super schwarzi !

After the lord mayor's show, the over-heard phone conversation went like this 'everything has gone, there are no birds'. OK, so the Brown Shrike had gone with our best wishes but not everything had cleared out, we still had two Yellow-browed Warblers at Buckton and the star bird was a super Raddes Warbler at South Landing, Flamborough found by a visiting birder.

This was a new bird at Flamborough for me and was enjoyed at close range whilst it fed amongst nettles and thistles all be it in failing light. It had a particularly yellow supercillium and typical warm yellow vent. The bird had gone missing and I refound it down a hedge running from the former Tinomeer Hotel towards the sea - even on a split second view of it in flight it screamed Raddes, to me going away in flight they have the same jizz as a Robin and particularly in the way they land into cover 'tail first'. After a period of stalking it it gave close views.

Our two day list included Brown Shrike, Red-backed Shrike, 5 Yellow-browed Warblers, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Raddes Warbler - Yorkshire at its best !

In the Buckton bag !

Dave was on a role, finding two Yellow-brows in a matter of a hour, other supporting cast included a Long-eared Owl, Marsh Harrier, Redstart, Pied Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher, Whinchat, Tree Pipit, Wheatear and a Red-breasted Flycatcher which I picked up later in the day.

One of the two YBW's and the RBF were caught and ringed together with 60 other birds including small numbers of Goldcrest and a Redwing. Ed had a great time on this his first Buckton visit - two new ringing species and he didn't even know we had caught a YBW until he took it out of the bag !

We had a good shout for a 1st winter Red-footed Falcon which I picked up over the village but views just didn't give us enough despite the fact it had a huge white colour separating its browner back and mantle from its dark head and flew in a manner and had the jizz typical of this species- this bird was also seen by Keith Clarkson at Speeton earlier in the morning but views were equally frustrating. Steve had a brief locustella on the cliff top which can only be described as vanishing and we all had an almost certain Ortolan which did two flight circuits over the main dell calling all the time.

Who said brown was dull ?

The 'front line' at dawn

Full retreat to Lighthouse Road !

Diagnostic T6, juvenile Brown Shrike Mongolia 2004


The car was loaded and ready, Steve had just pulled up on the drive and a text came through which cut me to the bone, 'BROWN SHRIKE OLD FALL FLAMBOROUGH NOW'. Our plans for a couple of days birding and ringing at Buckton had just got very interesting !

We collected Ed and headed north into the fog. We arrived at Buckton at 11pm and put up a few nets in the dark, the conditions were prefect - flat calm and warm. We then headed for a very short nights sleep at Flamborough Lighthouse car park (not helped by the police women shining her torch in my face at 3am).

Dawn broke with calling Yellow-brows and continuing flat calm conditions. The boys had arrived and the front lines were massed. The signal went up and audible relief and excitement abounded. After a bit of repositioning the eastern executor was on show.

Representing the first mainland and only Britain's 5th ever record this was a true star bird, not only that but it was an adult and stunning. The bird in the pics above was one of several juveniles I caught whilst in Mongolia in 2004, juveniles can be tricky to seperate from Isabelline Shrike with the border pattern of tail feather T6 being a simple diagnostic feature with a trapped bird. No worries like this with the Flamborough adult. After a bit of helping out with the organising we had a look for other birds.

Other bird in the general area included 3 Yellow-browed Warblers, Brambling and a Red-backed Shrike, the later in view with the Brown Shrike which dwarfed it. Redwings were fizzing around and the golf course held a plethora of alba and Yellow Wagtails.

We left Flamborough and headed for Buckton - Dave Waudby was one step ahead of us and called with news of a Yellow-browed and good numbers of migrants. It was going to be a great day.

(Thanks to Tony for the Flamborough Brown Shrike pic and Ed for the crowd pics)

Dawn and dusk

Angel eyes !

Birds had largely cleared out this weekend but a good passage of Redpoll, Siskin and Meadow Pipits was underway. The Sparrowhawk was one of three around the cliff top on Sunday morning togther with a Common Buzzard - no doubt migrants. A pintail remains on the village pond being the first record for several years. Records with an autuminal feel today included 101 Pink-footed Geese and 6 Redwing SE.

