Scarborough Birders do Out Skerries, 26th - 27th update.

For me the 26th proved quiet in comparison to the rest of the team, their walk through the 'hidden valley' bagged a tick infested Barred Warbler and a Richard's Pipit.
I on the other hand had a day with no scarce, however, it was a brilliant day in the field with a Garden Warbler causing havoc giving brief views and an Acro type feel to it, eventually got it pinned down in the garden by Rocklea.
A Reed Warbler was also kicking in and around Rocklea while other common migrant totals included a Swallow, 25 Redwing, two Blackbird, 30 Song Thrush, Flava, two Whinchat, ten Redstart, eight Robin, 16 Wheatear, Garden Warbler, seven Blackcap, three Lesser Whitethroat (with two blythi), Grasshopper Warbler, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, two Yellow-browed Warbler, four Goldcrest, Spotted Flycatcher, 24 Chaffinch, three Brambling, Siskin, Common Redpoll and three Reed Bunting.

Reed Warbler in Rocklea.

Sedge Warbler by the airstrip.

Plenty of migrant Chaffinch on the islands.

Eider.

The 27th dawned and a slight clear out of migrants was evident. Although as the day passed small numbers of new arrivals became evident.
The 'hidden valley' proved very quiet while North Hill produced the goods yet again!
With a distinct feel of Dèjá vu, a Short-toed Lark was present in the exact same place as the bird we found last year, a year and three days to the day!
After initially flying over Nick, we pursued it and quickly picked it up and nailed a few poor record shots, at least it gave itself up quicker than last years that took the best part of a few hours!

A truly terrible shot of the Short-toed Lark.

Other hightlights included an Arctic Tern, three Tree Pipit, 19 Robin, Dunnock, five Redstart, 40 Song Thrush, ten Redwing, Garden Warbler, two Siberian type Lesser Whitethroat, Grasshopper Warbler, two Reed Warbler, six Yellow-browed Warbler and four Spotted Flycatcher.

Yellow-browed Warbler.

Redstart.

Yet more Locustella fun, likely one of the origional Grasshopper Warblers still present.

Scarborough Birders do Out Skerries, 24th - 25th update.

From the 24th, with the strengthening southeast wind, common migrants began to arrive on cue and in turn filled us all with optimism for the coming few days of east winds.

Highlights included a fine looking Flava (presumably a Grey-headed), two Whinchat, seven Song Thrush, three Redwing, the Siberian Lesser Whitethroat, six Willow Warbler, two Yellow-browed Warbler, a Goldcrest, three Brambling and an amazing 16 Chaffinch!

Of course the real highlight of the day was the Blades slamming four past the Pigs at Hillsborough! Magic!

The 25th saw many more common migrants arrive with our first taste of scarce for a few days (a Little Bunting seen by Nick and Steve).
The morning began well with a slight drop in wind speed which tempted several migrants out to feed in exposed areas. Several Willow Warbler were seen and then a brief few moments of excitement with an Acro in the Irises!
It did, with some patience, turn out to be just a Reed Warbler.

Shortly after, whilst thrashing round the long, rank grass near Rocklea, a Locustella got up giving me only very brief views. A repeat of the same made me realise it wouldn't just be nice and sit up so backup was called in via radios.
A short while later six of us were on site and working the area, and finding a second Locustella in the process, surely one wold be the one, wouldn't it?

To cut a long story short the pursuits of both Locustella warblers ended with more than a few expletives as both turned out to be f*cking Grasshopper Warblers!!!

Grasshopper Warbler.

Despite the downer it was an enjoyable day with personal migrant totals coming in at singles of Ruff and Jack Snipe, two Whinchat, three Redstart, two Flava, 17 Song Thrush, ten Redwing, six Blackcap, three Garden Warbler, Siberian Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, five Yellow-browed Warbler, three Goldcrest, two Spotted Flycatcher, 14 Chaffinch, Brambling and Reed Bunting.

Song Thrush sheltering in a Geo.

Spotted Flycatcher.

Yellow-browed Warbler

Redstart.

Flava.

Scarborough Birders do Out Skerries, 21st - 23rd update.

Fairly steady over the last few days.
The 21st and 22nd were two very different days, rainy all day on the 21st and nice, clear and sunny on the 22nd. The Yellow-breasted Bunting remained throughout allowing a few boat-loads time to get on and see it, and it played ball, for the most part.

Yellow-breasted Bunting still preforming well - Out Skerries - 22nd September.

It was still loosly hanging round with the Little Bunting.

Elsewhere it was largely the same with only the odd new in migrant, a Redstart and a few Blackcap etc with the Siberian Lesser Whitethroat remaining along with most Phlloscs.

