2016 farewell.

Well, that wasn't the end to the great autumn of 2016 I had hoped for at all!
My last post was way back on the 13th October! I managed a couple of days in the fields there after but that pretty much marked the end of my birding for 2016. I was pretty much stuck in the house from about the 18th onward due to ill health!

Due to various health issues I stepped down as the recorder and report editor for Scarborough Birders before the end of October, passing the responsibility on to Tony Clarke, this was just one of the many changes I had to make, and indeed still am doing, to recover.

A few weeks off work kind of did the trick and by late November - early December I had managed a few short trips out locally and got involved in the mini Waxwing invasion as well as connecting with a few Jack Snipe and White-fronted Geese, the Great Northern Diver and a few of the other overwintering bits and pieces around Scarborough.

Waxwing outside the Police station in Town. Can't remember the last time I saw Waxwings and the sun on the same day!

Black-necked Grebe catching plenty of small fish in the Harbour.

The very approachable Red-throated Diver on Peasholm Park Lake. Sadly found dead today (Christmas eve!), it never did look too well!

White-fronted Goose, Peasholm Park.

Another one of the Peasholm White-front, probably my favourite of all Geese!

2017 is now fast approaching so I have looked forward to that for inspiration and as previously planned I have taken the plunged into the world of Patch work challenge!
Hopefully this won't prove too stressful!
My area is mapped out, all I have to do is wait, get the festivities out the way, sing Auld Land Syne stay of the Sherry and away we go.

I have basically gone for the coastal strip, starting as far north as Hundale Point, taking in most of the productive hedges and fields southwards past Long Nab to Scalby Lodge Pond. A slight deviation here means Johnson's Marsh is in my area.
Scalby Beck, Scalby Mills (including the Old Scalby Mills PH) and the seafront of North Bay are all included with a kink that encompasses Peasholm Park Lake and surrounding area. Finally Castle Hill and the Harbour make up the southern end. All in just under the threshold of 3km squared by about 6 feet!

2017 PWC area map.

If all goes well, the few wintering species present now within that area stay put, the White-fronted Goose on Peasholm Park Lake would be very handy indeed and the Black Restart currently feeding along the sea defences in North Bay could take a little pressure off early spring.

More east winds…..

Well the easterlies haven’t let up – at all!
I haven’t managed to be out every daylight hour God has sent due to work and feeling a little ill, but I have still been putting plenty of time in.
There has definitely been a clear out of some migrants during the week, I haven’t seen a Yellow-browed Warbler for a while and the small numbers of arriving Goldcrest and Robin haven’t compensated for the many that have cleared off inland with numbers remaining constant or dropping slightly.

Still, Thrushes have been trickling in, mainly Song Thrush and Redwing as well as the odd Blackbird while my first two Fieldfare of the autumn were on Castle Hill on the 13^th.

My first Woodcock of the autumn rocketed in off the sea on the 11^th, narrowly missing my face, while Twite have clearly started to move, a single behind the Marine Drive wall on the 12^th was followed by two on Scalby Nab a little later that day. A slow walk north as far as Cromer Point that day produced very little, a male Brambling, half a dozen Goldcrest, the odd Thrush etc. was about it, until I flushed a rather showy Lapland Bunting near Scalby Nab, and although it showed well, I had to share it with the plague of dog walkers and model plane/drone flyers, so my pictures are no not as good as they would have been if I had of had the bird to myself on a quieter section of the Cleveland Way.

Also on the 13^th on Castle Hill the Pallas’s Warbler was still putting on a show on the south side, Goldcrest numbers increased slightly to about 35 however Chiffchaff numbers were down to 2 and I only dug out 1 Blackcap, although it was a male, the two I had seen the previous day were both female.
With the arrivals along the coast it was surely only a matter of time before Mealy Redpoll turned up, my first two were in Dusky Dell on the north side while a third was in St Marys Church as I walked home.
Two Wheatear and 3 Brambling were about the best of the rest that day. 

Still plenty of continental Robin around with new arrivals each day

Same can be said for Goldcrest

The 'showy' Lapland Bunting hiding from oncoming dogs....

lap Bunt again

The showy Pallas's with more below....

Proregulus at last!

As with every time you take a few weeks off work the inevitable return to the grind one day sneaks up on you, too bad for me it’s during such a gripping time here on the east coast!
Still I didn’t have to be in until 3pm on Friday so I could at least get a few hours in on Castle Hill.
Things were fairly quiet on there although there was an increase in some migrants and the odd Thrush did appear to be arriving in off.

