Filey, 21st - 30th April 2014

Male Pied Flycatcher, 29th

 
After a preceding fortnight or so of back-to-back house guests (and then a lengthy cold) had rendered recent birding opportunities strictly part-time, for the month's last ten days I was pretty much back up to full speed and straining at the leash to give full attention to the patch again. Those preceding weeks were, fortunately for me, quite muted from a migration perspective (as much of April can often be), but as the following ten days progressed it became increasingly more interesting by the day.

Two of three Garganey, 29th (add your own caption)

 
From the beginning: The 21st was sunny and mild, and a first full, extended circuit of the northern and coastal area for what felt like a lifetime was a joy, despite a general lack of notables (odd Siskins and hirundines notwithstanding). Promising conditions on the 22nd - thick fog (very) slowly clearing after a night of easterlies and rain - justified another few hours patrolling of the coastal fields, scrub and hedgerows; aside from a Tree Pipit, an Arctic Tern close in the bay and the odd Wheatear, not a great deal to shout about.

Male Garganey

 

Common Buzzard and Carrion Crow over the Country Park, 28th

 
For the 23rd, a temporary change in airflow and wind direction (mild, southerly, sunny intervals) hinted at overhead movement, and so a three hour session from about 1030 from my favoured Muston Sands watchpoint, on the clifftop above the bay, followed. Not a hint of the anticipated broad-winged action, but plenty of quality and quantity passerine activity instead; double figures of Linnets and Goldfinches, all three hirundines, 15 Yellow Wags and a Tree Pipit on the move, and best of all, a smart Blue-headed Wagtail (unfortunately flushed by golfers just as the camera was raised).

Tree Sparrow at the Dams

 

One of several Whinchats over the period

 
Back to the erratically-fogbound with easterlies template for the 24th, again promising, and again a little underwhelming - although a smart, fresh-in Whinchat and Wheatears on Carr Naze were encouraging during a full morning in the field. Unable to sit still with decent birds dropping in elsewhere on the coast, I was back out for an afternoon session swamped in fog, more than justified by the discovery of a barely annual local rarity singing away in a clifftop conifer - a cracking male Firecrest.

Firecrest, 24th - a sprite in the fog

 

Male Marsh Harrier over East Lea

 
A similar story for the 25th - many hours efforts, with not a great deal to show for it, except for a smart male Redstart newly arrived on the foggy clifftop, a mobile Tree Pipit and several more Wheatears - but by 26th, movements were picking up again. The morning session provided a wider and more numerous scattering of many of the common warblers, augmented by both male and female Redstart on Long Hedge, and my first Swift of the year low over the Tip. And then there were dolphins....

Green-veined White on Carr Naze

 
A couple of hours at the recently-neglected sister wetlands of the Dams and East Lea in he afternoon served as a timely reminder of waders beginning to move, with summer plumage Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlins and a Common Sandpiper (as well as brief but close-up drop-in from a male Goosander) all present. A momentarily promising Aythya skulking in the reeds soon turned into a slightly less exciting prospect when its hybrid characteristics came to the fore - all those days sifting through the diving ducks on the old patch in London weren't entirely wasted, then....

Presumed Tufted Duck x Pochard hybrid at the Dams, 26th

 
The 27th, and again, the fog rolled in and out on the moderate easterlies; with it came slightly better migrant totals, including an elusive female Black Redstart and a new batch of Wheatears on Carr Naze and at least 12 Willow Warblers in the Long Lane area. While there was enough to enjoy, the week thus far (excluding dolphins, of course) had a slightly underwhelming feel to it; but it was no time for a slackening of the pace....

 
The 28th was my birthday (with the full account here), and what better way to spend it than patrolling the patch with a mortality-inspired spring in one's step. A full day in the field, and whether the gods were with me or whether I was just trying harder is hard to say, but the rewards were rich and varied: migrants included several new Redstarts, a new Whinchat, double figures of Wheatears (for the first time this year), Whimbrels, lots of Yellow Wags and hirundines, topped off firstly by an elusive and bedraggled Corn Bunting (contextually very rare here), then by a flyover Dotterel in the Top Fields, and finally by a Richard's Pipit at the Tip - quite a day, and I returned home that evening simultaneously knackered, exhilirated and contented.