Yellow-browed Warbler - Out Skerries - 22nd September.

The 23rd brought with it strong southeast winds, the beginning of a weeks worth! What would it bring? Surely something.
Well the strong wind made it difficult but several new birds were found during the day (although a Whinchat was the only one I came across). Flava, Sand Martin, Chaffinch, Spotted Flycatcher and a Corncrake were contributions made by others.

Yellow skip in position at the ferry terminal, bring on that Accentor!

Scarborough Birders do Out Skerries, 20th.

WOW, is the word that describes the day!

Although my pics aren't of any major quality (again) they do pretty much all the talking!

From early on (20th) it was clear the drop, and slight change, in wind had done the trick as a Yellow-browed Warbler (the first for a few days) and a Brambling appeared.
Shortly afterwards, a ticking Bunting, of small size, gave its self up and not surprisingly turned out to be a fine Little Bunting, a great start to the day.
Several Yellow-browed Warblers later, Steve, Dave and myself were working the Iris beds on Housay when a Bunting flew over giving a tick call.
Call seemed louder that that of the Little and size wise it was rather chunky!
We were quickly heading in the direction of where it appeared to drop but there was know sign.

Little Bunting #1 - Out Skerries - 20th September

Thinking along the lines of Rustic Bunt we all split and worked the area. Time passed and it wasn't looking good until the radio crackled into life as Dave announced he had got the bird and that it was looking like a Yellow-breasted!

Out of breath after running it flew a few yards along the deck revealing yellowish underparts! Fuck!

A few minutes later still it eventually pitched up on some overhead wires and showed off like the absolute beast it was - a bleeding YELLOW-BREASTED BUNTING!!!!!!!!!!!

Handshakes all round and a selfie or two followed!

It showed on and off during the rest of the day and was joined by a Little Bunting, the second of the day. Luckily it did the decent thing and stuck around until Nick arrived on and connected!

Little Bunting #2 - Out Skerries - 20th September

A brilliant day, does it get much better?

At least 12 Yellow-browed Warbler were logged as well as a thin scattering of other migrants, the totals of which I currently don't care about as I am currently downing loads of Gin!

Scarborough Birders do Out Skerries, 16th - 19th update.

We left Scarborough early on the 15th September, and arrived in at Lerwick on the morning of the 16th after a rather long 24 hours of travel and a rather rough night at sea.

Mainland was pretty dead, a few old favourites were hit, Levenwick and Fladdabister, but struggled to find any migrants, a single Wheatear the lot!
Sumburgh was next up, and despite the views, it was a wasted walk.
A few showers moved through and possibly did the trick with a Garden Warbler and a Willow Warbler materialising in Grutness!

The Crane was seen by Loch of Hillwell along with a load of Ruff and a few Whooper Swans while a single Lesser Whitethroat by the Mill at Quendale was the only bird of note there!

That concluded our day on Mainland, the next morning we headed over to the Skerries on the 10.00hrs ferry from Vidlin, but not before a stop at Loch of Voe where a Yellow-browed Warbler was a welcome sight.
A Yellow-browed Warbler greeted us on arrival to the Skerries, and within a few minutes Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcap were all added, seemingly the place seemed birdier than the whole of Mainland!
That assumption didn't last long though as after the rest of the day working the islands we added very little in the way of additional migrants.

Yellow-browed Warbler - Out Skerries - 17th September

Yellow-browed Warbler - Out Skerries - 17th September

Our first full day yielded a similar number of warblers (minus the YBW) while new were Lapland Bunting, Common Redpoll and Fieldfare, while a 'Skerries tick' in the shape of two Wren in the Iris Beds on Housay were welcome.

Common Redpoll - Out Skerries - 17th September

By the 18th the Wren count had reached five, yes FIVE! A good count for here so I'm told.
Migrant numbers remained the same, with slight decrease noted in Chiffchaff (down to just two).
A Wigeon flew south, the Common Redpoll remained, as did the Lapland Bunting. New were a Snow Bunting on North Hill and a blythi type Lesser Whitethroat that popped up out the Roses as I was taking a quick look out the bedroom window!

blythi Lesser Whitethroat - Out Skerries - 18th September

blythi Lesser Whitethroat - Out Skerries - 18th September

The 19th saw the blythi Lesser Whitethroat remain which showed rather well at times around Rocklea.
Again migrant numbers were low, if anything they had decreased again slightly, although Dave dropped on a fresh in Rosefinch down the end of Mioness and a nice juvenile Glaucous Gull flew round between Bruray and Housay.

Some better views of the blythi Lesser Whitethroat - Out Skerries - 19th September

At least eight Risso's Dolphins were off Housay on the 18th.

