YNU Spurn residential weekend. Day 3

The last day included fewer scheduled activities and we were encouraged to pursue our own interests in the site. it was another warm day which started cloudy and then became sunnier, but the breeze was lovely and made the heat bearable. As I arrived to the Observatory, the moth team were about to finish. Kate had mentioned that some dragonflies were caught in the Heligoland trap - a large funnel-shaped permanent contraption made of wood and chicken wire designed to catch migrant birds for ringing. I walked with her to the trap to find at least five Common Darters flying about in it. They had plenty of food inside, as there were many of Episyrphus balteatus about.

Common Darter resting inside the Heligoland trap. Many rare dragonflies have been caught in these traps at Spurn along the years.

Cinnabar moth caterpillar

Episyrphus balteatus

Small Tortoiseshell.

The pond snails congregated in the last small puddles in the Church Field pond.

Tiny toad leaving the pond.

Tiny frog leaving the pond

A mayfly in Sharon Flint's pond-dipping tray.

I decided to walk along the sea wall of the Triangle by Canal Zone. It was low tide. A Little Egret hunted just off the Crown and Anchor.

A high-pitched noise alerted me of the presence of a hovefly. It was a male Eristalinus aeneus, a coastal specialist. It was very active, but it finally settled to rest on a rock.

Male Eristalinus aeneus

I went down to the sandy beach by the saltmarsh walking south. It finishes on an innaccessible section of saltmarsh due to muddy or flooded conditions just off the visitor centre, but it is a lovely little walk off the Canal Scrape bank. The saltmarsh was looking stunning.

Samphire.

Sea Lavender.

Fresh Badger footprints on the beach.

The beach by the saltmarsh.

Sea Lavender with feeding Eristalis tenax.

As I returned to the bank, I noticed a Common Seal resting on top of a rocky pier. The seal also saw me and descended the rocks and started sliding towards the Humber (top shot). A flock of Redshank paid very little attention to it.

Back on the path, I finally caught up with an Essex Skipper, a butterfly lifer! I had been checking all the Skippers and all had been Little Skippers.

My first Essex Skipper.

A female Black-tailed Skimmer resting on the saltmarsh.

Male Common Blue Butterfly.

Three Small Skippers with bumblebee on Knapweed.

The brightly coloured hoverfly Helophilus trivittatus.

Helen Kitson, Gabrielle Jarvis and I met with Brockadale Nats Joyce and Paul Simmons, who wanted to explore the area too and we set off from the Discovery centre. Everyone wanted to check the Strawberry Clover that Kate had found by Clubley's Scrape yesterday, so we headed that way but by the sea path.

A migrant female Marsh Harrier, in moult, flying over the car park.

The colours of a sunny day at Spurn.

A very well camouflaged Migrant Hawker, an immature with milky green eyes, flew over the usually marshy area near Clubley's Field and then landed. Joyce spotted it as it sat on the dry grass! As it is often the case with this species, it sat patiently through a long photographic session, before flying away. This is species number 24 for my Yorkshire Dragonfly challenge.

Four-spotted Chaser.

Joyce photographing the Strawberry Clover.

Chrysops sp, a Deer Fly that loves biting humans!

Mature Emerald Damselfly

The driest of Clubley's scrapes.

At the lunch time YNU meeting, two entomologists reported on some good finds in the Observatory owned 'Corner Field', near the Blue Bell cafe, where there is also a large pond. After the meeting, Peter, Sharon and I headed that way to investigate.

The entrance fabled Corner field, normally only accessible to members.

Mating blue-tailed damselflies.

Two Emperor females ovipositing near each other.

Close up of an ovipositing Emperor. 

Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus

A hawker larvae.

It was on a formerly flooded, now dry area in a path moved amongst rushes that I found my first male Ruddy Darter, the 11th odonata species recorded in the weekend.

My last half an hour was spent inside the sauna-line hide at Canal Scrape (above shot), where I watched some more odonates. In the way to the hide I flushed a Roe Deer who was feeding on the car park and jumped onto the bank. And on some Wild Carrot I found a Banded General.

A Banded General, Stratiomys singulatior.

I would have liked to have some time to inspect the borrow pit by the Blue Bell car park, but that will have to wait another visit.

Overall, a wonderful residential weekend in great weather and better company, hopefully the first of many to come.