Two excellent birthday presents - A Dotterel....

 

....and a Richard's Pipit

 
Come the 29th, and more toil in the morning mist - but a cracking male Pied Fly and a Garden Warbler (the first of the year) in the Top Scrub were both welcome. A little brightness in the afternoon brought out the best in the immaculately plumaged trio of Garganey at East Lea, which were fantastically accommodating and provided easily my best ever views of the species; gone by the next day, but replaced by a trio of White Wagtails at the same venue.

Male Redstart on Long Hedge

 
So, a lot of hours in the field and lot of ground covered, but a pleasingly respectable haul to show for it overall, especially for the early spring. And the best is (hopefully) yet to come...

Many happy returns

..... for yesterday: a birthday spent entirely in the field (just as it should be), and a pleasure from beginning to end. Up and out into a morning of promising conditions - easterlies, mist and cloud after overnight rain - with the intention of enjoying anything and everything that flew into my path, and with a particularly keen eye on nailing a scarcity.

A fine-toothed combing of the grassy plateau and slopes of Carr Naze was promising, with a sprinkling of fresh-in Wheatears (including some orange-flushed Greenland-type beasts) and a cracking Whinchat; the first surprise of the day followed soon after, when a bedraggled Corn Bunting - sadly a genuine rarity locally - gave brief flight and grounded views around the top of Long Lane, which hosted a decent cast of the commoner warblers.

Cutting out along Short Hedge (a fairly innocuous but personally lucky stretch of hawthorn, providing me with Dusky Warbler, Wryneck, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Greenish Warbler in the last two autumns), a single Redstart and Ring Ouzel were positive returns, until a repetitive, monotonous call pierced through the mist - nothing less than a Dotterel (only the second in a decade for Filey) gunned overhead and inland.

With an entertaining cast of migrants and a local rarity under the belt, the day had already provided more than enough, and the pressure was off for a wander over towards the Tip. A scan of the fields produced nothing but for a couple of poorly-hidden Grey Partridges and Brown Hares, but one of our local Barn Owls (over from the Dams) was on the hunt, and so I decided to lean on the gate and wait for it to hopefully patrol closer. It did, flushing several birds from the long grass in the process...

A Skylark, a Yellow Wagtail, and fantastically, a Richard's Pipit. Another less-than-annual scarcity and particularly unlikely in spring, it so happended to be the first I'd seen in many years, and a self-found first as an added bonus. Quite a day; if only all arbitrary celebrations on the calendar were as successful...

Tomorrow is the 30th, the anniversary of the little beauty below dropping in front of me on Carr Naze....

Bottlenose Dolphins, Filey

Much of the day in the field - and plenty to enjoy - but for now, it's all about these magnificent beasts, which thankfully headed north parallel to the very stretch of clifftop here in Filey I happened to be walking this morning. An absolute joy, really, and all the better for the views of adult guardians shepherding leaping calves through the North Sea swell (look closely, they're the ones checking out the world above the surface). And the peak cetacean period is still a fair way away.....

.... for a recap of last summer's unforgettable inshore invasion, see here (and as always, click on the images to enlarge - although don't expect much as they're already heavily cropped).

Thrillers in the mist

Which is overstating it just a little, but never mind. A quick one with a couple of highlights from a day ultimately dominated by thick, impenetrable fog and light easterlies. It was one of those days that felt promising, and coupled with the fact I've got a lot of BBS ground to cover, I spent pretty much all of it in the field.

A good sniff around the usual northern circuit in the morning culminated on a fairly quiet Carr Naze - all the better to chart Meadow Pipit territories - but a very smart Whinchat (new for the year) and a couple of Wheatears maintained potential. Come the afternoon, and unable to keep still with an easterly blowing, I decided on more BBSing along the edge of a hopefully deserted golf course.

It wasn't, and against all odds (and sense), parades of golfers variously lost their bearings and hacked their balls into the murk; entertaining, but not in a sustainable way, and so I ploughed on - reaching a couple of conifers on the clifftop, barely visible unless within touching distance. Which is where this little beauty materialised, turning an okay day into a very good one.