Its the real deal, honey !

Speeton, September 17th 2008

A great find by Keith Clarkson, showed well in flight when an organised flush took place mid afternoon. The bird was then left in peace to rest and feed.

The next day was however a different story, despite messages saying no access and please await permission from the land owner for an organised flush to be arranged a number of birders entered the private fields and booted the bird several times causing it to abandon its favoured areas and to fly across three large fields and to be lost.

I have searched the area it flew to several times since but no sign of the bird, techinally when it landed in the new area it was within the Buckton recording area.

Eastern dawn

The long week-end (Thursday-Sunday) was exciting, frustrating and exhausting ! Birding lasted for 13 hours each day from first light and alot of ground was covered. The birds at Flamborough pulled me away from Buckton a couple of times but coverage was good. Migrants at Buckton included 25 Whinchat, 15 Wheatear, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, 2 Redstart, 10 Willow Warbler, Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, 10 Whitethroat, 4 Garden Warbler, 3 Tree Pipits and 15 Song Thrushes. Visible migration watching accounted for 700 Meadow Pipits, 100 Siskin, 5 Ringed Plover, Ruff, 11 Curlew Sandpipers and 2 Marsh Harriers.

HB in-off

With a large high pressure system holding firm over Scandinavia and strong easterly winds blowing across the North Sea it was inevitable that birds were due to arrive but first they had to battle through an almost stationary occluded front just off the coastline of eastern England - this brought 9 hours of non-stop rain on 12/9 and grounded lots of birds. The next day saw the start of a major invasion and onward movement of Honey Buzzards and Ospreys drifted over the North Sea and away from their usual migration route South through coastal Sweden.

I had great views of a bird found by Phil Cunningham, which swept in at cliff top level below the lighthouse at Flamborough. I then spent a considerable period of time on the morning of 14/9 watching from the trig point at Buckton to bag the Honey-mummy.

In the spirit of inter-county cooperation, a co-ordinated watch took place linking Filey, Reighton, Speeton , Buckton, Bempton and Flamborough with observers in visual and radio contact with each other, the result - eight birds were seen. My contribution was the juvenile bird above which lolloped in off the sea and along the cliffs. The second patch tick, a Shoveler found by Dave Waudby - the first record since August 1st 1979 !

mmmmm a warbler.....

These are the best images I have of the warbler species present near the chalets at Flamborough on the evening of 13/9/08. It was very pale, small (only slightly larger than a chiffchaff) and frequently tail dipped. ID unresolved although reportedly a Garden Warbler.........

Aren't snipe great ?

The two images above show the bird below the lighthouse at Flamborough on 13/9/08 in comparison below with the wing detail of a 1st winter Common Snipe that I caught in Mongolia in 2004.



http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/birds/Gallinago_media/GES029886.html

http://www.kolkatabirds.com/greatsnipe8al.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_-voYLUr2fyU/SEL8hG-iFgI/AAAAAAAAAE4/ei9FCxnw-oc/DSC00956.jpg

links for other Great Snipe images

Diesel addiction

The weekend started with 2 juv Sabine's Gulls and a Long-tailed Skua off Pendeen and finished with an Icterine Warbler at Flamborough. In between a good bit of kicking at Buckton produced nothing more than 13 Whinchat, a Pied Flycatcher and an assorted array of variant looking Willow Warblers. The later hoodwinkers resemebling anything from Booted to Bonellis on skulking first views!

The weekend was dominated by weather with a deep low sweeping in from the Atlantic bringing strong winds and very heavy rain before sweeping out into the North Sea and meeting incoming high pressure fuelled migrants, which were then dumped on a narrow stretch of coastline from Northumbria to Teeside.

The Icterine was a new bird at Flamborough for me and can be added to Melodious, Booted, Marsh, Blyth's Reed, Barred, Sardinian, Desert, Greenish, Yellow-browed, Pallas's, Dusky and Humes Warbler.

Tour da farce