Migrants Way. Stage 1. Spurn Head to Kilnsea

A sunny day with a westerly wind and long sunny spells, especially in the morning, it seemed like a great day to start Migrants Way, the first leg on the walk between Spurn Head and Filey Brigg that I'll be doing this year. There was a spring tide of 7 m at Spurn, so, after a quick stop at the Discovery Centre to check the times to avoid the breach, we started our walk at 9 am with a falling tide, giving plenty of time to cross back. As we started, three Jackdaws flew over, calling, appearing to dither, but eventually flying west. Jackdaws are not resident in Spurn, so these must have been migrants. Spurn is one of the best sites in the country to observe migration, the observatory has records of 500 bird species, and the Spurn Bird Observatory is one of the top in the country. It is a long curved peninsula curving around the mouth of the Humber estuary. The combination of the rich mudflats of the Humber, the sandy dunes and wetlands, and the geographical location in Spurn favouring it as a migration hotspot makes it one of my favourite places in East Yorkshire.

Looking south towards the wash over.

And now looking north

These Hebridean sheep on Chalk Bank appeared quite disappointed when they trotted towards us and realised we had no food!

A tank defence wall near the lighthouse.

The lighthouse door.

The mudflats and beach were very wide was we crossed the wash over. The mark of the previous high tide did not cross over the thin strip of land to Spurn Point. Three birds flew over onto the beach: Ringed Plovers, my first this year.

Ringed Plover.

On the mudflats, a loose group of Grey Plovers, more Ringed Plovers, a skittish flock of Knot and a sprinkle of Dunlin and Redshank. In the distance, alerted by their 'rot-rot' calls, some Brent Geese.

Grey Plover.

There is a spring feeling in the air, but the breeze is cold. We reach Chalk Bank, a wider area before the lighthouse that is managed as a meadow by the YWT by Hebridean sheep grazing. We enter the first hide. The waders are a long way out, but we can see the patches of Dwarf Eelgrass, Zostera noltei, on the estuary side. This is a habitat of conservation concern. We can also see the oyster beds that have been set on the estuary.
 We reach the buildings at the Point at 11:30, and make our way around the scrub on the spoon-shaped end of the peninsula on narrow paths used by Roe Deer, flanked by thorny branches of sea buckthorn. This is a strange island-like place, with derelict military buildings encroached by a thicket of Privet, Sea Buckthorn and other bushes, with a few scattered trees. Large tankers pass by, entering the Humber, the Lincolnshire coast on the distance.

An out of place, but very healthy clump of Cordyline australis rising over the dunes..

Finally, a sandy path opens amongst Marram Grass and we are at the southern end of Spurn Point!

The low tide reveals how much sand and shingle appears to have accumulated on the point with fresh sand butting against eroded old dunes. A Cormorant and a few Great Black-backed gulls loaf on the Stony Binks. We carry on our walk north on the beach and climb the sandy path up the dune to the lighthouse, where we meet two walkers who have just seen a Red Kite migrating overhead. After a quick picnic, we move on. We walk on the road this time, and make good time on the return walk.

Crumbling defences, pillbox and the lighthouse.

A female Stonechat by the lighthouse

Kestrel.

Knot

A male Stonechat by the Warren, one of three in this area.

The sea

The North Sea is a macrotidal system, with a range of up to 7 m between low and high tide. The sea is not very deep offshore, as it sits on the continental shelf, although it includes submarine glacial valleys and flooded lakes. The coast is made up of soft Pleistocene glacial tills from Spurn until just south of Bridlington. Coastal erosion puts in suspension the clay in the cliffs onto the sea. The sea often has two colours, a muddy brown near shore and the blue offshore. North of Bridlington the coast rises and is formed by large chalk cliffs formed in the cretaceous.

Featured bird: Ringed Plover
Ringed Plovers are breeding residents at Spurn, but they are difficult to see during the winter. They feed on coastal mudflats and beaches, with a characteristic stop-start rhythm. Spring peak counts in Spurn are at the end of May. Migrants include race tundrae, which breeds in the Arctic in Scandinavia and Russia.

Walk information

13 km, circular. Start: YWT Discovery Centre TA416154. Finish at Spurn Head ("the point"). Parking, Pay and Display, free to YWT members, just display your membership card. Toilets available at the Discovery centre and at Spurn Point. 

The land of Spurn Head belongs to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. The Humber estuary has several figures of protection. It a Special Protection Area, a SSSI, and a Ramsar site, mainly due to its internationally importance for wintering wading birds. Spurn Head is a National Nature Reserve and forms part of a Heritage Coast. Spurn holds its own bird Observatory (SBO), which carries a range of activities, including ringing, vismigging, and sea watches, and the organisation of the annual Migration Festival. Check the website for details.

UPDATE. I have amended the eelgrass species, after Andy Gibson noted the species in Spurn it is Z. noltei.