Spurn - 6th Nov 2007.

Miffed at missing an excellent movement of Pomerine Skuas along the east coast at the weekend, fresh NW winds forecast for Tuesday meant a hastily arranged day at Spurn with Tim & Janet Davie was in order in the hope that if not a repeat of the weekends events, there would be at least some leftover Poms and Little Auks still be had moving up and down the North Sea.

Setting off from Blackburn at 05:15, I was in-situ and staring out at the north sea from the end of Bluebell Lane by 08:00hrs. With the exception of 12:15-13:30, when we tried for the Crown & Anchor Yellow-browed Warbler, seawatching was continuous until 15:30.

A record shot of the first group of Poms I encountered, a flock of four, involving 2 juvs, 1 pale phase sub-ad and one pale phase adult shadowing a flock of Kittiwake. These were the closest birds of the day and this record shot was from a single photo taken in hope with the dSLR. At least the adult Pom is readily identifiable!

Above: A 'close' up of the adult Pom

08:00-12:15hrs

Red-throated Diver: 26 > S (under recorded).

Diver sp: 3 > S

Gannet: 27 > S, 2 > N.

Bonxie: 1 > S

Pomerine Skua: 20 > S

Kittiwake: 185 > S

Little Auk: 5 > N, 2 > S - Two birds over breakers.

Auk sp: 14 > S.

Common Scoter: 193 > S, 6 > N.

Velvet Scoter: 1 > S.

Greater Scaup: 1 female > S.

Long-tailed Duck: 1 juv > S.

Eider: 1 drake > S.

Teal: 1 > S.

Wigeon: 5 > S.

Goldeneye: 1 > S.

Pink-footed Goose: Skein of c128 > S.

Brent Goose: 3 > S.

Siskin: 2 > 'in'.

Snow Bunting: 1 fem/imm > N, later one/another heard overhead.

Above & Below: Yellow-browed Warbler - Crown & Anchor, Spurn - 6th Nov 2007.

A male Blackcap was also present in the Crown & Anchor bushes.

I returned to the same seawatching position from 13:45-15:30 whilst Tim & Janet walked round the triangle, rejoining me in the latter stages of the seawatch.

13:45-15:30

Great-northern Diver: 1 > S, close enough to be able to see the 'half-collar' detail on the sides of the neck, then landed on sea between the Bluebell and Warren.

Red-throated diver: 6 >S.

Pomerine Skua: 4 > S.

Gannet: 3 > N, 2 > S.

Kittiwake: 31 > S.

Common Scoter: 4 > S.

Razorbill: 2 > S.

Auk sp: 3 > S.

Left - Right: Myself, Janet & Tim Davie - Seawatching at Spurn, East Yorks - 6th Nov 2007.

With the final hour of light now upon us we embarked on a walk along Kilnsea Cliff then back along Beacon Lane. No sooner had we started walking, we looked offshore to see a superb 1stw Glaucous Gull heading south over the breakers. The walk was quiet with the exception of c20 Blackbird in the hedges bringing a quality days birding to a close.