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....