a normal visit,what a great place!.