Champions of the Flyway!

Friday, July 18, 2025

Staring at the sea - Filey, 16th July '25

Whimbrels - their whinnying contact calls were the soundtrack to the day

A day off, no pressing responsibilities, and so to the coast - specifically the end of Carr Naze, Filey, for what turned out to be a very relaxing seven hours staring at the sea and the sky.
It's the time of year when wader (shorebird) migration starts to kick in, with the first real waves from (much) farther north heralding the start of the birding autumn - and Whimbrels were particularly numerous, with 242 south in the session (a personal record day count here I think); also on the move were good numbers of Oystercatchers and Redshanks, plus Dunlin, Bar-tailed Godwits, Knot, Turnstones and Curlews among others.

 

Spot the flocks, above and below the horizon....
A mixed flock of Whimbrels and Oystercatchers heading towards Flamborough

Otherwise - aside from the masses of seabirds enjoying the bounties offshore - it was steady as she goes, with a couple of distant Minkes and a couple of pods of Bottlenose Dolphins on show, as well as two Med Gulls south.

 

Mediterranean Gull (above), Bottlenose Dolphins (below).

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Upcoming tours '25 & '26!



Back from BirdFair and, by request, here's a run-down of all my tours over the next twelve months; there may well be more to add, but this is what I've got on the calendar so far. Click on the live links to visit the page, where you'll find a full summary and a simple booking form. Note that all my tours have a maximum of six clients (five at Flamborough), and that there are now free Zeiss optics to use for all my guests. 

SPURN AUTUMN SPECIALS - September and October 2025. One day specials at this Mecca of bird migration, with exclusive access to all the best places. Selling fast! 

FLAMBOROUGH AUTUMN SPECIALS - September and October 2025. Peak migration season on the Great White Cape. Almost sold out!



TOPHILL LOW WETLAND AND WOODLAND WANDERS - December '25 and February '26 (NEW). A relaxed day exploring a wealth of wonderful habitats and birds at this fantastic reserve. 

FILEY & SCARBOROUGH WINTER WARMERS - January 2026 (NEW). Seabirds, waders, divers, grebes and more on these brand new winter seaside specials. 

GOSHAWKS OF BERLIN  - March 2026 (NEW). NB my trip begins 10th March. See Goshawks and other iconic species up close against the wonderful backdrop of urban Berlin! 

FLAMBOROUGH SPRING SPECIALS - May 2026 (NEW). Spring migration and breeding seabirds on the hallowed headland. 

PUFFIN SAFARIS - June and July '26 (NEW). Always popular, always plenty of seabirds with eggs and chicks - and always Puffins!

For availability and details of my SCHOOL OF BIRDING, drop me a message at nazemark-at- yahoo.com






Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Waiting for Godwit - Killingholme, July '25

Back on the industrial south bank of the Humber at Killingholme yesterday for our ongoing surveys, and it's that time of year when the first main wave of Black-tailed Godwits touch down - resplendent in their orange, black and white breeding plumage.

Monday, July 7, 2025

Well Red - Cumbria, July '25

Male Common Redstart - shepherding just fledged young, and so very tame..

A whirlwind 48 hours in Cumbria over the weekend, ostensibly for two Breeding Bird Surveys, meaning early starts and plenty of time to explore locally with the Mrs along for the ride.

 

Time out from bird surveys here in Cumbria to breakfast with the local Red Squirrels... #ukwildlife #ukmammals

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— Mark James Pearson (@markthebirder.bsky.social) 5 July 2025 at 12:46

We'd heard Red Squirrels were a star fixture around our accommodation; we didn't expect quite so many, however, or for them to be quite so tame and entertaining.....
Regular readers will know of our fascination with neolithic sites and cultures, and fortunately we were close to a very special one - Long Meg and her Daughters, a huge stone circle (the third widest in the UK) and a site of the early Neolithic, up to 3800 BCE. That's almost 6,000 years ago..... 


Long Meg herself (positioned to cast a perfect long shadow straight through the centre of the circle on the winter solstice) is of a vibrant red sandstone, with megalithic art of spirals, circles and concentric arcs. A wonderful place.
Redstarts, Red Squirrels, Red Sandstone? Well red, indeed.

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Curlews on the Moors, June '25

(Please click on photos to view) 

A few from a recent survey up on the moors, where Curlews were very much omnipresent (and wouldn't let me forget it...) - great parenting, if slightly annoying, which is kind of the point. The chicks were close by but I got out of their way as soon as I could.

Friday, June 27, 2025

Saker Falcon - Flamborough 27th June '25

(all photos unedited but for cropping and a little sharpening  -click to enlarge) 

Edit - the bird is apparently ringed.... still, a pretty smart beast nonetheless!

