North Yorkshire Pelagics, mid-late Sep '24 - Shearwaters

Sooty Shearwater

After an exceptional season and many memorable trips, last week saw the last of our YCN Seabird and Whale Adventures out of Staithes, North Yorkshire for '24. I led four in the week (long trips on 16th, 18th & 20th, with a shorter one also on 20th), all of which were very productive, and all in different ways.

A (particularly dark) Balearic Shearwater with Manx Shearwaters, 18th

As well as the cetaceans (see upcoming post), seabirds were fantastic, in both quantity and quality, with many hundreds of terns, good numbers of skuas on each trip (including double figures of Arctics on each, a handful of Bonxies, and a Pomarine on 16th), Caspian Gulls on 16th and 18th (two), Little Gulls (peaking at 25 on 16th), a Velvet Scoter on 20th, wildfowl on the move, as well as big numbers of auks, Gannets and gulls...

Manx Shearwater

... but the show-stealers were Shearwaters. August and September have seen variably strong numbers of them on our 'patch' off the coast (and I was lucky enough to be guiding when a Great put in an extraordinary performance a few weeks ago), and last week they were especially abundant - dozens of Sootys, Balearics on 18th (two) and 20th, and - most unusually given the time of year - very big numbers of Manxies.

We expect them in two to three figures on our trips earlier in the season, when they're traditionally at their most numerous off the Yorkshire coast, July being the peak month; from then onwards, however, it's usually a steady decline until few, if any, by now. However, for whatever reasons (for another time!), we'd hundreds in rafts a few miles offshore, peaking at at least 470 on 18th.

Also unusually, all three species gave great close views, often drifting around the boat in nonchalant fashion - giving our guests fantastic experiences with these often locally scarce, shy, long-distance migrant seabirds. 

Spurn Migfest '24 - big stuff

Finally a little time to start looking through the memory card for the last few weeks, starting with an additional few photos from the Spurn Migration Festival:

Rich and I had this freakishly short-billed Whimbrel while enjoying the high tide wader roost at the Warren on the early morning of the 6th (Sep) - as you might imagine, it caused a few skipped heartbeats before we'd applied a more measured process of elimination.....!

This lovely Pallid Harrier, meanwhile, had the good grace to drift past us just as we sat down for dinner in the Crown and Anchor....

... while three Arctic Skuas flew over our heads while we were enjoying the Bee-eater on Easington Straight.

Migration adventures on the coast - 23rd & 24th Sep '24

Fortunately the calendar has been adaptable of late - especially lucky when the winds and conditions conspire at this time of year - and after a brief 24 hours back home in York, I took a look at the forecast and the schedule, and rolled the die again for Monday morning (23rd). 

All photos - Filey Yellow-browed Warblers and Flamborough Red-breasted Flycatchers (unless otherwise stated)

With heavy rain whipping through on a brisk easterly, the maps looked promising; it was all about whether the rain would actually stop at all, which looked less so. But I headed to the coast early on regardless, arriving on Carr Naze at Filey in the midst of a deluge.

But, as hoped, before long the rain eased, and it was game on. As many longer-term readers will know, I have a deep love of Carr Naze and the possibilities it provides before birds quickly filter off the peninsula and into nearby cover, and - as usual, without another birder in sight (or indeed dogwalker, such were the conditions) - I had a 45 minute window of peace to comb the plateau and slopes.

It was very much quality not quantity, with the first two birds (outside of Meadow Pipits) both being Yellow-browed Warblers, zipping around together in and near the magic bush - a joyous start to the day's birding. On the sea, wildfowl were on the move, with Wigeon, Teal and Scoter over the waves, while on dry (wet) land, a Blackcap, continental Robins and a very damp Chiffchaff followed....

... before two Sylvias stole the show. The first was a Barred Warbler - not skulking and elusive, as they usually are, but a powerful, lumbering, close-up fly-by, as it flew along Carr Naze and right past me, looking me straight in the eye as it did so. The second was altogether more settled - an eastern-type Lesser Whitethroat (below), bedraggled and feeding up voraciously in the clifftop grasses.

