The 11th annual
Spurn Migration Festival, aka
#Migfest, took place over three days last weekend and it's fair to say it was one of, arguably
the, best yet. It's always fun, whatever the weather / birding / circumstances, but this year it came together in a manner it hasn't before, and everyone was treated to a rich and varied birding extravaganza playing out over the whole festival.
Male Red-breasted Flycatcher
The conditions conspired to provide a constantly changing cast of freshly arriving migrants across every hedge, bush and tree, with each day witnessing multiple arrivals; Friday, however, was another level entirely - a full-on, dawn-to-dusk joy of a migratory spectacle that everybody with a pair of bins in the area bore witness to with various amounts of glee, including us....
We (Rich and I) arrived on Thursday afternoon under the cover of thick fog, but went for a 'sea'watch anyway - while the sea was mostly invisible, we took the opportunity to catch up after a busy few weeks behind (and ahead) of us, tantalisingly clocking groups of
gulls and
skuas briefly materialising and then soon disappearing again.
European Bee-eater
Friday morning dawned sunny, clear and beautiful (as the rest of the day would be), and we headed down to the Warren, where we enjoyed a host of commoner migrants in the rapidly warming sunshine - a fine start to the day, and a harbinger of what would follow...
... which, in short, was a
lot of good birds. Pleasingly numerous and seemingly occupying every piece of available habitat were
Pied and
Spotted Flycatchers, Lesser and
Common Whitethroats, Common Redstarts (above),
Whinchats, Garden Warblers, Willow Warblers (and a few
Chiffs),
Tree Pipits, Wheatears and more; counter-intuitively, all these freshly-arrived bundles of joy were enjoyed in warm sunshine against clear blue skies. No complaints...
Which would have been more than just fine, but then there was the roll-call of scarcities that, unusually, seemed to go out of their way to show off to as many birders as possible. There were many more than the following, but of those we bumped into - the amazingly tame
Red-backed Shrike in the #Migfest Field (above); the sharp, male
Red-breasted Flycatcher in the Crown carpark; the various
Wrynecks (how many across the weekend...?); the
Barred Warbler popping out at dusk in the same bush alongside two Garden Warblers and two Blackcaps;
And then there was one of those classic Spurn moments that was a joy to share with lots of other Migfest attendees. While ogling the passerine migrants alongside Dawn (Balmer) and Pete, they kindly offered us a quick lift to the
Bee-eater, showing a few minutes drive away on Easington Straight - why not, we thought, so we hopped in, soaked up the Bee-eater, and (thanks to the crackling radio), turned the other way to simultaneously enjoy a
Pallid Harrier steaming up the coastal bank. Class!
Willow Warbler
Saturday was more about representing
Yorkshire Coast Nature in the main marquee, and also leading the lone travellers/new attendees ice-breaker walk in the morning (thanks to the shrike, the Wryneck and all the other migrants for making that one of the easiest walks ever!) and giving a pleasingly full talk about my migration adventures at Filey in the function hall at Sandy Beaches (a great new venue choice).
Garden Warbler
Sunday was also excellent when the mist cleared, with migration evident over and outside the marquee (mostly enjoyed with Georgia) including lots of
hirundines, a late run of
Swifts, four
Hobbys, and then, just as we were packing up, a
Honey-Buzzard south down the canal.
Pied Flycatcher
And then there were the waders, and the wetlands, and the Humber, and the people, and the pints in the Crown, and the lovely, unbeatable community vibe....
... quite a weekend. Back next month for more guiding adventures - already looking forward it!
Male Red-breasted Flycatcher 
European Bee-eater
