Welcome to Spurn Bird Obs

Spurn Wildlife 17 is out now

The all new re-designed full colour report for 2007 is out now. It's been a massive effort by all involved to get it out so early in the year and it looks simply stunning, we think you'll be impressed. Friends of Spurn should receive theirs in the next few days. For non members copies can be picked up on site from Kew or the YWT info centre, or are available by mail by contacting Andy Roadhouse or Paul Collins at Kew. Cost is £7 per copy plus p+p

Caption competition

We received this pic recently of our beloved warden Paul indulging in a bit of PR. Just for a bit of fun send your witty caption suggestions to
Garry. There's no prize I'm afraid.

Little Terns

Those of you who visit Beacon ponds in the coming weeks may notice some rather odd looking Little Terns on the beach. We have had some decoys made to attract the Terns to all nest in the areas that are easier to protect so hopefully increasing the chance of a successful breeding season. We think you'll agree it'll be hard to spot which are the real Terns!

Updates

The bird list has been updated with many new photo's including many old megas such as Rock Thrush, Song Sparrow and Cirl Bunting. Also a trip report to Romania has been added to the articles page.

New radio system

The new radio system is now up and running. The radios you have will still work on the old frequency but not on the new one, so you will have to change the frequency. You can do this by contacting Andy Anderson who will be at Sandy Beaches Caravan Site most weekends. You can radio him up or phone him on his wife’s mobile (Speak to Paul or Andy and they'll give you the number). He will charge you £10 to put the new frequency in. The new licence has greater capacity for handset numbers, anyone who currently doesn't have a radio and is interested in using one when at Spurn please contact Andy Roadhouse and he will give you details of how to purchase one and rules for use.

Site Sponsorship

You will notice with the new design the Opticron banner now appears on each page (not just the sightings pages) this is because they have kindly become overall sponsors of the website.

A completely revised and updated second edition of the Comprehensive Checklist to the Birds of Spurn Peninsula has been published by the Observatory. It features details of all the species recorded within the Observatory recording area and includes many pieces of artwork by regular Spurn visitors as well as histograms and tables summarising occurence patterns of many scarce or migrant species. This valuable reference is available from Paul priced £10 (£8 to members of "Friends of Spurn" until the end of April) plus £1.50 postage.

Paul Doherty DVD

"Birdwatching in England is a new DVD from Paul Doherty at Bird Images DVD Guides. Priced at only £12.95 (+ £2 P&P) it runs for 1 hour 53 minutes and features 167 species. In a novel format one site is featured for each month of the year and it shows a typical birdwatching day at that time of the year and the birds you might see. As Spurn in arguably the best mainland migration site in Britain it was chosen for the September footage. It didn’t respond with a run of rarities, but species featured include Red-backed Shrike, Bluethroat and Firecrest, plus all the commoner migrants. Other locations which are featured include Minsmere in May, the New Forest in June and the Scilly Islands in October. A wide range of species are featured and include such exciting birds as Bittern, Marsh and Hen Harriers, Honey Buzzard, Osprey, Black Grouse, 13 species of warblers including Dartford, and some real rarities such as American Robin and Booted Warbler. An added bonus is the inclusion of various mammals, butterflies and dragonflies, plus of course some of the best wild scenery in England. All the profits from any copies sold via this newsletter will be go to the Bird Observatory, so if you’re interested send Paul a cheque for £14.95 (made payable to Bird Images) at 28 Carousel Walk, Sherburn in Elmet, N Yorkshire LS25 6LP, and don’t forget to say you heard about it via the Spurn newsletter. Alternatively credit card orders can be rung through to 01977 684666, and again don’t forget to say you heard about it via the Spurn newsletter."

Spurn Artwork

You will have noticed the artwork starting to appear on the site in the last couple of weeks. We have to thank Ray Scally for allowing us to use his excellent notebook sketches and watercolours to illustrate the sightings pages and the above view of the peninsula (which I think you'll agree is far better than the low res pic we had before). Ray is available to produce commissions, please contact Garry and he'll pass on your details if you wish to speak to Ray about your own painting of Spurn or it's birds

Feeding Station Sponsor

We are now in the fortunate position to announce that Cranswick Pet Products, part of the Cranswick Country Foods group have kindly sponsored the church field feeding station with a very generous donation which will allow us to keep a constant supply of seed out throughout the year. If you are buying food for your own garden birds please keep in mind the support they have shown us and purchase your food from them by visiting their site here

Police!

Due to the increased size of the gas terminal and the percieved threat there is now a major police presence in the area with armed patrols around the terminal and several vehicles patroling the general area. We have it from the horses mouth that you will not be shot if you're birding around the favoured areas near the gas terminal but obviously you can expect to be stopped and asked what you're doing.