Smart seagulls, erosion-preventing oysters and diseased seals are amongst the discoveries on the Spurn Safari.
Two weeks ago, I visited Spurn – the ridiculous narrow peninsula that curves around the northern side of the Humber Estuary in East Yorkshire.
It’s an odd place, not on the way to anywhere else, and about an hour’s drive from Hull. You don’t get to Spurn by accident, and it’s a somewhat perverse choice to go there.
On one side of the spit is the North Sea, on the other, a sweeping horizon of murky brown mudflats.
The last section of the peninsula is shut off to vehicles. Except one – the Unimog ex-military vehicle belonging to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
This is what visitors board for the Spurn Safari, a nature and history-focused tour of Spurn. Unless you’re prepared to walk, it’s the best way to explore Yorkshire’s Land’s End.
The Spurn Safari also throws up a few surprises along the way. Such as…
There was once a road down Spurn
You used to be able to drive down to Spurn Point past Northern England’s tallest lighthouse. But in 2013, a massive tidal surge wiped out big chunks of land, and took sections of the road with it. Now, getting to Spurn Point is a strictly four wheel drive affair, with some soft sand tracks to navigate.
It’s not the only downgrade. In 2023, the RNLI abandoned the lifeboat station at Spurn Point. The jetty the crews used was found to be structurally unsound, and operations moved to Grimsby on the other side of the Humber.
Oysters are in charge of preventing coastal erosion
In the 19th century, the native oyster beds in the Humber Estuary were so big, they were flagged up as a hazard to shipping.
Disease, overfishing and a drop in water quality saw the oysters almost wiped out. But since 2019, a project to reintroduce 500,000 European flat oysters has kicked into gear.
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust tour guide Daz says: “Each one cleans up to 200 litres of water each day.”
More to the point, they create a barrier, preventing coastal erosion. And in a place where coastal erosion is a very, very big deal, that’s an important task.
Seagulls are smarter than you think
The military presence on Spurn was wound down after World War II, but there are still visible remnants of it. These include the parade ground, which is apparently popular with seagulls – although perhaps not for the reasons you might expect.
According to Daz, the gulls use the parade ground for smashing open crab shells. They’ll fly over with a crab in their beak, drop it from a height so that the shell smashes, then feast on the meat.
The reason they like the parade ground rather than other random bits of concrete is that it has plenty of open space around it. And that makes it much harder to sneak up on the gulls while the gulls are tucking into a crab lunch.
The North Sea’s seals have a disease problem
Along the North Sea coast, there is a big problem with mouth rot among the seal population. Caused by bacteria, the disease causes abscesses and eats away at bones around the mouth. It can end up being fatal in pups with weaker immune systems.
And, if you get bitten by a seal with mouth rot, you’re going to need a course of fairly hefty antibiotics, pronto. So don’t walk up to the seals hanging out on the beach at Spurn Point and try to fuss them.
Daisy is a contraction of day’s eye
The Spurn Safari tours do a cracking job of pointing out wildflowers, including scarlet pimpernels, which I didn’t realise until now were actually flowers.
But the big realisation is where the word “daisy” comes from. Apparently, it’s from the Old English for “day’s eye”. That’s because it closes at night, and opens up exposing its yellow centre during the day.
How to book the Spurn Safari
The Spurn Safari is bookable via the Eventbrite link on the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust website. Tickets cost £29.54 for adults and £15.25 for children at the time of writing.
If staying in Hull, the Holiday Inn Express Hull City Centre is decent and generally pretty cheap. It’s well worth paying a visit to The Deep while you’re there.
More Yorkshire travel
Other Yorkshire travel articles on Planet Whitley include:
