randombirder

Heading up to Flamborough once again on Thursday evening to catch the final throes of Migweek started off with a captivating talk by the brilliant Johnny Mac on his past trips to Mongolia and the range of breeding Siberian species that the region supports. The passport is ready for a trip there at some point soon! Birding on Friday was relatively pedestrian with most of the interest out to sea. Ambling gently around the area, Old Hall produced just three brambling , 12 chiffchaff , a blackcap and a treecreeper . Not much to scream and shout about in an autumn that has yet to deliver any decent falls of Eastern vagrants. After a quick break, focus was drawn to the sea and within 15 minutes of setting up, six glorious pomarine skua drifted slowly north around a mile off-shore comprised of five big-spooned adults. Shortly after, J Mac headed over and invited me to join a small group on a seawatch (that also included John and Jono!). A couple of hours there produced a juvenile pomarine s...

 ....after the extraordinary events of the day before, the next two days were relatively uneventful although a barred warbler and a couple of yellow-browed warbler at South Landing were typical yet welcome autumn migrants. A couple of snipe at Thornwick Pools and a decent movement of redpoll with a single brambling over the Head kept things ticking over ending a memorable three days at Flamborough. A lovely walk to the very tip of the Brigg at Filey was more touristy than birdy although a knot and two purple sandpiper didn't go unnoticed. A fair gathering of expectant birders had congregated at the Country Park hoping for a sighting of the needletail that had been present there the previous evening. Stopping off at Rutland Water on the journey back, the continuing Baird's sandpiper showed exceptionally well at the Whitwell Peninsular. Feeding along the shoreline, there were no other waders around other than this Nearctic wanderer that appeared settled and exceptionally o...

There were serious doubts on whether to make the trip the Flamborough today as an inconvenient high pressure system had settled in over much of the UK bringing with it moderate westerlies, not particularly conducive to significant movements of landbirds. To date, there was very little around and potentially little to enthuse over the coming days. But this is East Yorkshire after all. The accommodation was booked well in advance as my Scilly alternative so to honour the plan, I headed up, first stopping off at Hornsea Mere. It was quiet there but on meeting with some of the friendly local birders, conversation was soon focused on the white-throated needletail that had been seen and photographed at nearby Tophill NR. The bird was supposedly seen feeding over the reservoir for around 30 mins. It all sounded rather fanciful. Amongst numerous wildfowl at Hornsea were around 60 recently arrived  whooper swan , a few pintail , seven scaup , two Caspian gull , two great egret , a common s...

It's a two hour run up to Winterton, and probably one of the closest beaches to Baldock-on-sea. It's a splendid place although parking does cost £8 per day which didn't really cause too much distress. With a variety of habitats to search through, the birding radar was on high alert. It did however turn out to be a quiet day birdwise. The main draw was the continuing lesser grey shrike present within the dunes conveniently alighting on top of scrub while I was speedily heading toward the area in which the bird had been favouring. The shrike appeared settled, snacking frequently on a plentiful supply of a few unfortunate beetles prized out from the sandy substrate. Other than that, small groups of siskin and redpoll were passing overhead and plenty of stonechat formed of family parties were present around areas of heather and scrub.  While watching skeins of pink-footed geese pile onto the adjacent arable fields, a glossy ibis flew low past eventually plunging into a ch...

Another trip out there – hopefully not the last. The big stumbling block, as ever, is cost. It’s something you hear again and again from the small birding crowd that gathers at the tail end of the summer pelagic season. A £200 return on the Scillonian, £300-plus for a hop from Land’s End, and then upwards of £120 a night for accommodation – all before you’ve even got yourself to the far south-west. What’s long been a yearly pilgrimage is starting to feel more like a wallet-buster. And yet… the lure of the magic isles is hard to resist. Maybe cheaper options will open up, maybe not, but the draw of that archipelago hasn’t faded one bit. August visits have a different rhythm – much calmer than October’s full-on dawn-to-dusk madness that leaves you needing a holiday to recover. This one was centred on two pelagics, booked well in advance (the previous year’s gripping seabird sightings were still fresh in mind). The Scillonian crossing was quiet – a few short-beaked common dolphin  p...