A very brief post on a quick break from guiding here at Flamborough (which began this morning and ends late this evening) - in the midst of which, this beautiful beast bulleted by over the cliffs, in from the east and inland at North Landing....
... I was fortunate to have the camera to hand - and fortunate to scramble and shoot at it successfully (as opposed to being a more conscientious guide ...) - and after sending the photos to friends and experts who know better than I, the consensus is for juvenile Saker: most pertinently from Dick Forsmann, who confirms it as such.

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Nocmig update - Wigginton, spring 2025

Please use headphones for sound clips
 

After moving here to the northern suburbs of York last summer, I began nocturnal migration sound-recording (nocmig) - with an mp3 player in a cling-film-covered plant pot, or (when away) a pre-programmed Audiomoth - from our small back garden throughout last autumn, which turned out to be very productive (see here); thus, this spring was my first one recording here, and (tech issues aside), it was also more than worthwhile, with some great results and nice surprises.

 

I began recording in February - seven nights at the end of the month - which produced skeins of Pink-footed Geese on 22nd, two Water Rails on 26th, Wigeon and Teal on 22nd and 24th respectively, Redwings into double figures on most nights, and Moorhen, Coot, Song Thrush and Oystercatcher also registering.
  

March lived up to its billing as often the most productive spring nocmig month, with good quality and quantity. A calling Woodcock over on 3rd was one of the most surprising (and contextually rare) records of the year, with other waders including Golden Plovers on four nights, a Lapwing on 8th and a scattering of Curlews throughout the month.

  

Northbound wildfowl were represented by Pink-footed Geese on 2nd, 7th (four skeins), 17th (several large flocks), 18th and 25th, and Whooper Swans moving on 7th and 23rd, while Wigeon and Teal featured on three nights each, in the latter half of the month. A push of Common Gulls involved at least 18 birds on 24th, with Water Rails, Coot, Moorhens and Grey Herons all figuring. Passerine interest was provided by regular thrushes (especially Redwings), Robins on three nights and a Skylark on 9th.

 

The story of the month, however, was unquestionably the excellent and sustained Common Scoter migration, as birds left the Irish Sea, crossed Yorkshire and headed for the North Sea (and then onwards to breeding grounds) in the early spring window. It being my first spring recording here, I knew that geographically I was potentially well-placed for some cross-country nocturnal scoter action, but with the variables of flightlines and weather conditions, I couldn't be sure just how much activity would occur over my recorder.

  

As it turns out, I needn't have worried. Early flocks on 4th and 8th precursed the flood of activity over the last week of the month - a single flock on 23rd was followed by a fantastic 25 flocks on 24th, which was then followed by an even better 34 flocks on 25th; a further six flocks on 26th and three flocks on 27th was followed by another 25 flocks on the night of 28th, six on 30th, and one on 31st, totalling an impressive 113 flocks for the month. 

 

After such a productive March, April was somewhat of a comedown (even factoring in the ten days lost due to Audiomoth issues). Expected species such as Redwings, Song Thrushes, Moorhens, Little Grebes, Water Rails (totalling five) and Coot all registered, with wader passage confined to two Common Sandpipers on 19th, large flocks of Oystercatchers on 1st and the odd Curlew and Golden Plover.

  

The night of the 26th, however, showed how pulses of nocturnal migration can on occasion reflect arrivals diurnally - within 30 minutes (between 0224 and 0251hrs), Lesser Whitethroat, Ring Ouzel and Blackcap all overflew the recorder, followed by a spike of long distance migrants on the coast and inland the following morning. Funny how after a very unremarkable month, half an hour can make all the effort worthwhile! A second Blackcap for the spring was recorded on 29th.
 

May is often much quieter for nocmig than the early spring, and (combined with another Audiomoth malfunction costing over a week) so it transpired; the only notable registrations included Whimbrels on 5th and 14th, Common Scoters and Common Sandpiper on 19th, and Spotted Flycatcher and Golden Plover on 20th. 

 

By the time June rolls around, nocmig possibilities recede greatly, and it's really all about the chance of the odd quality long shot - thus, it's not always worth the hassle, especially if conditions are poor. But, as I was around (and the shortness of the nights make them very quick to analyse), I put out the recorder with suitable low (no) expectations. As it turns out, a very good move....
 

A night's recording on 6th produced a single Curlew, before another try on 12th scored with exactly what I'd hoped for - my first Quail for the site. The following night - 13th - amazingly provided another Quail, and then the next (15th), an even bigger score - at least two Avocets chipping away as they passed over our suburb. A rare York bird, I'd assume, and one which I'd tried and failed for five years to pick up on the coast.... 

 

More was still to come, with a Dunlin and a very late Redwing on 16th, Black-headed Gulls on 17th and 20th, Grey Heron on 18th, Oystercatcher and Curlew on 19th, and a flock of at least three Common Sandpipers on 23rd. 

 

An excellent end to a productive first spring recording here. (And with a week still to go, maybe still a footnote to add!)