In the Spurn area again today, temperatures are still in single figures but with very little wind I was hopeful in finding some interesting birds. I split the day between Sammy's Point and the Kilnsea Wetlands, visiting both sites several times. Rough grassland at Sammy's Point, looking towards the paddocks favoured by many Spring migrants. Looking West up the Humber, with Grimsby and Immingham in the distance. Viewed at high tide in the estuary. I was barely out of the car when a Wheatear appeared in the car park. I found two at Sammy's and this one was an adult female Northern Wheatear. On reaching the first paddock with its short grass, the instinct is always to look for Wheatears, Yellow Wagtails and hopefully, a Ring Ouzel or two. The second Wheatear was in here but that was all, except for a Pied Wagtail and three Blackbirds. The second paddock had Whimbrels feeding, seven in all, together with two Oystercatchers. The Whimbrels are on passage now and more were on the estuary as the tide receded. A walk through the bushes past the paddocks produced very little in the way of small birds. Common Whitethroats were the most numerous migrant and fortunately there were a good number of them singing and showing well. Most species seen here were Linnets, Goldfinch and Reed Buntings though one Willow Warbler and a Chiffchaff were also found. Before leaving Sammy's Point, I watched the fields along the approach road where Yellowhammers were frequent, a Little Egret flew over and I was pleased to see two Grey Partridge which I've occasionally found in these fields before. Extremely well camouflaged when crouched. I left Sammy's and went over to the Wetlands where there weren't too many waders, mainly Redshanks and these colourful Black-tailed Godwits Flying rapidly North across the wetland was a female Merlin From the Wetlands I continued up to Beacon Ponds where I'd been advised a drake Green-winged Teal had been located. The returning Little Terns were noisily flying out to sea, leaving a few Common Terns and a single Sandwich Tern on the lagoon. I found the Green-winged Teal after it emerged from a narrow channel, staying with a pair of Mallards for some reason! Staying on the opposite side of the lagoon all the time, close views were out of the question however, the vertical white stripes on either side could be seen quite easily at long range. By mid-afternoon, the Green-winged Teal came out of the water and rested on the bank of the channel, at the South end of the lagoon. There have been several of these American visitors over the Winter, whilst I've been in the Algarve so I was pleased to see this one, before it departs again. Between spells of watching the Green-winged Teal, the hedgerow behind me had a constantly calling Lesser Whitethroat which was very reluctant to show itself. Eventually it emerged for a few seconds in a hawthorn bush. I was sure the low temperatures and lack of sunshine were keeping the birds down and it seemed to be true of this Sedge Warbler, singing from a hidden position in the reeds rather than out in the open as they often are. I made a rather interesting find in the adjacent fields where the sheep were grazing, in the form of a Yellow Wagtail of what may be a female Flava sub-species, from Central Europe. This Wagtail had a grey appearance to the head and a conspicuous white supercilium, the throat was very white also. Unfortunately, I only saw the bird for a short time, being chased off by the local Magpies and again, it was a distant sighting. Another good day around the area, with many other species not mentioned here.
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