I headed over the bridge into the home county and along the A1079 towards my destination and after bumping into John Sadler and us both getting parked up we made our way over to where the bird had been seen the day before.
A few familiar faces included Paul French and Georgia Gough and we made our way eventually down the side of a grass field where we could try and see the birds which were feeding in a nearby set-aside field.It was tough viewing trying to scope the flock in the rain and particularly when they were flying all over the place as well and i thought to myself we are never going to see this bloody bird.
A Peregrine over the adjacent fields was a brief diversion from searching for the bird in question and eventually Paul and Georgia left to attend a meeting at Spurn and Paul jokingly said to us 'It will no doubt show in five minutes'.We all laughed at this thinking no chance,but incredibly,i found it at the top of the line of trees we had been scoping.I managed to get everyone onto it,but unfortunately Paul and Georgia had gone.We carried on watching the bird for about 3 or 4 minutes before it and the 2 Yellowhammer's it was with disappeared towards the village.
I was chuffed to bits i had seen it,but wanted to see more,as i hate just getting brief,crap views of something when it is a new bird.John and myself decided to walk around to another area where it had been seen,leaving the others present where we had been stood.
After accessing a horse paddock at the southern end of the stubble field we had seen the bird on the edge of earlier and had seen it disappear towards,we spent some time watching from here.It proved pretty fruit full with excellent views of a juvenile Grey Wagtail feeding in an adjacent ditch,at least 10 Corn Buntings,a female Brambling and a guesstimated count of about 250 Yellowhammer's which made for a very impressive sight on it's own,but unfortunately no sign of the Pine Bunt.
John then had to go and i stayed put with a few others,we then got onto a partially exposed bird which I'm pretty certain was the bird in question,but it again flew and disappeared.
By now the rain was really beginning to annoy me and went back to the car,which thankfully was close by.I sat in the warm with the heater on and enjoyed some food and a drink.In the distance it looked like the weather was breaking at last.So i finished my food,got some dry gear on and went for another look for the bird.
At the far end of Intake Lane,there was a crowd gathered and i thought to myself they must have it.As i arrived at the group,no one was watching the bird,but it had just been seen.We watched for what seemed like a lifetime and then all of a sudden we saw it briefly across the far side of the sheep field we were viewing across.
A few of us walked quickly to the end of Intake Lane where their was another stubble field,which i later learned was the original field the bird had been found in where one of the local birders had put some seed down and there it was sat out in full view....you beauty!.
It was sat above the area where the seed had been placed and just posed on the outer branches without a care in the world,obviously glad to enjoy some sunshine at last.What a cracking bird and a species i had wanted to see for a long time after dipping one at Gib Point in Linc's in the 90's.
After at least 30 minutes that was that and the bird flew off with it's Yellowhammer buddies.
I travelled home a very happy boy after seeing this stunning siberian beauty and enjoying my first new bird of 2017.
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| Phone scoped record shot of the stunning male Pine Bunting. |
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