The rain then became heavier, until it turned into another extended deluge - but not before a third Yellow-brow appeared in the grass by the path, clearly having just dropped in, ultra-tame and avidly hoovering up crane flies (and ignoring me completely). Another classic session on one of my favourite places, and more than justifying the journey.

Thankfully the rain held off for much of the day, and further patrols of the Country Park area produced three more Yellow-brows, more Robins, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, a Merlin, a Jack Snipe in off, and a few Swallows and Siskins moving. An afternoon session at nearby Muston Sands was quiet but for (you guessed it) another vocal Yellow-browed Warbler, making it seven for the day in a small stretch of the coastal strip.

Again overnighting at the old man's in Flamborough, for yesterday (24th), I opted for the northern side of the headland for my morning's birding. A circuit of the Thornwick area was pleasurable but reasonably quiet, highlights being two Pied Flys (one on the clifftop), a Tree Pipit (skulking like a much rarer cousin...), a smattering of Goldcrests, a Yellow-browed Warbler, and an early Ring Ouzel (my first of the season).

With expectations slightly lowered, I called in at nearby Holmes Gut, a scrubby, sheltered ravine near North Landing. With the wind still blowing, it was clearly holding birds from the off, with lots of activity within a few minutes; time to settle in and see what might pop out.

The answer to which was a lot. Within about twenty minutes, in no particular order, I'd a Dusky Warbler, three Red-breasted Flycatchers and two Yellow-browed Warblers all calling regularly and seemingly in reaction to each other, like a mixtape of scarce target species - a joy! Very close views of the Dusky (camera-evading) and Flycatchers (camera-loving) followed, and I had the pleasure of soaking up this little corner of scarce before eventually heading back for lunch.

With a couple of hours in the afternoon to kill before an evening's nocturnal survey work on the Humber, I opted for Bempton (good fun, this coastal Bingo), where a brief shower on arrival held a little promise - and soon delivered, when a flash of bright green and lemon-yellow turned out to be a slightly heartbeat-skipping Wood Warbler (above); not what i was expecting, but very welcome, as was another eastern-type Lesser Whitethroat (below) nearby.

A hugely enjoyable couple of days birding in some of my favourite spots, with lots of quality birds and relaxed, peaceful opportunities. Perfect.

Foggy Notion - the coast, 21st Sep '24

Yellow-brows, brightening up any autumnal day

Just back to York after a fine day on the coast; when I say fine, I mean in an uplifting sense, as opposed to literally - by which measure it was far from it, cloaked in thick, damp fog from dawn to dusk.... but it really didn't matter, with the birds (and company) transcending such earthly obstacles.

No major fall, nothing particularly rare, but a day of possibilities, quality birds and slow-paced enjoyment. I started at Flamborough (having overnighted with the old man after yesterday's gruelling but productive 10 hours on the boat - more of that to follow), specifically the Thornwick Bay area. A couple of hours later and I'd enjoyed a slow, relaxed circuit of the area, with highlights including a fresh-in Pied fly near the cliff top, a Yellow-brow fizzing around a Sycamore canopy, some lovely cold-coloured continental Song Thrushes, Garden Warbler, Blackcaps and an increase in ticking Robins.

Migrant Pied Fly meets local Dunnock

A leisurely lunch back at Pearson Snr's, followed by a quick session at one of my favourite, off-the-beaten-track coastal migrant traps, Gristhorpe Bay and Hedge (by the Blue Dolphin Holiday Park). It's been productive for me over the years and always seems to yield Yellow-brows, despite there only being a very small amount of habitat; so it did again today, where - despite ever thickening fog and visibility down to, well, very little - the first bird I found was a Yellow-brow flitting around the umbellifers on the clifftop, followed by two birds (perhaps one being the latter) in the nearby hedge.

