Taiga Flycatcher......Saturday 17th October 2020.

After missing the first record for Britain of this lovely species,at Flamborough on 26th April 2003 the amazing news that another individual had been found on the british mainland,albeit 147 miles from home,giving me the chance to go and see this bird was a no brainer.

Fast forward to the early morning of Saturday and Tracey and myself packed the car and we were off.

After a stop for refreshments on the way up to South Shields and the great news from Tim that the bird was still present,we made the final section of the journey in high spirits.

On arrival at the site, i got the kit together and headed over to Trow Quarry,with slight trepidation as i had visited here before and missed the first record of Eastern-crowned Warbler for Britain.

Within minutes i was watching this little beauty as it energetically fed,catching several flying insects,including some large Bluebottles and began to take in its ID features.

In certain lights the plumage did slightly change in shade,but positive features for me included a slight grey shawl around the nape,making the brownish cap stand out,crisp white eye ring,all black bill(Opposed to the pale based bill of Red-breasted Fly),white edges to the tertials opposed to diffuse ones in Red-breasted Fly and the distinct black uppertail coverts,with slightly paler tail when compared again to Red-breasted Fly.

Fortunately,the call was heard on several occasions and was totally different to Red-breasted Fly's Wren-like rattle,being longer with a buzzing quality.This has been recorded and compared to sonograms of Red-breasted Fly and has aided in the definitive identification of the bird.

The bird was being chased on a few occasions by a Stonechat and this was the period when the bird was heard to call the most.

After gaining some fantastic views of the bird and some decent video and a few record shots,we travelled home with a new species for both myself and Tracey,this being my 480th species in Britain.

It has added to a mouth watering list of rare birds which Trace has seen this year including Asian Desert Warbler,Bearded Vulture,Rosy Starling,Blyth's-reed Warbler,Hoopoe and a male Red-breasted Flycatcher.

After arriving home,the terrible news that Tracey has tested positive for Covid-19,put a dampener on the day and as i write we are both self isolating at home and thankfully Tracey is only showing cold like symptoms.

The Local Patch,8th,10th & 11th October 2020.

Another compilation of sighting's here in this post,involving 3 visits to the patch at East halton/Goxhill and including some great sighting's to boot,the following is what i saw.

Thursday 8th

A couple of hours at Winter's this morning to try and get some better video of the adult female Scaup resulted in some decent results and also some nice sighting's also.

The tide was up on the Humber and the fantastic spectacle of at least 700 Black-tailed Godwits roosting on the grassland near the car park was a superb sight!.One colour ringed bird was seen in amongst the throngs and was one of the birds i had seen on my last visit at East Halton Skitter.It had the combinations of Red over Black flag on the left leg and Green over Lime on the right leg and was one of the birds ringed by the Humber Wader Ringing Group at Welwick Saltmarsh in East Yorkshire.

Also on and around Winter's were the juvenile Spotted Redshank,5 Pintail,a single Knot,90 Wigeon and a Little Egret.

Other sighting's before i travelled home included at least 600 Pink-footed Geese visiting fields near East Halton village and 221 Golden Plover feeding on an adjacent field.

Saturday 10th

A later start than normal today after dropping Mrs R at home after her nightshift,resulted in another fine days birding.

Winter's was almost devoid of birds compared to my last visit,no doubt due to the fact a local farmer has installed a gas powered bird scarer right next to the site,thus making all the birds present,very jumpy.

A quick scan of the pit,saw that the female Scaup had moved on,but amazingly had been replaced now by a 1st Winter Drake.He showed very nicely at times,albeit in crap light,but to have 2 different birds here in a few days was exceptional.This adds to the other species of marine duck i have recorded on here,which includes a pair of Red-breasted merganser and a female Common Scoter.

Other niceities at Winter's included 2411 Pink-footed Geese overhead,a young male Marsh Harrier,the juvenile Spotted Redshank,3 Pintail and a lovely Grey Wagtail which flew off north west.

After covering Winter's i decided to walk down the side of the mitigation site seeing not very much to be fair,but still managed 3 Stonechat(1M,2F),2 Cetti's Warbler,one of which showed really nicely as Cetti's go and 7 Roe Deer were going about their morning business.

