Filey, 28th Nov '24 - Lapland Bunting and more

Up on Carr Naze, meanwhile, an accommodating Lapland Bunting sneaked along the paths in the sunshine, while three Great Northern Divers made fly-bys (with another in the bay).

Filey, 28th Nov '24 - Purps

The best part of a day's birding on the coast, and with an urge to commune with Purple Sandpipers on the Brigg, Filey it was for the morning session. A total of 48 was a pretty good tally by recent standards, and it's always such a joy to sit down and watch them beavering away as the incoming tide opens up the seafood buffet for them.

A good couple of of hours down on the rocks with minimal disturbance was a fine way to spend my time before a wander along the cliffs (see next post); good to be back, and the first opportunity to have done so in a couple of months....

Humber Thrushes

I'm thinking we haven't seen enough Redwings on these pages of late (!), and so here's a few photos of them - and accompanying Fieldfares - from my surveying site at North Killingholme on the industrial south bank of the Humber.

Thrushes are still very much on the move right now - masses piling through in the Highlands over the last few days, and I just had an after-dark run here in #Eyemouth on the Borders coast, and there's lots of Redwings arriving (in a blustery SW)....

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— Mark the Birder (@markthebirder.bsky.social) November 24, 2024 at 8:38 PM

I've been surrounded by them for what seems like many weeks now - from impressive influxes at various spots on the coast, to consistently high nocmig counts, to countless masses in the forests and slopes of the Highlands - and it's been a joy of course. With such a successful berry crop this autumn it's great to see it utilised as it should be, and the un-ed edges along the seawall were festooned with hungry, hungry thrushes for much of the day the in milky early winter sunshine.