Black Stork

An obscenely early start got us down to Spurn for 06.20. The Black Stork had already left its roost, so we walked out to the Well Field where it has been feeding. A bonus start was a Hobby hunting Swallow. Looking out over a field of very long grass and deep, reed-filled ditches we thought we were in for a long wait. Amazingly after just a few minutes the bird appeared out of nowhere, standing on a fence just in front of us.

Black Stork

I was pleased with the following phone scoped shots.

After filling our boots we headed off to Beacon Ponds. A long walk was livened by a Short-eared Owl, 2 Marsh Harrier and loads of Little Tern. Waders present were 2 Curlew Sandpiper, Greenshank, Bar-tailed Godwit and 2 Black-tailed Godwit. No sign of the White-rumped Sandpiper, so we headed off to look for dragonflies. No luck with any Red-veined Darter, but we did see Emperor, Southern Hawker, Black-tailed Skimmer and loads of Common Darter.



Short-eared Owl

Sea Holly

Dusky Sallow

With the tide coming in it was back to Beacon Ponds. As we got out of the car the Stork could be seen in the distance, flying towards us. The bird gave excellent fly-pasts before landing in the fields in front of us.



Black Stork

The tide had pushed thousands of Knot and Dunlin onto the ponds, but unfortunately no sign of the White-rumped. A Peregrine gave a close fly-over scattering the waders.



Peregrine

The walk back to the car gave my first Painted Lady of the year and a fly-by from a Wood Sandpiper. An excellent day out and thanks to Andy for driving.