Within the few hours I had on there I had 65 Song Thrush, 30 Redwing, 34 Robin, 1 Blackcap, 6 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, 20 Goldcrest and 2 Brambling.

Somewhat a surprise was a Black-necked Grebe in the Harbour, not a common bird in Scarborough in reality, although with up to six spending much time in the Harbour arriving last Autumn with at least two remaining until April this year it feels as though they are fairly regular, will the Harbour become a regular wintering spot?

Black-necked Grebe

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get out on the Saturday due to viewing a house however Sunday 9^th October was my day off – despite only having been back for two days it was a much appreciated day off!
With these promising conditions still persisting I was up as early as possible (considering the fact I didn’t get to sleep until gone 3am) and was meandering my way round the north side of Castle Hill by 08.45.

Things seemed fairly quiet, and bumping into Dave and Jim (who had both been on for some time) confirmed that with very little seen by either of them.
I persisted with the north side for a while before heading to the south side, starting out on the top path.
A quiet start with only a few Goldcrest and a Chiffchaff to show for my efforts eventually gave way to an Owl that I saw staring back at me for a brief second before it flew further along the path and disappeared into the bushes.
A few Magpies hammered it forcing it to leave the cover, a stunning Long-eared Owl, it stared at me as it passed over my head before disappearing south over the trees.
Only a few minutes after the LEO had fled I bumped into Jim again who had also had an Owl, a Short-eared!
Whilst talking and catching up, a wing-barred Phyllosc moved into the Hawthorne close to where we were stood.
Immediately I could see it was no Yellow-browed, a quick look through the bins and it all became clear, that crown strip only belonged to one bird, a PALLAS’S WARBLER!

Not the rarest of birds but one I have wanted to find for too many years now, and why not, what a stunning little bird they are.
The day was always going to happen, and I must admit, with the amount that have turned up along the coast recently (including one in the Scarborough area only a few days ago) I was sat cashing up at work last night and just knew that I would stumble across one!

Well I was over the moon, the little gem performed brilliantly for 10 minutes and the moment was shared with the tall Jim Middleton in glorious October sunshine.

What more can you ask for on a day off work?

Another reason to celebrate was that my Radde's was my 250th species in Scarborough (in under 4 years), making the Pallas's my 251st! Happy days.

Generally speaking, even after another couple of hours round Castle migrant totals were generally low. My totals were 6 Redwing, 25 Song Thrush, 20 Blackbird, 40 Robin, 2 Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaff, 2 Yellow-browed Warbler and a Brambling.

From Castle I just sauntered north checking out North Bay and behind the sea life centre, plenty of Robin as well as about 10 Goldcrest were present but generally things seem quiet still.

Below are a selection of the many shots I fired of at the seven striped sprite, magic....

The easterlies continue

I took a different approach on the 5^th, with stronger southeast winds forecast netting wasn’t really an option so I began my morning early on Castle Hill.
Walking through town from my Flat it was evident that a few Thrushes were arriving with small numbers of Redwing and Song Thrush heard and seen passing overhead.

Once on Castle, it was immediately obvious there were more migrants on there that there was yesterday, only six Goldcrest were logged but I had counted 20 within 5 minutes, the same applied to Robin.
I slowly snaked my way down the sheltered north side adding more Robin, Goldcrest, Song Thrush and Redwing as well as 2 Chiffchaff.

After an hour or so of being on there I reached the plateau on the north side, it’s always worth spending a bit of time in this area as today ultimately proved.
After a rather quiet half an hour with a couple of Brambling and Thrushes in off plus a rather unexpected Whimbrel heading south, what proved to be a male Blackcap caught my eye.
I tried to get close for a photograph or two before it flew across the path and into the bushes on the north side.
It was whilst following that Blackcap that I caught sight of something far more interesting, a Phyllosc with a really obvious, at the time white looking, supercillium! Mantle tones seemed all brown with no hint of greens at all.
I was sure it was a Radde’s/Dusky type.

Shortly after a quick phone call to Steve, who was elsewhere on Castle, to alert him it flew the opposite directing to the Blackcap and dropped into the Rosebay Willowherb, in there it soon started calling, a short almost double ‘chrtchrt’ giving it an almost rattle feel to it – a RADDE’S WARBLER!

It eventually showed and confirmed its identity. A few distant record shots were fired off before it dived into the Blackthorn out of sight and unfortunately promptly shut up.

