Spurn Migfest

I almost went to Migfest last year, but didn't know much about it or what happened, so it was exciting to eventually be going to this famous event for the first time.

I had been shortlisted as a finalist for the Young Birder of the Year competition, so I would be participating in numerous tests to assess my bird identification and general knowledge of birds and migration.

Unfortunately, the weekend began with some bad luck when my train was delayed by over two hours, and this meant it would be dark when we arrived at Spurn and put up the tents...at least it wasn't raining (yet).  The tents were very small but good enough for a couple of nights.

I did a quick tour of the barn where there were numerous stalls, although it was soon closing. I also briefly met Kabir Kaul, another young London birder and finalist for the competition.

I got up relatively early on Saturday and tried to do some birding before the assessments. The bushes were very quiet, so I joined the many birders vis-migging briefly, but still didn't see much here, although there were a few Meadow Pipits passing and 5+ Red-Throated Divers on the sea. I also saw a Redstart on the way to the Canal Scrape hide.

It was soon time to start the tests, so I went inside the observatory building and met the other participants, who were Kabir Kaul, Jack Bradbury, Angus Jennings, George Henry, and Rowan Wakefield. Nick Moran gave us a brief introduction speech then we were split in to groups of age - 14+ and 13 and under, with a winner being picked from each group. I was put with Angus and George in the 14+ group, and we were driven to do our seawatch and vis-mig test.

As there were 3 of us and 2 stations, I was the first to wait in the car park, where I heard a Lesser Whitethroat. Before long though, I was heading to the vis-mig station area, being assessed by the locally famous Jonnie Fisk.

There were hardly any birds going over, but I did see Meadow Pipit, Lesser Whitethroat and a Reed Bunting in the bushes. I was asked questions about migration at Spurn and about migratory Pipits.

Next I went seawatching, probably my weakest area of birding, and was asked to identify three species of birds. I struggled on the questions at this station however.

Next we switched over with the younger birders, so I was about to be assessed on birds in the bushes. There wasn't much around, but I did see/hear Robin, Blue Tit, Goldcrest, Kestrel and Siskin. I was also asked a couple of questions.

Next was the lab test, where I was asked to name feather areas of a stuffed Whimbrel and identify calls.

I am surprised to have misidentified Whitethroat song at this station, as this is a bird I can always recognise in the field.

My final section was the Estuary test, where I was asked to identify birds on the Humber from a hide situated in someone's garden, then was asked a question about which waders have white rumps.

All the assessors were very kind and helpful, and the tests weren't stressful at all.

We then had a buffet lunch and the winners were named, Jack Bradbury from the younger group and Angus from my group, both very well deserved winners. We then received answers for the assessment and discussed it.

Later that day, I went looking for the Rosefinch that had been seen earlier, and met David Walsh, Jack Bradbury and Kabir Kaul. It was raining quite hard now, and Kabir, David and Jack went to the seawatching hide, but I decided to stay and hope for the Rosefinch.

Soon after they had left, the Rosefinch did a quick fly-by and flew out of view. But a few more minutes of waiting saw it emerge from the bush and perch in view on the fence post. It showed well in various places throughout the next few minutes, so David, Kabir and Jack were also able to see it.

Unfortunately, even though there were good photo opportunities, the camera I use had broken.

That night, I attended an interesting talk about advances in migration studies at Long Point, and was presented with my prizes for being a finalist in the young birder of the year competition.

Next morning, I got up early to walk down Beacon Lane, where I saw Reed Bunting, but Beacon Ponds and Kilnsea Wetlands were quiet.

I spent most of the day in the Kilnsea churchyard, where I hoped for Pied Flycatchers but there was almost nothing there the whole time I was present. A brief view of a phylloscopus excited me for a minute, because it had the look of a wing barred phyllo (I didn't actually see a wing bar), but with 2 Chiffchaffs and a Willow Warbler calling in the same spot afterwards, I had probably made a mistake.

I met David Walsh again, who I went looking for Pied Flycatchers with. We did not manage to find any but David told me many interesting things about bird calls and his patch in Suffolk. He also told me what a Pied Flycatcher sounded like, something I hadn't known up until now.

At the end of the day, just before I was about to leave, I was looking for birds in the Crown and Anchor car park when I heard a call which made me run over to where it was coming from, Kew Villa Camp Site.

This was because it sounded identical to the call David Walsh had played earlier to tell me what Pied Flycatchers sounded like. After a couple of minutes of persistent calling, the sound got louder until it was right above my head. I located it in the tree and got good views of it moving through the leaves.

Thank you to David Walsh, who taught me the Pied Flycatcher call. I wouldn't have identified it otherwise. 

I then got a taxi to head home, the Migfest weekend being very entertaining and something I definitely want to attend again, with many good birds, but also a lot of helpful and interesting people.