In my opinion Spurn is an amazing place because of the birds, the people and the landscape. It is the fourth or fifth time at Migfest for me and, as often is the way, it falls on or around my dad’s birthday. My main reason for going this year was to take part in the Martin Garner Spurn Young Birder competition (MGSYB). I had sent in an application earlier in the year and I had been anxiously waiting for a reply to see if I had made it through as a finalist. After waiting patiently, I heard back from the BTO and I had got through! So, after some final preparation, I was ready. Watch out Spurn, here I come!
On Friday night, my dad and I rocked up at Spurn and we went straight to Westmere Farm to put up our tent. This took about five minutes, meaning we were soon walking back up the track to check in and get our red wristbands. We had a quick scout about to see which stalls were in the barn. Soon afterwards we went to listen to David Lindo’s lecture about urban birding and traveling. One of my favourite features was seeing the photos of these crazy birds and of the hundreds of owls roosting in a Serbian town square. I thought that they were absolutely magical!
I woke up on Saturday morning thinking, I have quite a day
before me. When we got up, we had breakfast, but we did it a little differently
- a couple of bacon baps from the Spurn Ladies in the barn. We sat down and devoured them within 10
minutes as these were some of the best in the world -cooked to perfection! For
the MGSYB competition, Chris Galvin from Opticron
kindly leant me a pair of Opticron bins (an upgrade on my own).
News came out about a Marsh Warbler in Church Field which
was being processed by the ringing team lead by Paul Collins. It was good to
see a species which I had seen on a few occasions in the reedbeds of Blacktoft
Sands and the like, close up in the hand.
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| Marsh Warbler |
The MGSYB competition is made up of five key stages: estuary, bushes, lab, vismig and sea watching.
This was the order that I did them in. Firstly, I looked over the Humber estuary with Jonnie Fisk. I was asked to identify three waders and then to answer several questions about wader plumage, breeding status and migration.
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| Having my photo taken with the other young birders |
Secondly, the bushes beckoned with Paul Stancliffe leading the way. Again, it was a case of identifying three birds in the hedgerows and trees, then answering questions about the differences between the appearance or calls of certain species. During this session I picked up on a Tree Pipit by call, amongst the hundreds of mipits passing over on the day. Next was the lab stage with Sarah Harris, this included identifying different feather names such as primaries etc. and evaluating BirdTrack data such as migration charts and range. Then it was time for vismig with Andy Hanby. This was mainly about the migrants expected to be seen or heard on passage and identifying calls. A while later I was sea watching with Lizzie Bruce. I was most excited for this stage because I personally think that it is my strongest area, having enjoying staying on the world-renowned seabird colony of Skokholm with Rich and Giselle on a few occasions and loving visits to the Farne Islands. It turned out that it wasn’t that busy and we only just managed a few birds, despite the promising northerlies! The limited selection included Gannet, Cormorant, Sandwich Tern and Herring Gull.
The lunch that followed was amazing because the Spurn Ladies had prepared a lovely meal, large enough to be called a feast.
We had a wander up to Kilnsea Wetlands where the highlights were a distant White-rumped Sandpiper and several Med Gulls. It was good to see a Caspian Gull in the field to the north of the wetlands too. For dinner, there was a wonderful hog roast (or vegetarian options too). Later on, in the evening, the awards presentation took place for the MGSYB. In first place for the 11-13 years category was Corin Woodhead and for the 14-16 category was James King receiving Opticron and Swarovski bins respectively. Fantastic top prizes!
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| The awards presentation |
All finalists received membership of Spurn Bird Observatory and the British Trust for Ornithology as well as complimentary subscriptions to Rare Bird Alert and British Birds, not forgetting a wonderful glass trophy.
Per Alstrom’s lecture which was great. I particularly enjoyed the fact that he showed the maps of the migration routes and breeding range of the warblers that he talked about. He made it easier to understand tricky subjects like the Greenish Warbler complex.
The next morning, I actually managed to enjoy Spurn inside the barn and out and about birding. First of all, my dad and I were having a look at all the stalls that were set up and I was drawn to the glass animals by Amanda Newell at Dragonfly Glass Art and colleagues and in the afternoon, I bought a beautiful swallow from her.
A bird race was organised by previous winner Jack Bradbury and we spent the following two hours noting 69 species mainly around the triangle and Canal Scrape areas, with a brief look at the Humber estuary and the sea. Highlights included a Curlew Sandpiper (one of three) with a leg flag and Arctic and Great Skuas over the sea plus a flyby Mandarin!
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| The young birders 'bird race' with Darren Woodhead |
Later on, a Barred Warbler was caught, so we all rushed down to see it at the Warren. It’s a good job we left in the middle of our lunch, as we only just got there in time before it was released! When we came back to Westmere, we packed up our tent and I helped Paul (who had recently broken his hand) put his pop-up tent down and then we left to go birding at Kilnsea Wetlands before we left for good and went back home. We were rewarded with great views of several Curlew Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Avocet and more.
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| Curlew Sandpiper at Spurn |
Having met Martin Garner at BirdFair on a number of occasions when I was younger, it is great to think that his infectious enthusiasm lives on through this competition here. “It’s a reyt place Spurn!”, as he might have said.
Isabel Robson
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