Some record shots of the Radde's

The rest of the afternoon was spent adding to the generally low totals of common migrants, trying to relocate the Radde’s (it was heard calling on two occasions from deep within brambles, as well as being seen briefly before lunchtime), and hoping the Albatross from further south would head north (it didn’t).

End of day totals from Castle were 40 Redwing, 34 Song Thrush, 15 Blackbird, 60 Robin, 3 Blackcap, 1 Garden Warbler, 4 Chiffchaff, 2 Yellow-browed Warbler, 45 Goldcrest, 3 Brambling and 1 Siskin.

Goldcrest 

Goldcrest

A fresh in Song Thrush behind the Marine Drive wall

Also behind the wall, one of many fresh in Robins

The next day was fairly quiet, I began at Long Nab before moving south and finishing up ion Castle Hill. Species wise of was the same, with slightly lower numbers, and apparently very little coming in off the sea.
Highlights were a Black-tailed Godwit on Johnson’s Marsh and Yellow-browed Warblers at Long Nab and Castle Hill.

A return to mainland birding (and tall trees!!)

After arriving in Aberdeen early on 2^nd October we didn’t hesitate on hitting the road and heading back to Scarborough (a stop in Anstruther would have been on the cards had the Brünnich’s not done the expected and snuffed it!). With a few days off yet I was looking forward to getting back in the field in Scarborough, and with a promising looking forecast I was thoroughly looking forward to it.

Typically Shetland stepped up a gear whilst we were huddled in a car heading south, a Red-flanked Bluetail found on the Skerries was a blow but was to be expected. Next year!

Monday 3^rd I took it easy, with the forecast east-southeast not due to swing in until the afternoon, I thought I would take a stroll starting off behind the sea life centre, instantly a Yellow-browed Warbler was picked up in the trees there, a few Song Thrush dropping in, a Blackcap in the Elders and a Brambling were all welcome and made for an encouraging start.

Heading north towards trough Gully several more Song Thrush were noted as were a couple of Goldcrest and Robin. Trough Gully itself produced a rather standard looking Lesser Whitethroat and another Yellow-browed Warbler and a Brambling.
With a couple of Yellow-broweds under the belt already, and hearing of a few other new birds elsewhere in Scarborough I headed back south and made an effort to dig out as many as possible.
A total of 13 was my final tally with further birds in the Open Air Theatre (2), on Marvels (1), in Peasholm Park (2), on Castle Hill (5) and in a random tree in town (1)!

Early Tuesday morning I was up at Hundale with Chris and by 06.50 we had 5 nets up and running. It was rather slow going the first few ours but eventually the number of birds coming in off the sea increased (although it was still generally slow) and in turn the number of birds in the nets increased.
Among the usual trivia there were a few interesting things trapped, a rather unusual looking Willow Warbler, a few Song Thrush, Redwing, Goldcrest and 2 Yellow-browed Warbler.

The last hour or so of the session things slowed although of the last 10 birds trapped 8 were Robins with most having fat scores of 0 and muscle scores of <1, clearly a fair few were arriving.
Also noted coming in off the sea, besides the regular Song Thrushes and Redwings (most of which were too high to even see) were a Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 Goldcrest and 2 Snipe while additional bits noted in the area were 1 Jack Snipe, 1 Short-eared Owl, 40 Song Thrush, 20 Redwing, 30 Robin, 1 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 4 Yellow-browed Warbler, 25 Goldcrest and 7 Lapland Bunting.

Song Thrush

Song Thrush

Redwing

Redwing

Yellow-browed Warbler #1

Yellow-browed Warbler #2. These maybe reaching Britain now in vast numbers but the day you stop enjoying seeing or hearing these is the day you should look at yourself in the mirror, and despite the fact we had trapped on an hour or two before we couldn't just release it without a quick picture.

Scarborough Birders do the Skerries! DAY 10

After a couple of hours easy birding during the morning we all reluctantly headed for the jetty where we boarded the Ferry and headed back to Vidlin on the 10.00 crossing.

That morning we didn’t see too much on the Skerries, a Yellow-browed Warbler and 3 Blackcap being the highlights.

The crossing aboard the Filla was eventful, great views of the Skerries were had as we left but there was some Cetacean action caught our attention.
None of us profess to be experts but Risso’s Dolphin were present (a species I have seen very well in Australia), as were Common Dolphin as well as possibly a third species, not confirmed yet though.

Fetlar showing well on the crossing

Out Skerries shrinking in the distance - until next year....

