Black-faced Bunting at Spurn

News of a Black-faced Bunting at Spurn on 20th October and I had no chance of making the journey on the day. I had family commitments on 21st but had a long awaited free day today so despite the clear night forecast and the risk that the Bunting might have moved on I persuaded Jim to join me on the twitch. Dad was ruled out with the long drive and long walk factors along with his commitment to get Mum to a lunch date. I picked Jim up at 3am and had a reasonable drive up the M11/A14/A1/A15/M180 etc arriving at Spurn at 7am. We walked out towards the point along the sand for a mile or so to meet the five other birders that had arrived before us. The news was negative and we waiting an hour before deciding we'd move along the road a bit incase the bird was still around but had moved further down the road. After a few steps we had a bird fly out of the grass away from us and as we turned the guys behind us that had decided to stay put pointed to the spot where the bird had dropped in. After a short wait and with the help of a thermal we knew the bird was still in the grass but we didn't know it was the target until it moved out into the open to fully reveal itself. I put news out to encourage those waiting on news and then grabbed a couple of record shots.

The Black-faced Bunting is a difficult bird to connect with in the UK. There are only nine accepted records in the UK with the first in 1999 and the last in 2022. (several records are still under consideration from 2023/2024) 

Roe Deer at Spurn

Spurn Lighthouse

Black-faced Bunting

Black faced Bunting 

Black-faced Bunting

After connecting with the target we decided to walk out to the point meaning we'd walk around six miles in total with much of that on soft sand which eventually took it's toll on us both. Our reward for the long walk was a Merlin, Shore Lark, Eider (which was a year tick) Yellow-browed Warbler, Rock Pipit, Redpolls, three Whooper Swans, lots of wader action and the expected migrants thrushes and Chats. Three Red-throated Diver and a Guillemot on the sea added to the day list which totalled 71.

Year list now 239

Life list now 453