Perseverance pays off.

The day after the Rosy Starling (14^th August), I was up in Hundale, Long Nab early doors with Chris for a mornings netting.
Not too surprisingly it was quiet, a few locally bred warblers and a fine juvenile male Sparrowhawk were the highlights.
Movement over the sea (and to a lesser extent over land) was much more interesting, unfortunately much was missed while out on net rounds or processing the catch, however in between we managed to amass a fairly respectable number of species, highlights were a juvenile Marsh Harrier, five Eider, three Pintail, six Ringed Plover, one Knot, 56 Dunlin, an adult Curlew Sandpiper, 99 Redshank, 12 Black-tailed Godwit, an Arctic Skua and eight Flava.

Sparrowhawk.

Several quiet days followed, until 23^rd when things picked up, a morning session off Marine Drive was very entertaining with an adult Pomarine Skua and a nice close Balearic Shearwater making up for the first light start. The supporting cast of 99 Fulmar, 288 Teal, 101 Common Scoter, nine Sanderling, eight Arctic Skua, 3 Bonxie and 53 Common Tern kept interest high throughout.
Later that morning, up at Long Nab several more Arctic Skua were logged while Teal were still trickling by with two Tufted Duck in with them and a long awaited PWC tick in the form of a Greenshank north along the cliffs.
With the southeast wind I had wanted to check Cromer Point pond in the hope of finding an Aquatic Warbler, a choice I would ultimately regret!
I did kick a Sedge Warbler out the rank grasses by the pond, however shortly after the heavens opened and dropped the heaviest rain I have definitely ever been caught in, by some margin!
Within a minute I was soaked to the skin (four layers including a rain coat!), I tried to take shelter up against the wall of the sewage works but this provided no rest bite from the wall of water, shortly after realising I physically couldn’t get any wetter I focused my attention solely on protecting optics and camera, an exercise ultimately futile as my camera packed in!

I spent a few days rather fuming about my camera however it did dry enough and luckily began to work the day before our final Scarborough Birders pelagic of 2017.
So, early on the 27^th August I found myself down in the Harbour and boarded the Queensferry with 23 others. In the past these trips haven’t really produced anything too interesting, however today, on I think our 7^th trip, we made up for that with some nice close encounters of species usually seen at range from Long Nab.
Highlights were four Arctic Skua, one of which put on a great show harrying Kittiwakes and Common Terns just by the boat, a couple of Bonxies, three Manx Shearwater, including a close feeding bird, many Common Terns and Fulmars streaming north and a fine Balearic Shearwater, that put on a nice show before flying off south.
A short fishing trip was also enjoyed by many with plenty of Mackerel and Whiting caught, I couldn’t resist a quick go and bagged a few Mackerel myself!

A nice crisp looking young Great Black-backed Gull.

Fulmar.

Fulmar.

Manx Shearwater.

Arctic Skua hammering a juvenile Kittiwake.

Adult Common Tern.

Juvenile Common Tern.

Balearic Shearwater.

Balearic Shearwater with a backdrop of Castle Hill and the Harbour.

This Red Kite (and 2 Common Buzzard) was a bonus heading south over the Harbour after the trip.

Success!

Pink Stink

The end of July – beginning of August has been rather routine, an increase in Skuas, the first Sooty Shearwaters of the year and waders moving in fairly good numbers, 361 Knot south on the 26^th (smashing the previous Scarborough record by over 150!!) was brilliant, with a supporting cast of 9 other species, including five Black-tailed Godwit and even a Ruff, noteworthy for Long Nab.

Bonxies passing Long Nab.

Common Scoter past Long Nab.

Hirundines have started to leave south, particularly Sand Martin with 93 through Long Nab on the 31^st, with two Storm Petrel trapped at Crook Ness that night during the last session of the year.
Predictably the bulk of the Swifts have moved out during the first few days of August, however, 63 over the house on the 8^th was a nice late summer sight, which kept me busy for an hour or so checking through them thoroughly.

Yellow Wagtail at Long Nab, several starting to move around now.

Some interesting winds looked promising for an early Autumn sea-watch for the 8^th but unfortunately it never amounted to much, the ‘highlight’ being a large Shearwater (a Cory’s no doubt) that went north past Long Nab on the 10^th, but it was unfortunately very distant and came through during very glary conditions.

It was however a Rosy Starling that stole the show and kicked off the autumn in style, with news first released on the 13^th (although it had evidently been present for several days previous) I was ‘disturbed’ as I made myself comfy in the Pub in the hope of watching some football, however I was very quickly on site and was rather happy to add this stunner to my Scarborough list, now at 256 in five years!

Several shots of the Rosy Starling.