Migrants Way. Stage 12. Skipsea to Barmston

A mild, mainly cloudy day with high clouds and a short afternoon shower. The tide is rising and high, the sea quite calm. I park at the end of Skipsea's Cliff Road to find two police cars parked. It turns out someone has found a WW2 bomb on the beach and the police are cordoning the area. Luckily, I'm walking on the opposite direction!

The police walking towards Withow Gap.

Plenty of fishermen and fisherwomen on the rising tide, both beach and clifftop fishing.

I walk atop Skipsea Cliffs towards Ulrome. Sand Martins fly over. The cliffs are 14 m high, sloping down. Just before the caravan site blocking the path by Tranmere Cliff, there is an easy way down the beach. 

Way down the beach through a set of steps and ramps made on the clay.

There is no trace of the private sea defences that at some point were in place to protect the caravan site at Skipsea. A group of 7 Swifts fly south.

Woodpigeon on the cliff.

Another access to the clifftop at Skipsea Sands, takes advantage of the low cliffs, with a harder clay layer under a crumblier sand and gravel top that erodes faster, making a gentler slope.

I reach a small ramp on the clay which makes a slipway for the boats of a nearby boat complex and climb to the very low clifftop. There is a wide strip of low lying grassland by an area called the 'highlands'. Several Reed Buntings sing.

Boat Complex car park.

Singing Reed Bunting.

Grassland by the boat complex.

Saltmarsh and dune plants grow on the low lying land around the 'highlands', which is probably often splashed by the salt water. I hear a Corn Bunting song coming from a pillbox on a nearby hill, but it might be at the other side of it, because I can only see first an Oystercatcher, then a Meadow Pipit on it.

Oystercatcher on pillbox.

Shoveler fly past.

Another pillbox, right at the cliff edge.

Barmston Drain.

Barmston Drain catchment drains drain towards the sea, as opposed to the river Hull or Humber. Its outflow is defended with rocks and forms a spit. After reaching the end of the walk I return to the rocks by the spit for lunch and a spot of sea watching as the tide turns. Sand Martins and Sandwich Terns have been a constant presence through the walk. The occasional Kittiwake or Gannet fishing too. A Fulmar flew past me, brushing the clifftop. Now, A Cormorant has taken possession of the marker post on the spit. It flaps away any other that attempts to land on it. There is a raft of a dozen or so Cormorants just offshore. They drift slowly north, but then fly back to their preferred position. A Reed Warbler sings from the drain. Flocks of Tree Sparrows and Linnets come to the bare ground by the spit to feed or drink. Then a female Yellow Wagtail and a Ringed Plover. This area between Barmston and Fraisthorpe is well known for its bird diversity both for residents and migrants.

King of the Cormorants.

Barmston drain outlet.

Kittiwake

Cormorants

One of the two mallards on the beach.

Gannet turning to dive.

One of two Great Crested Grebe fishing offshore.

Sandwich Terns.

Skipsea Castle

Skipsea Castle

On the way back I make a quick stop to see the 'castle' and the moat surrounding Skipsea Castle. Skipsea Brough had a naturally defended position with two meres, now drained, forming a moat: Skipsea Low Mere and Skipsea Bail Mere SSSI. Cows graze on the low lying terrain around the mound, and it's easy to see how the wet terrain could be turned into a defensive feature.

Sandwich Tern with Danes Dyke in the background.

Featured bird: Sandwich tern
Sandwich terns are our largest breeding tern species. They are often noisy, their 'ki-rrick' calls announcing their presence. Although they don't breed locally (nearest colonies are in the Netherlands and East Anglia, they use Bridlington Bay for fishing and during passage and can be seen from April to September. Peak counts are in the second half of July, when individuals disperse from their breeding grounds and noisy fledglings join their parents in fishing expeditions. Sandwich terns are Amber listed due to recent declines in both breeding and wintering populations and range.

Walk information
9 km circular. Start: Skipsea Cliff rd. TA180551, finish Barmston Sands Lane. Access to the beach at Criftings Boat complex, Barmston Main Drain and Barmston Sands Lane. other ad hoc access points cut on the cliff.

More information

Skipsea Mound article.

Barmston Trekkelen site.
Glenn, Neil & John Miles 2017. Best Birdwatching Sites. Yorkshire. Buckingham Press, 340 pp.