Champions of the Flyway!

Friday, January 3, 2025

Review of the Year, 2024 - part one

Waxwing, Bridlington, January

This post covers the period January - March 2024. See upcoming posts for the rest of the year's highlights.
Snow Bunting, January, Filey 

Here we are again, in the deep midwinter, with time to reflect on the last twelve months; a chance for a little reminiscing indulgence, more for my benefit than anything else (as ever), but if you happen to enjoy it too, I'm glad. It's an opportunity for me to revisit the many great birding experiences and adventures I've once again been fortunate to savour, and an opportunity to be grateful for all of them.
Snow and Lapland Buntings, Top Fields, Filey
Corn Bunting, Top Fields, Filey 

The year began with lots of action on my (now ex-) doorstep, specifically in the extensive clifftop stubbles of the Top Fields in Filey. In the period before new year, it'd been very productive (see e.g. here and here), and I'd been checking it regularly, revealing a healthy turnover of seedeaters.
Lapland Bunting, Top Fields, Filey 

Cold, icy, and even genuinely snowy days - a rare thing here on the east coast - made for some especially enjoyable, picturesque birding (see e.g here and here) locally, often in beautiful, clear conditions.
Yellowhammer, Top Fields, Filey 

A source of quality birding right through to the early spring, numbers of Snow Buntings and Lapland Buntings peaked in January (with 56 and 19 respectively), while other species did so subsequently, with highs of 48 Yellowhammers, 245 Skylarks, 352 Linnets, 18 Rock Pipits and 45 Reed Buntings, plus up to five Corn Buntings and two Twite - not bad for one long, muddy clifftop field....
Twite (above) and Scandinavian Rock Pipit (below), Top Fields, Filey, March
Below-zero days locally also yielded plenty of other cold weather movers, including Woodcocks, Jack Snipe, and Long-eared Owl among other highlights.
Bar-tailed Godwit (above) and Woodcock (below)
Forays into the forest on sunny days, often with the old man, were entertaining - specifically for Goshawks, while a Brambling flock at Wykeham nurseries (just south of the Raptor Viewpoint) swelled to a locally exceptional 380 by the end of March:
February saw the publishing of a five-page article I wrote for British Birds magazine, all about my twelve years of patch birding at Filey. Knowing I was on the move in a few months, the article served as a very satisfying and timely bookend to what was an unbelievably productive and enjoyable time, living and breathing birds at a very special place. The article can be accessed (for free) here.
Goshawks in the Yorkshire forests
Waxwings are always a joy, of course, and I had a small flock to myself on a suburban street in nearby Bridlington in early January.
February saw our second School of Birding (after the first, a few months earlier, in November) in the Scottish Highlands, based at the always wonderful Grant Arms Hotel.
Winter is my favourite birding time of year up there, and we had a great week of learning, laughing, birding and bonding - a great team and, happily, a very satisfied one. Many highlights as ever up there, which included both Eagles, both white-winged Gulls, Black Grouse lekking, lots of divers, waders, seaducks and more - but it was hard to beat the displaying Long-tailed Ducks at point-blank range... Full summary here.
Long-tailed Ducks, Burghead, February

Survey work on both sides of the Humber was as enjoyable as ever, with that special mix of post-apocalytic landscapes, comparative solitude and lots of birds:
A Marsh Harrier drifting over killingholme's factories, with the Humber Bridge in the background 

Other excursions included a (kind of) work outing to Tophill Low with Rich, which was excellent, with the long-staying Black-throated Thrush hanging on for us and performing brilliantly, as well as a pristine male Smew and lots of other interest; it's a cracking reserve which I'm looking forward to guiding at in the early spring (see here for details).
... and a nip up the road to see an immaculate breeding plumage Red-necked Grebe in Scarborough: ... not forgetting some fantastic early spring vismig from my favourite spot on the clifftop at Muston Sands, just south of Filey town. An entertainingly bird-filled first quarter, with a very busy, memorable period to follow.....


Bar-tailed Godwit, Filey
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