The Skitter was given some proper coverage,but due to the high tide,very little was seen in the way of waders.The best of the bunch went to a Treecreeper with a Tit flock in the plantation,at least 600 Golden Plover on the fields and a lovely Redhead Goosander watched fishing along the beck.

As i almost reached Winter's to head home,a single male Stonechat and 65 Carrion Crow were seen along the fields and hedgerows.

Sunday 11th

An early start today at dawn meeting up with Jon and Lou,saw us enjoying some fantastic views of the Moon,Mars,Jupiter and Venus before it got light.

Winter's received lots of attention as always with the 1st winter drake Scaup still being present with his Tufted buddies,before flying off onto the Humber.

A prolonged watch over the Estuary for an hour or so,revealed a single juvenile Gannet flying north,4 female/imm. Common Scoter following in the same direction,but it was the amazing sight and sound of 5624 Pink-footed Geese leaving their roost and flying over us that stole the show.This is only a small fraction of the species wintering numbers in the country,but it is still spectacular and certainly brought a smile to our faces.

Also around Winter's were 85 Redwing,Fieldfare,3 Chiffchaff,11 Little Grebe,31 Canada Geese and the first returning Rock Pipit of the autumn/winter period.

After enjoying the Goose spectacular,Lou had to leave us and Jon and myself carried on our visit walking towards the Skitter.

Highlights along here included a female Wheatear,showing some characters of the Greenland race,a cracking Merlin watched bombing along after some unseen prey,a Short-eared Owl and 3 male Stonechat.

The Skitter area was fairly quiet today with highlights including 7 Pintail which flew north,with 48 Avocet and 127 Curlew being seen also.

Again very little of note was logged between the Skitter and Goxhill Haven,but 7 Goldcrest,a Cetti's Warbler and 27 Bar-tailed Godwit were seen.

East Marsh Road & Chapel Field Road added another 6 Pintail heading north along the Humber bank,122 Rook,165 Wood Pigeon and 14 Tree Sparrow were also observed along here.

Finally something different was heard at Chapel Field Farm,a Lesser Redpoll,which became the 3rd new bird species for the patch year list today.

The Mute Swan family were still along East Halton beck,well part of it anyway,with 3 juv's still following their parents around and walking back towards the car along the edge of the mitigation area added a Common Buzzard,another male Stonechat and 5 Roe Deer to the days sightings.

Three superb visits to my little part of Lincolnshire and now the patch year list stands at 146 species,it seems a long way to go to 160,onwards and upwards.

Phonescoped Image Of Bar-tailed Godwits At Goxhill Haven,11th.

Wheatear,Near East Halton Skitter,11th.

Long Distance Record Shot Of A White Primaried Pink-footed Goose Over Winter's Pond On The 11th.

Pink-footed Geese Leaving Their Roost On The 10th.

Skitter Road,10th.

The Grange,10th.

Skitter Road,10th.

Redhead Goosander Along The Beck,10th.

Rainbow Over The Humber,10th.

Roosting Black-tailed Godwits,Winter's Pond,8th.

Upupa epops.....What A Bird!......Wednesday 7th 2020.

With the on going presence of the confiding and photogenic Hoopoe at Collingham in west Yorkshire,today Tracey and myself paid the bird a visit,as Tracey had wanted to see one and this was the perfect opportunity.

After a steady drive up the M62 and A1,we were soon at the birds chosen feeding area in the village,the Collingham & Linton Cricket Club.

The bird was seen straight away on arrival and over the next hour or so gave some incredible close views,oblivious to its many admirers,as it probed the ground wader like for Leather Jackets(Cranefly larvae)of which it expertly located.

After watching the bird for some time,it all of a sudden flew and landed on the roof of one of the adjacent houses and disappeared and that was that.

Incredibly,this is the second rare bird species we have seen at Collingham,after the stunning male Rose-coloured Starling we saw back in June,i wonder what the next rare bird will be discovered here?.

The following are a few images and videos taken with my bridge camera and phone scoped with my Swarovski ATX85 and Samsung S10,of this very smart and appealing bird.

