⛅️ 💨 21C Thursday 21st June 2018 ~ After an overnight stay at Bempton on Wednesday night, I drove the 90-minutes or so down to Kilnsea Wetlands Nature Reserve and Spurn. This was my first visit to the area since the December 2013 Storm surge. The sea rose that night by 2 meters on top of a high tide, washing the temporary road away! The natural event resulted in Spurn being cut off from the rest of Holderness and on certain high tides it is now the Uk's newest tidal Island.
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| View from where the Wash-Over area begins at Spurn |
The primary reason for today's visit ~ To see first hand the change in geography at Spurn and visit the Little Tern colony at Beacon Ponds.
My first stop was at Kilnsea Wetlands Nature Reserve and after parking up, I made my way around to the hide. Although It was a pretty windy day and of course the longest day too it was what I would class as a typical English summers day.
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| Sandwich Tern heading out to fish |
From the hide, a number of
Sandwich Terns were resting on the Islands, occasionally heading out to sea for fish. A mixture of adult and juvenile
Black-headed Gulls were in good numbers and a single
Mediterranean Gull was noted, the only waders of note were
Little Egret and
Avocet.
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| Brown Hare along the track |
After a while in the hide, I made my way around towards Beacon Ponds, encountering a
Brown Hare and
Roe Deer along the route.
Reed Warblers were singing along the banks and plenty of
Reed Bunting activity too.
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| Little Tern |
Although there's obviously no access to the
Little Tern colony good views can be achieved from the opposite side from the beach, just a short walk around the lagoon. From my position, the colony seemed to be doing well, with well over 50 or so birds along the beach nesting area. Occasionally one bird in particular would fish close by offering the chance for some flight shots. Just a few waders to be found with a group of six
Dunlin and
Ringed Plover in flight.
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| Plenty of Little Tern activity |
After Kilnsea I drove around to the new Spurn Discovery Centre for lunch. Later on I walked along to see first hand the geographical change to the area. It was plain to see the Wash-Over with the lighthouse and lifeboat centre cut off and way off in the distance. That said it is possible to walk across, provided of course you check the tides! Bird-wise it was pretty quiet, a party of six summer plumage
Golden Plover the best on offer. A brief stop at the church field to see the
Turtle Dove, I heard it calling alright but couldn't quite connect before I headed off for tonights stay in Boston.