Risso's Dolphin

On the mainland a little birding around Vidlin returned us Yellow-browed Warbler, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and an interesting Lesser Whitethroat, initially tacking it then regularly gave a very Great Tit like trill. Unfortunately it never showed well and eventually disappeared into a thick plantation where it never called from again.

From there it was time to indulge in some dirty twitching, our first stop was Sandgarth.
We arrived there, a place I’ve never been, and began to look around for the reported Booted/Sykes’s Warbler as well at the Blyth’s Reed Warbler.
Not too long after arriving Dave picked up and Acro, a bird we all got on pretty quickly, and cue the expert field craft of twitchers, as they all rushed towards us like a heard of Elephants (so were certainly as heavy)! 
Luckily the bird didn’t spook too much (presumably now well used to this sort of behaviour) and showed fairly well – for an Acro.
An interesting bird it was, over an hour or so we had a few opportunities to watch it feed, though unfortunately much of that time it was in the Iris beds so views were often restricted.
Just a Reed Warbler was the eventual conclusion.
Also in the area were 2 Yellow-browed Warbler, 3 Blackcap, a Lesser Whitethroat and a Water Rail.

Reed Warbler

A juvenile Red-backed Shrike at Laxo was then checked off before an unsuccessful search for a Bluethroat nearby.

From there we hit Gott, the place we stayed two years ago and it just so happened the place we found Pallid Harrier two years ago to the day! Happy memories.

Red-backed Shrike

Well today in Gott was as it generally was back then, quiet. We managed a Goldcrest, a Blackcap and 2 Lesser Whitethroat. A juvenile Gannet was also discovered in a field, it was duly caught and released on the nearby loch, it will presumably die soon enough unfortunately but hopefully been on water and with a little wind it will lift up and make it back to the coast.

Gannet

That evening, once aboard the MV Hjaltland we settled in for the evening crossing back to Aberdeen. With good seats at the bar, unfortunately Golf was on the TV, a little downer, we enjoyed a pint whilst reflecting on an extremely successful trip.
With a decent list of species, despite less than optimum weather we were all incredibly pleased.
So much so that my trip to the Skerries next September is already booked!
I can’t wait!
But for now – it’s back to Scarborough with the whole of October ahead, here’s to some easterly blows and a few more good birds, cheers.

Scarborough Birders do the Skerries! DAY 9

Our last full day on these stunning islands.
Unfortunately it was pretty bird free with no new in migrants.

A couple of Yellow-browed Warbler were scattered around and provided so photo opportunities. A couple of Chiffchaff and Blackcap and a single Willow Warbler were also present.

A Whinchat was again present by the Iris beds on Housay, where we flushed the Water Rail on our first walk through in the morning.

Elsewhere the Brown Shrike continued it stay but remained just as wary, not allowing anyone to get within 100 meters.
My totals at the end of the day were; 1 Water Rail, 1 Song Thrush, 2 Robin, 1 Whinchat, 12 Wheatear, 4 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 4 Yellow-browed Warbler and 1 Brown Shrike.

Wheatear

Willow Warbler

And to finish the trip of how its started, a few of today's Yellow-browed Warblers - just can't not photograph em....

Scarborough Birders do the Skerries! DAY 8

No trip to Shetland is complete without a taste of true Shetland weather! Today we experienced just that, for the most part.
A short interval during late morning allowed for a couple of rather fine hours in the field before the wind picked up suddenly at around 11.15, from a weak F3 to a rather blowy F7 – F8! Add to that regular, horizontal rain, birding became a little challenging.

Those few hours out during the morning were rather quiet, the short blow from the southeast overnight clearly not bring much in the way of new birds in, to the Skerries at least.
A Jack Snipe along the Mioness peninsular was the only presumed ‘new in’ bird I saw.
A couple of Yellow-browed Warbler were noted, all in the regular spots, a few Blackcap and Wheatear and a Purple Sandpiper down Mioness where there were at minimum of 12 Lapland Bunting.
There were at least 21 Golden Plover feeding on the hill, as were 2 Ringed Plover and a Dunlin.

The kettle certainly got some usage during the day, I did make a couple of short jaunts out in between the worst of the rain to check of few of the semi sheltered gardens but ended up laid in the seaweed with the numerous Rock Pipits!

Lapland Bunting record shot

Wheatear

Rock Pipit

Rock Pipit

Ringed Plover and Redshank

Redshank

Looking north, towards Fetla from Bruray