Migrants (very) welcome - Killingholme, 10th Sep '26

Back on the industrial South bank of the mighty Humber again today, surveying my stretch of the river - which, these pages tell me, has been the case for eight years now...

An unusually accommodating Cetti's Warbler 

Today (particularly this morning) was wonderfully busy birdwise, with a light southerly and cumulus cloud; after the typically grim commute from York, I was greeted by thousands of waders on the reserve and pleasingly active bushes, clearly holding migrant warblers; after my first full count, I pished out a healthy cast - Sedge, Reed, Garden, Willow, Chiffs, Cetti's and Blackcaps.

Not bad for an isolated, slightly crappy area of scrub sandwiched between factories, container ships and the muddy banks of the river - although that's surely why it attracts migrant passerines at certain times of year.

Common Buzzards on the move throughout the late morning 

Up in the clouds, my first skein of Pink-footed Geese yapped enthusiastically south-west (autumn's really here), and a passage of Common Buzzards soon developed - I had a minimum of 12 kettling ever higher and drifting south. Lovely stuff.

All of which was quite enough, but on the river, the waders multiplied as the tide slipped out - thousands of Black-tailed Godwits, hundreds of Avocets, plus Knot, Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plovers, Oystercatcher, many Curlews, and a small group of Dunlins: worth a grilling despite being a bit far out and in the heat haze.

PINKS! 

 Bingo - a beautiful juvenile Little Stint feeding with them (though only for 15 minutes or so).

  

Other signs of migration included a juvenile Pintail gunning south, lots of gulls on the move (including pristeen juvenile Common Gulls), a young Peregrine hunting Avocets, and visible migration continuing with lots of Swallows, Meadow Pipits, a few Yellow Wagtails, Linnets and Reed Buntings. A Clouded Yellow came in off the river, and I also snuck in an 8k run, in ideal conditions....

Opportunities for soaking up coastal migration - as regular readers will know, pretty much my favourite thing on this mortal coil - are greatly lessened these days, and with little chance to make the most of the last few weeks (a strong wave of early autumn landbird arrivals, followed by quality seawatching), I appreciate these 'work' days even more. No complaints - life changes, for good reasons - just a recallibration of expectations.

Full eBird checklist here. 
 

Sedge Warblers (above), Reed Warbler (below)

Chiffchaff (above), Reed Warbler and Blackcap (below)

More Cetti's!

Avocets, Black-tailed Godwits, Pintail

Back on the boat - Staithes Pelagic, 7th Sep '26

Well, that was a joy. Longer term readers will know I've been leading our YCN Seabird and Whale Adventures out of Staithes, North Yorkshire for many years now; until relatively recently, that meant many trips per season between July and the end of September. In recent years, however, our extended summer holidays in the US have lengthened, and this year was a full six weeks - meaning I have to sacrifice many of the available sailings and hope for clement conditions for when I return.

This year is particularly awkward for leading the boat trips, not only for the US excursion, but also a big chunk of September in Scotland for our School of Birding Deep Dives (more on that to follow); throw in the vagaries of the weather (and inevitable cancellations) into the mix, and it's one or two at best this season.

With that in mind - and with Rich having a really productive season on the boat so far this year (see here) - I couldn't wait to climb down the ladder for today's adventure.

With a lovely team on board (in more ways than one - full of enthusiasm and fully engaged!), we set out of the harbour and into a fairly bumpy North Sea - and it took us less than four minutes to clock our first Minke, right by the side of the boat.....

... and for the next five hours, we wandered around within a six mile radius, enjoying lots of whales; better still, many were close-up, by the boat, and for extended periods, which is such a privilege and a joy to share with our clients.

As well as the whales, there were plenty of birds to enjoy - nothing too extraordinary, but three juvenile Caspian Gulls, hundreds of terns, some lovely Little Gulls, a Peregrine hunting a passing Teal flock way offshore, Manxies, plenty of Arctic Skuas, Puffins among many auks, two Snipe low over the waves and inland from far out, Scoters on the move and much more.

Arctic Skua (above), Puffin (below)

Peregrine (above), Little Gulls (below)

Guillemot (above), Caspian Gull (below)

Tubenoses - Stellwagen Bank, Aug '26

With these trips being commercial whale-watching exercises (and therefore not concerned with avian distractions), they require a certain patience as a birder on board; whatever you see, you'll find yourself, and it may be even more frustratingly brief than a dedicated seabirding pelagic...

Wilson's Storm-petrels

.. thus, I was the one on my feet, buzzing around the deck for most of the time, much to the bemusement of the majority of comfortably seated fellow passengers (although a few were interested and it was nice to talk to various random friendly faces).

Pretty much all the birding highlights involved tubenoses, and pretty much all of those were Wilson's Storm-petrels - after being more than happy with fifteen of them on our boast trip off Maine (see here), I clearly wasn't prepared for the sheer abundance of these fabulous little sea-sprites. Full eBird checklist here.

Great and Cory's Shearwaters

Cory's with Humpback (above), flocks of Wilson's (below)

Wilson's and Humpbacks

Great and Cory's Shearwaters