After arriving home from our fantastic holiday in North Wales,i had been aware of a very nice find by Colin Bushell of a juvenile/1st winter Isabelline Wheatear at Easington near Spurn.
As i had not seen one since the bird found at the Narrows at Spurn on 4th November 2011 and the fact it was only an hour from home,it would be rude not to go and see this lovely looking bird.
After a bit of a slow journey through Hull due to roadworks, i eventually made it to Easington and made my way to where the bird was feeding.
It had been found feeding on the beach and tidal defences in front of the gas terminal.
As i neared where the bird had been found,i joined Ian Smith and a couple of others and watched the bird through the scope at first.
It gave some stunning views,as it caught several insects on the grass bank above the sea defences,escaping back onto the rocks if someone got too close.
This bird was immaculate,with the usual sandy colouration to the body,pale super over the dark stripe from the bill base to the eye(lores area)(Making the greyish brown cap stand out),dark bill,dark eye and pale throat being separated from the slightly buffier front to the breast.The wing coverts were pale fringed,with dark centres to the primary feathers and tertials,with a pale tip to each primary feather.The latter is a feature of juveniles.
I watched the bird for at least an hour or so,until it then became more flighty and it was feeding frequently,gaining some superb phonescoped video of the bird.I did comment that the bird would probably be gone next day and sure enough it was,proving that its incessant feeding meaning it was feeding up before moving on.
This amazingly is the 5th record for the Spurn recording area,with birds recorded in the years 1990,2011,2016,2019 and 2021.
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