Firecrest - one of the most gorgeous birds on Planet Earth (and barely annual here)

Filey, 15th - 20th April 2014

Sand Martins and Swallows brave the cold winds at the Dams

 
A short, sharp round-up of a short, sharp week; guests staying + a heavy cold + the Easter weekend masses descending = very limited time in the field, but even with all that in mind, a few brief but decent sessions to report.

The first Whimbrel of the year at East Lea

 
A couple of hours at the Dams on 15th were enjoyable if only for small, buzzing flocks of Sand Martins and Swallows over the water, as well as my first Lesser Whitethroat of the year and a couple of soaring Buzzards to the west, but falling asleep in the hide in a pool of your own snot is generally a fairly good indication of when to withdraw promptly; I failed to take my own advice a couple of days later however, and couldn't resist another extended session at the Dams and East Lea on the morning of 17th.

Little Ringed Plover, East Lea

 
Having just received news of a flyover Serin a few miles south at the Gap (nice work boys), I didn't expect much in the cool, windy and dull conditions, but as it turned out, a productive couple of hours followed. The fringes of East Lea's pool held both Little Ringed Plover and Whimbrel (both personal firsts for the year), and amongst a surprisingly steady trickle of passerines heading north-west (including various finches and a Wheatear), a vaguely familiar toy-trumpet call cut clearly through the wind.

Northern-type Bullfinch

 
Thankfully the bird was approaching, allowing me to pick it up easily as it swept through - a male Bullfinch, repeating its tell-tale tooting, indicative of the Northern / Eastern race. Aware of the subspecies' relative paucity - not least in spring, when I can't remember ever actually hearing of any records - a quick chat with Martin at Flamborough regarding the call (and whether it is indeed diagnostic) confirmed its apparent rarity value. About the least expected scarcity of the spring so far, but no complaints....

As the sky grew darker and the wind stronger, hirundines began to assemble behind me over the Dams, and so the next couple of hours were spent embedded in the East Pool hide, enjoying the show and, theoretically, being in pole position for when the Red-rump dropped in.... it didn't, of course, but it mattered little, with the first real surge of these always uplifting trans-Saharan travellers making for a fine session - at least 60 Swallows, 50 Sand Martins and a single House Martin within it.

The next couple of days were mainly spent riding out the worst of the cold - except for an almost blank sky-watching session early afternoon 18th, saved by a Great Northern Diver in the bay - before a similar Dams / East Lea session (sitting in a hide being do-able, walking for very long not) today, 20th; again no real expectations, but again a nice surprise, this time in the shape of a Jack Snipe, flushed from my feet in an otherwise unaccessible corner of the reserve.

So, it could've been worse, but it's time to step it up a couple of gears for the coming weeks - wish me luck and watch this space.

Reading festival

It's been far too long since I shamelessly plugged other activities here, so time to redress the balance...

I've uploaded a batch of recently-published pieces onto the wordpress site, including the latest in my series for Birdguides about birding in Filey through the year. The latest article focuses on the winter months, and can be read here (with part two to follow soon):

Postcards from the edge: Winter in Filey, part one

I was recently asked by Birding Frontiers to write a review of the much-anticipated Rare Birds of North America for the excellent BF website:

Book review: Rare Birds of North America

Busy times with Yorkshire's #1 eco-tourism company Yorkshire Coast Nature - as well as co-leading tours and writing the monthly bird sightings round-ups, I've recently written a short series entitled Yorkshire coast icons for the YCN website, re-published here:

Yorkshire coast icons: Snow Bunting

Yorkshire coast icons: Pink-footed Goose

Yorkshire coast icons: Grey Phalarope

I was asked to contribute the birds sections for the excellent Lost In London book a while ago, a taster of which is re-published here:

London's Herons

I continue to run the Filey Bird Observatory website, updating it daily and editing various new articles as and when. If you haven't bookmarked it yet, then here's your chance:

Filey Bird Observatory website

.... and I finally took the plunge and joined Twitter. Follow me at @Fileybirder here

Fileybirder on Twitter

Beware, more plugging to follow soon, but not before I've found a few more birds to talk about....