I bumped into a long lost birding pal earlier this year and found out he'd got well over 500 bird species on his UK list with around 400 of those in Yorkshire alone! I was impressed and told him so, and if I'd been more of a twitcher I might have been envious, but it's never been my scene. Mind you, having maintained that friendship and chased a few rare birds around Yorkshire, it's a scene I'm rapidly embracing. 50+ years birding in the UK, and though I say it myself, a good birder, I'm definitely mediocre when it comes to numbers of species seen - so an additional haul of 6 new birds for my own UK list this autumn, all in Yorkshire - has been most welcome!
The
White Tailed Lapwing at
RSPB Blacktoft and
Green Warbler at Buckton (featured in my last post) started things off nicely, then a couple of misses - a
Western Bonelli's Warbler at Flamborough was gone before I had the opportunity, and then a
Red-flanked Bluetail at the same location was frustratingly elusive and I left empty handed. Better luck with the
Long Toed Stint at
RSPB St Aidan's though (only the 5th ever record for the UK) - 100s of birders there for this tiny speck of a wader, and it wasn't close either and my pics were rubbish!
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| Long Toed Stint, RSPB St Aidan's, 11/10/21. Pic - Tony Dixon |
A week later
Spurn hosted a
Two-barred Greenish Warbler (a first for the reserve) and thankfully this bird was neither distant nor shy. Like nearly of the rarities about this autumn it's of Asiatic origin and this one breeds in Mongolia / Siberia - it was a 10th record for the UK.
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| Two-barred Greenish Warbler, Spurn, 18/10/21 |
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| Two-barred Greenish Warbler, Spurn, 18/10/21 |
There was a
Taiga Flycatcher, a 5th record for the UK, mid October at the foghorn station at Flamborough but it was gone before I could get up there, but as luck would have it another, or the same one, turned up nearby at South Landing in early November. It wasn't a good sign when I turned up and found out the bird hadn't been seen for an hour, and fed up with hanging around making small talk with other birders, I went for a stroll and ended up standing by the bridge over the beck. 10 minutes later a small grey bird with white outer tail feathers flew right over my shoulder and into a bush - I knew it was the bird, and with luck it perched for just long enough for a quick record shot. It was seen in the same general location on and off for the rest of the day but that view was mine alone.
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| Taiga Flycatcher, South Landing, Flamborough, 05/11/21 |
The photo doesn't do the bird justice (not helped by that unfortunate twig!), it was a great looking bird and a magical, if brief, moment of birding pleasure. These birds breed in Eastern Russia / Mongolia wintering in Southern Asia, and there's a school of thought suggesting that some birds from this region are choosing to fly West across the top of Europe and possibly wintering in Africa / Southern Europe. Either way, being able to see such birds and marvel at their journeys is one of the many thrills of birding.
Things got even better when one of the many birders there turned up a Red-flanked Bluetail skulking around in the undergrowth. With a handful of UK records most years it's not in the 'mega' rarity bracket but I'd never seen one so this was an added bonus. Everyone there struggled to get a good view and I had to crouch down to get a decent line of sight but I got some reasonable views in the end, no chance of any pics though. My 'twitcher' mate Tony did get some decent pics of both birds over the next few days when the Bluetail in particular was showing really well.
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| Red-flanked Bluetail, Flamborough South Landing, 09/11/21. Tony Dixon |
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| Taiga Flycatcher, Flamborough South Landing, 06/11/21. Tony Dixon |
A none too shabby half dozen birds to add to my UK list - up to 293 now. A week later there was a Pallas's Warbler on the golf course at Flamborough, again not mega rarity and I didn't get a chance to go see it, but it reminded me of the first of two of these beautiful little warblers I saw in between South Landing and Flamborough headland some years ago.
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Pallas's Warbler, Flamborough, 15/10/2013
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Pallas's Warbler, Flamborough, 14/11/2021
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