This post covers the period July - September 2024. See previous post for preceding months.
My two talks this year were: Filey International - Arrivals and Departures on the Yorkshire Coast, and School of Birding - How to be a Better Birder (with my colleague Simon). The former was, along with my British Birds article earlier in the year, a perfect bookend to my time at Filey, which had come to an end less than a fortnight previously; the latter was a great opportunity to celebrate early successes with our School, which continues to go from strength to strength.
Representing Yorkshire Coast Nature on our stand is a real pleasure, and a great chance to catch up with clients, friends and contemporaries (as well as publicising our various trips in Yorkshire and beyond) . It's also been a pleasure to be part of the Zeiss team for some years now, and BirdFair is a great opportunity to reconnect and catch up with everyone (professionally and off the clock in the evenings!).
Eastern Bluebird at the garden nest-box (more of this family here)
After the maelstrom of spring and early summer, July began relatively peacefully, with a couple of survey days, a few days to settle into the new place, and then a great long weekend at Birdfair. It was a busy one for me, with talks, shifts on the stand, and a Zeiss Osprey Walk among other stuff.
After BirdFair, straight to the States for the summer (well, five full weeks of it at least). Spending quality time with our family in New England is more valuable than ever, and while summer may be the quietest time of year from a birding perspective, there's always plenty to enjoy.
Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the orchard
Much of our time was spent in Western Mass. - at the familial home the sticks (near Warren) and with brother Ned and nieces (Greenfield) - as well on a family holiday in Roscoe, NY and with brother Lincoln in Cooperstown, NY. We also got to spend a few days with our dear friends Kat and George in Maine (as we usually do), so, we got around a fair bit.... 
Birdwise it was naturally comparatively quiet, but a real bonus was stumbling upon an overgrown orchard / pick-your-own farm behind an abandoned property just a few minutes up the hill from the family home. Undisturbed, off the road, overflowing with food (and often therefore birds), I spent many enjoyable sessions here, particularly towards the end of the trip when migration began to pick up.
Plenty of warblers, tanagers, orioles, grosbeaks, sparrows, towhees, finches and more to enjoy, and I posted several times while out there - more here and here. 
I also got to go birding several times with my dear brother-in-law Ned, which I always look forward to - this time at Parson's Brook (see here) and in the Greenfield area (see here).
Louisiana waterthrush at Parson's Brook, MA (above); Ovenbird in Cooperstown, NY (below).
Straight back into guiding upon return, with a very busy autumn season kickstarted with a couple of pelagics (more below) and then five days guiding at Spurn for the last week of August. Not surprisingly, it was a blast - it's a great time to catch up with a whole host of common and scarcer waders (in smart plumages) and early land-based migrants as well as various summer visitors - and the weather for much of the week was very pleasant...
.... which often means less migration action, but we were blessed with healthy scatterings of passerines including over-performing Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Tree Pipits, Redstarts, Whinchats, a Rosefinch, and lots of lemon-yellow Willow Warblers; early season wildfowl were also great value, as were raptors, and the waders were particularly excellent, including a cracking adult Stilt Sandpiper (above).... more here.
A few days later and it was time to return, for the Migration Festival over the first (long) weekend of the month. Migfest '24 was a strong contender for the best yet - the atmosphere was great, the events and organisation excellent, the weather kind, and the birds and migration magical. In fact, for a strong contender, read unarguably.
It's a part of the calendar Rich and I always look forward to, and we (Yorkshire Coast Nature) have supported Migfest since its inception, sponsoring the main talks marquee, leading guided walks, giving talks and the like; of the latter, this year I gave an extended version of my Filey International talk from Birdfair (a bookend to a bookend, then....).
The birds were the best they've been over any Migfest, with the bushes and trees bursting with passerine migrants (counter-intuitively in the warm sunshine...), and much more besides - in fact, too much to summarise here, so better to have a look here instead; suffice to say there were a great many moments that, collectively, will take a lot of beating in the future (watching a Pallid Harrier fly by while a Bee-eater sat on the wires above us being a perfect example...).
Arctic Skua (above) and Pallid Harrier (below) fly past the Bee-eater....
But for the regular Humber survey days, the rest of the month was effectively divided between two themes - pelagics and coastal birding. Dealing with the former first, this is I think our tenth year of leading our Seabird and Whale Adventures out of Staithes on the North Yorkshire coast, and it's fair to say it was the most exciting and successful season yet.
I hit the ground running on return from the States, leading a double on 24th August and then a various trips scattered throughout September - and it's fair to say I got very lucky this year; the seas offshore were boiling with food and alive with those tempted to take advantage of it.
Yellow Warbler in the orchard
Scarlet Tanager in the orchard
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the Warren garden
Louisiana waterthrush at Parson's Brook, MA (above); Ovenbird in Cooperstown, NY (below). 
Red-backed Shrike, Kilnsea
Male Red-breasted Flycatcher, Crown and Anchor, Kilnsea
European Bee-eater, Easington
Arctic Skua (above) and Pallid Harrier (below) fly past the Bee-eater.... 
Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits at one of my Humber survey sites
Sooty Shearwater and Humpback Whale (above) and Balearic Shearwater (below, with Manxies)
Humpback by the boat
Finally, then, there was also 'just' regular coastal birding, throughout the month. Except it wasn't just coastal birding, it was often outstanding - and nor was it 'regular', in the sense that, having moved to York, it was all about well-drilled surgical strikes when circumstances and conditions conspired.
Happily, they did so at several really productive times, and while I no longer have the privilege of walking out the door whenever it looks promising, I have an even more finely-tuned appreciation of Yorkshire coast migration as a result, which I exploited on several memorable occasions throughout the month (and indeed the autumn in general).
Several days scattered over the latter third of the month were particularly fun, with easterlies, fog and drizzle providing excellent fall conditions and delivering excellent birding onto the coast, and I varied my attentions between multiple patches - Flamborough, Bempton, Buckton, Filey, Gristhorpe and Cayton Bays included.
Several days in the third week of the month were particularly enjoyable, and I managed to find Dusky Warbler, four Red-breasted Flycatchers (including three together!), Wood Warbler, Barred Warbler, two eastern-type Lesser Whitethroats and ten Yellow-browed Warblers among an ever-changing cast of migrants in coastal scrub - a lovely few days back on the coast. (More here and here from those days.) 
Part four to follow soon!
Yellow-browed Warbler fresh-in on Carr Naze, Filey
Wood Warbler, Bempton
Another fresh-in Yellow-brow at Filey - every one a precious gem!
Red-breasted Flycatcher - one of three together at Holme's Gut, Flamborough
