Baggins on the Loose: The comings & goings of October plus standout local birds

Sunday, 31 October 2021

The comings & goings of October plus standout local birds - Hen Harrier & Short Eared Owl

October, the month when birds from further north begin arriving in earnest to winter in the UK. I love this time of year, still get a thrill when the first Redwings & Fieldfares arrive and usually have a few extended days on the east coast somewhere to witness a bit of incoming migration. Not the case this year though - an almost complete absence of favourable winds did nothing to blow in any of the usual 'falls' of migrants, and I just couldn't match any free days in my diary with decent weather periods, so its been very much a 'bits and pieces' October for me.

Brambling, Flamborough, 06/10/2021

I twitched a couple of the few rarities that were around - a Two-barred Greenish Warbler at Spurn and a Long-toed Stint at St Aidan's (details and pics here) and picked up a few common passage migrants from a couple or 3 trips up to Flamborough Head - a few Siskins and Bramblings in off the sea, the odd Wheatear, a Spotted Flycatcher and a Jack Snipe flushed from the cliff top, but slim pickings really and the first year for a while I've gone without a single Yellow Browed Warbler.

Spotted Flycatcher, Flamborough, 06/10/2021

Best birds of the month by far were much closer to home with a stunning Short Eared Owl on my own patch at Fangfoss - a great record for the York area and my first at Fangfoss, and then a few days later a ringtail Hen Harrier through Wheldrake Ings.

Short Eared Owl, Fangfoss Park, 16/10/2021

The Hen Harrier was my 4th this year in the York area and I seem to be gaining a bit of a reputation locally for turning up these most impressive of raptors. It was a group of noisy crows that put me onto this one as I was walking down the river Derwent between Bank Island and Wheldrake bridge. It didn't hang around and flew off NW hotly pursued by said corvids.

Hen Harrier, Wheldrake Ings, 21/10/2021

Painted Lady, Wheldrake Ings, 21/10/2021

On the same day, an unseasonably warm one for October I had another great record but not a bird - a Painted Lady butterfly which could turn out to be the latest ever for Yorkshire.

My first Redwings of the autumn were at Flamborough on the 6th but the only mass influx was over the 13th / 14th of the month when there was a brief lull from the prevailing westerly winds and tens of thousands were reported nationwide. I had maybe 400 over Fangfoss along with smaller numbers of Fieldfares, Song Thrush and Blackbirds, and over the next few days a noticeable increase in birds such as Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Robin, Yellowhammer and Chaffinches.

Yellow Wagtail & Ruff, Alkborough, 07/10/2021

My only trip out of Yorkshire during the month was a few hours at Alkborough Flats on the Lincolnshire side of the Humber. I met up with my birding pal Mark P. and on another incongruously warm day we weren't at all surprised to see 6 Barn Swallows and a late Yellow Wagtail, both of which turned out to be my last of the year.

As per usual at Alkborough it was the wading birds that took the eye with good numbers of Black Tailed Godwits (c55) Redshank (c50), Spotted Redshank (15), Dunlin (c140), Curlew, (c20) Golden Plover (c260), Lapwing (c200) plus the odd Avocet, Ruff, Snipe and Ringed Plover. Great light on the day produced some pleasing images of the waders viewable from the main hide.

Common Redshank, Alkborough, 07/10/2021

Dunlin, Alkborough, 07/10/2021

Mixed waders, Alkborough, 07/10/2021

Other good birds on the day included a Water Rail scurrying across the mud right in front of the hide, 10ish Bearded Tits, a couple of Mediterranean Gulls, a Kingfisher and several skeins of Pink Footed Geese over and looking slightly incongruous against a clear blue sky.

Pink Footed Geese, Alkborough, 07/10/2021

Elsewhere around the patch in October it's been the usual comings and goings with a steady build up of ducks and geese at both North Cave Wetlands and the LDV (Lower Derwent Valley), and there were 5 Goosanders back on the brickyard pond behind my mother's house in York on the 20th. More Stonechats about (one of the few birds that seem to be actually growing in numbers) including 4 at North Cave along with a Wheatear on the 1st were notable, as was a latish Common Whitethroat on the 5th, a male Blackcap on the 14th, and 6 probable Bramblings over on the 13th, all here at Fangfoss Park.

Whilst it was thrilling to add a couple of new species to my UK list this month, the highlight for me was the Short Eared Owl - you just can't beat that feeling of seeing a new bird on your own local patch! Here's a few more pics from the month -