Near Death Experience!

  Near Death Experience!

(distant digiscoped Arctic Skua (x2) on sea)

We arrived at Spurn YWT at 7:00am in hopes of seeing a reported Wryneck. We asked a site volunteer directions towards Middle Camp, where the wryneck was, and he said walk along the beach and pointed to the beach but the estuary blocked the view of the beach and we thought he meant to cross the estuary (don't want to get him fired). We walked over the grass until we were within touching distance of the mud. And when we went in, we sank in the soft mud and lost a pair of shoes.We knew someone called Phil who did it before and mentioned soft sand so we kept repeated, if Phil could do it, we can do it. But after telling him about the quicksand, he called and said "Get off the estuary, it's really dangerous, go along the road to a beach with soft sand, if I meant mud I'd have said mud,". We did it but unfortunately couldn't retrieve the shoes as it was too dangerous so we left them. I did notice huge amounts of Ringed Plover on the estuary though- which was great. It was terrifying knowing that we could've died but luckily we didn't. We then followed the right instructions and experienced the soft sand which was annoying to walk through and finally reached Middle Camp. With no reports of the Wryneck, we searched along the path where it was last seen but we were unsuccessful. We then did a quick scan of the estuary (the one we nearly died on) and saw four Turnstones (three which were in winter plumage, and one that was stunning in full summer plumage), four Redshank and a huge flock of waders in the distance. I wasn't sure what they were; so I got a digiscoped image of them and went. I wanted them to be Sanderling and thought they were at first but then with the darker blobs within them made me come to the conclusion that they were pale Dunlin or Grey Plover. 

We enjoyed the coast and then decided to do a seawatch but were told the winds weren't right for them. We met up with two people and asked them about the wind. He said that there were a lot of Sanderling on the estuary and when I showed him the photo of the Grey Plover, he re-identified them as Sanderling. A lifer for me and my 200th bird!! They mentioned that it wasn't ideal as it was very westernly but mentioned that they'd seen some Whinchat at Middle Camp and that these winds were superb for them. We checked the scrub by The Warren but had no luck. We then reached the seawatching hide and the people we had met were doing a seawatch while I waited outside by The Warren Viewpoint in hopes of seeing a regular Whinchat that frequented these fence posts. After a minute, one of the people doing the seawatch came running out saying that there was a Great Skua (commonly known as a Bonxie) flying high over the sea right now. I scanned in the area he said they were and saw not one, but two together flying north. Then, shortly after that, a couple spotted two Whinchats, a male and female, together on the wires. I rushed towards the Whinchat and got great views of them both as well as a third one that joined them. We went back to the seawatching hide and asked someone what was about and he mentioned that an Arctic Skua, a lifer for me, flew past two minutes ago. Soon after he left and we did a seawatch but nothing else was out. 

We then went over to Kilnsea Wetlands at 1:30am in hopes of seeing Caspian Gull. When we arrived, we asked a man if he'd seen it and he directed us to it. We had managed to get the tick. He then left and I then needed a photo but couldn't identify which one it was. I took a picture of the one I thought it was and asked an expert if it was a Caspian Gull and he answered that it was hard to tell but probably a Yellow-legged Gull. Nevertheless, we didn't risk it and tweet it. Then, a BTO volunteer came in and after counting 49 Mediterranean Gulls, he spotted the Caspian Gull for us and the expert agreed with him, allowing us to get a nice record shot. We then went over to Sammy's Point after checking the fields opposite the car park to see Grey Partridge (which we failed to see in the fields). We checked the paddocks by Sammy's Point with no luck. We went back over to Spurn YWT for another seawatch and not long after we arrived, we saw two Arctic Skua close on the sea. One man even let me look through his scope to see them even clearer and closer. Since my tripod broke, I had to compensate with a chair. The Arctic Skua was the last lifer of the trip, having 5 lifers overall with the other 4 being Sanderling, Great Skua, Whinchat and Caspian Gull. We also saw huge flocks of Arctic, Common and Sandwich Tern along with a few Little Tern. Then, a flock of 5 terns came past with 2 of them being Black Tern. I tried my best to connect with them and managed to briefly see the flock that the Black Terns were in. I asked them if I could get the tick anyways but the seawatchers said no. But, it was still a brilliant day that nearly ended our life.