East Yorkshire - October 11th to 16th

16th October - Flamborough / Bempton

The final morning was spent observing the bird ringing demonstration at South Landing as part of MigWeek. Really interesting to learn more about the provenance and migration of individual species such as tree sparrow, yellow-browed warbler and many other passerines. It was still quiet out on the headland.

An afternoon at Bempton Cliffs was spent walking the coastline observing peregrine and raven passing by.

A total of 91 species were recorded for the entire trip.

15th October - Flamborough

A now familiar story with the persisting mild south/southwesterly winds halting any hopes of inbound passerine migration so attention was diverted to the sea. Joining the local contingent of sea-watchers, it proved to be a fruitful hour and a half with a juvenile Arctic tern, a couple of Arctic skua, a great skua, 15 common scoter, five little gull and the best of the bunch, a juvenile long-tailed skua tracked for a couple of minutes as it headed north.

 14th October - Flamborough

Truly lacklustre on a breezy day that started clear with relatively light winds that picked up during the day as the clouds filled in overhead. Other than four purple sandpiper on the ledges between the Seawatch Hut and Cattlemere, there was nothing to redeem the day not helped by the continuing and frustrating south/southwest winds. A couple of bottlenose dolphin pods passed by.

A single swallow and common snipe were at Thornwick Lagoons.

13th October 2026 - Bempton Cliffs / North Cave Wetlands

A slightly better day but it remains very quiet and largely disappointing for the time of year. After the early morning rain, a visit to Bempton Cliffs produced a bit of interest with at least one brambling and an obvious fall of redwing and blackbird which were a feature for much of the day. A group of pink-footed goose flew in-off the sea and past the visitor centre which was a welcome sight. At Bartlett Nab, gannet continued to wheel around the cliffs where seven whooper swan passed by.

Unsure what to do given the bright sunny conditions coupled with a brisk westerly breeze, we headed south to North Cave Wetlands. A first visit there and a really impressive site comprised of a series of pits supporting plenty of birdlife.

The main target was the continuing pectoral sandpiper that was present on Crosslands Lake in amongst a large group of lapwing, at least four ruff and two snipe.

12th October 2026 - Flamborough

A gloomy and overcast day with a brisk southerly limiting any quality on the headland. Only a flyover brambling and modest pulses of redwing in-off the sea contributed to any interest. A slow day that never felt redeemable at any point. A short seawatch produced the usual assemblage of regular and common seabirds. There's plenty of time yet for something a bit more interesting.

11th October 2026 - Flamborough

It was straight to the Old Fall Plantation on arrival at Flamborough Head where the Bonelli's warbler sp. was typically lively along the south side of the woodland on a warm and sunny afternoon. It was tricky to pin down, appearing and disappearing with prolific urgency exposing a different part of its form on each occasion but eventually picking a spot in the sunshine where it hurriedly scavenged for a short while. The biggest shame of it all is that it remained silent for the whole day denying conclusive identification between the (probably) Western and Eastern forms.