This is one of the series of Clegg’s People made by Yorkshire Television, presented by Michael Clegg.  Here Michael Clegg visits Spurn Point with Bill Oddie, looking at the natural history of Spurn, the birds and plants. The film begins with a view over Spurn Point and showing the sign from 1847 outside the Blue Bell pub, which states that it is 534 yards from the sea, with Clegg pointing out the erosion since that time.  Then the film moves to Kilnsea Caravan Park, “Sandy beaches Caravan...

This is one of the series of Clegg’s People made by Yorkshire Television, presented by Michael Clegg.  Here Michael Clegg visits Spurn Point with Bill Oddie, looking at the natural history of Spurn, the birds and plants. The film begins with a view over Spurn Point and showing the sign from 1847 outside the Blue Bell pub, which states that it is 534 yards from the sea, with Clegg pointing out the erosion since that time.  Then the film moves to Kilnsea Caravan Park, “Sandy beaches Caravan Site," where Clegg sits in his caravan talking with Bill Oddie over breakfast. Clegg gives an account of some of the birds he has seen here, and of the history of Spurn Point, explaining that it has come and gone seven times in recorded history in a 250 year cycle.  He explains that its current survival is due to the army shoring it up since the 1840s.  Clegg smashes his egg and tells Oddie of the old fisherman’s superstition about breaking egg shells into tiny pieces to stop witches sailing in them, and then they go off to explore Spurn Point.  As they do so Clegg explains how much erosion there is each year and shows evidence of it. They walk off towards the Spurn, past the bird hide and to the Information Centre, where they meet the warden, Barry Spence, who Oddie knew from about 25 years previously.  They have a look at the collection of found objects in the Centre and then going looking for birds.  They see swallows, a ring plover on the beach, a redshank, a turnstone, a meadow pipit, a wheatear, a whitethroat on a telegraph wire, and a reed bunting.  They continue along with Clegg giving a history of the railway that ran along the Point for army use, the trams and a bus that run up to 1963.  Clegg points out the chalk on the beach that the army has used to shore up the land after the breach of 1849.  More birds are seen: waders, dunlins, red shanks, turnstones, wheatears, and a white throat.  The pair has a discussion of bird watching and how they got into it by collecting bird eggs.  They go up the dunes, where Clegg points out some of the plants, including sea buckthorn, ragwort in flower, spring beauty, sea holly, storksbill, marram grass and sea lime grass. Then they go up the coastguard tower, and when they get back down Barry arrives with a cuckoo, which he rings and releases.  They walk off past the Lifeboat House and give their impressions of the place, and the film ends. End Credits: Cameraman – Dick Dodd Sound – Graham Robinson Editor – John Leeds Dubbing Mixer – Terry Cavagin Production Assistant – Liz West Graphics – Paul Peppiate, Tony Sharpe Producer - Marylyn Webb Director - Fiona Greig  Series Editor – David Lowen Executive Producer – Graham Ironside Yorkshire Television Ltd 1987