Spot the grasshopping Yellow-brow

Last stop of the day was next door, for a walk (and catch up) with birding brother Dan at his adopted patch of Yons Nab. Conditions were, you guessed it, dominated by the North Sea pea souper rolling relentlessly up the cliff, but we persisted anyway, and what a lovely session we enjoyed: seconds after moaning to Dan about how I'd yet to find a Red-breasted Flycatcher this week, on popped up in front of us, preceded by (guess what) a zippy lil' Yellow-brow, both having clearly just arrived.

Red-breasted Flycatcher and very tame Wheatear, Yons Nab

Other highlights included Redstart, Wheatear, Song Thrushes and pale, crisp continental Robins in grasses and nettle beds. Nothing special? It's all special, if you know how to enjoy it.

Spurn Migration Festival, Sep '24

The 11th annual Spurn Migration Festival, aka #Migfest, took place over three days last weekend and it's fair to say it was one of, arguably the, best yet. It's always fun, whatever the weather / birding / circumstances, but this year it came together in a manner it hasn't before, and everyone was treated to a rich and varied birding extravaganza playing out over the whole festival.

Male Red-breasted Flycatcher 

The conditions conspired to provide a constantly changing cast of freshly arriving migrants across every hedge, bush and tree, with each day witnessing multiple arrivals; Friday, however, was another level entirely - a full-on, dawn-to-dusk joy of a migratory spectacle that everybody with a pair of bins in the area bore witness to with various amounts of glee, including us....

We (Rich and I) arrived on Thursday afternoon under the cover of thick fog, but went for a 'sea'watch anyway - while the sea was mostly invisible, we took the opportunity to catch up after a busy few weeks behind (and ahead) of us, tantalisingly clocking groups of gulls and skuas briefly materialising and then soon disappearing again.

European Bee-eater

Friday morning dawned sunny, clear and beautiful (as the rest of the day would be), and we headed down to the Warren, where we enjoyed a host of commoner migrants in the rapidly warming sunshine - a fine start to the day, and a harbinger of what would follow...

... which, in short, was a lot of good birds. Pleasingly numerous and seemingly occupying every piece of available habitat were Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Lesser and Common Whitethroats, Common Redstarts (above), Whinchats, Garden Warblers, Willow Warblers (and a few Chiffs), Tree Pipits, Wheatears and more; counter-intuitively, all these freshly-arrived bundles of joy were enjoyed in warm sunshine against clear blue skies. No complaints...

Which would have been more than just fine, but then there was the roll-call of scarcities that, unusually, seemed to go out of their way to show off to as many birders as possible. There were many more than the following, but of those we bumped into - the amazingly tame Red-backed Shrike in the #Migfest Field (above); the sharp, male Red-breasted Flycatcher in the Crown carpark; the various Wrynecks (how many across the weekend...?); the Barred Warbler popping out at dusk in the same bush alongside two Garden Warblers and two Blackcaps;

And then there was one of those classic Spurn moments that was a joy to share with lots of other Migfest attendees. While ogling the passerine migrants alongside Dawn (Balmer) and Pete, they kindly offered us a quick lift to the Bee-eater, showing a few minutes drive away on Easington Straight - why not, we thought, so we hopped in, soaked up the Bee-eater, and (thanks to the crackling radio), turned the other way to simultaneously enjoy a Pallid Harrier steaming up the coastal bank. Class!

Willow Warbler

Saturday was more about representing Yorkshire Coast Nature in the main marquee, and also leading the lone travellers/new attendees ice-breaker walk in the morning (thanks to the shrike, the Wryneck and all the other migrants for making that one of the easiest walks ever!) and giving a pleasingly full talk about my migration adventures at Filey in the function hall at Sandy Beaches (a great new venue choice).

Garden Warbler

Sunday was also excellent when the mist cleared, with migration evident over and outside the marquee (mostly enjoyed with Georgia) including lots of hirundines, a late run of Swifts, four Hobbys, and then, just as we were packing up, a Honey-Buzzard south down the canal.

Pied Flycatcher

And then there were the waders, and the wetlands, and the Humber, and the people, and the pints in the Crown, and the lovely, unbeatable community vibe....

... quite a weekend. Back next month for more guiding adventures - already looking forward it!

Lesser Whitethroat