Phone Scoped Image Of The Bird.

Three Images Taken With My Bridge Camera.

Local Patching At It's Finest!......Tuesday 7th October 2020.

A full day spent on the local patch covering all the area between Winter's Pond & Goxhill Haven resulted in one of my most productive visits of the year,the following is what i saw.

I started proceedings covering the Winter's area first,mainly logging the birds roosting or feeding on the main lake and grassland.Some impressive counts for here were made and included 63 Shoveler,100 Wigeon,1,011 greylags,9 Little Grebe,43 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit and a decent group of Pinks flew west,numbering 1832 birds in two flocks of 1620 & 212.

A walk along the floodbank up past the grade 2 listed chimney saw a few nice birds being seen and included 3 Chiffchaff and a male Blackcap,with a late Painted Lady being noted also.

I then retraced my footsteps and headed along the mitigation site,seeing 2,then 4 and then 8 Stonechat all feeding along the same stubble field edge,a nice surprise and my biggest flock on the patch to date,but more was to come.

Other birds noted along here included a further 11 Shoveler,10 Reed Bunting,34 Teal,a female Marsh Harrier and a cracking adult Peregrine watched resting on an adjacent field nearby.

More Pink-feet were crossing from the east and heading west and included flocks of 30,140,222,138,84,138 & 82 giving me a respectable total of 2678 birds west.

A good look around the Skitter revealed more goodies and included a further 6 Stonechat,3 Bearded Tit,5 Chiffchaff,male Blackcap,12 Snipe and 11 Reed Bunting.

The area between the Skitter and Dawson City added a Water Rail and Little Grebe at Ruins Pond,with a further 3 Chiffchaff and 3 Goldcrest adding to the days tallies.

A watch from Dawson City attempting to shelter from the rain,incredibly brought another 10 Stonechat!,these birds were watched feeding along the bankside bushes and saltmarsh and made for an amazing total of 24 birds for the visit,by far the most i have recorded on the patch.

Other notable sightings in the Dawson area included 56 Black-tailed Godwit,Grey Plover,10 Bar-tailed Godwit,another Marsh Harrier,this time a juvenile and a Short-eared Owl which flew towards Goxhill Haven.

Another look at the Skitter on the return leg back to the car,saw 39 Avocet,22 Knot and 326 Black-tailed Godwit being seen.

A look for colour rings in amongst the Black-tails revealed 3 marked birds,one with a combination of white-black-yellow(left leg)& yellow-red-yellow(right leg) which had been ringed on the Axe Estuary in Devon on 28th February 2015 and had subsequently been seen in Northern Ireland on several occasions as well as Essex and also Devon,before not being seen since 22nd September 2017 until my sighting today.

The next bird had been ringed at Welwick Saltmarsh on the 6 November 2018 with a combination of red over a black flag(left leg) and green over lime(right leg),this bird had only been seen once subsequently before my sighting today,at Newton Marsh on the Ribble Estuary on the 9th March 2019.

The final bird had the combinations of 1 long white ring with black lines down it on the left leg and lime over red on the right leg,this bird has been ringed in Cork in Southern Ireland and I'm awaiting details on this bird.

After all the Black Wit shenanigans i carried on walking along Skitter Road back towards Winter's seeing 2 more Chiffchaff,2 Common Buzzards and a Jay.

The final stretch back to Winter's still had more birds to offer and included a pristine juvenile Whimbrel feeding on a stubble field,which gave some lovely scope views and obviously needs to get a move on to Africa,as its getting pretty late for this species now.

A final look on Winter's before leaving for home saw the rarest bird of the day and also a new for the year species,an adult female Scaup feeding with 9 Tufted Ducks.This was a superb record and a new species for the site putting me on 157 species for here,which is pretty good to be fair.

Also here were a flock of 9 Pintail which was great to see and a quick look on the mitigation site,revealed a Short-eared Owl hunting distantly.

What a cracking visit today and the patch year list is standing at 143 species now,can't wait until my next visit!.

Rain Storm Heading Towards Killingholme.

The Humber Floodbank Looking Towards Goxhill Haven.

Male Stonechat,One Of Ten Birds Near To Dawson City.

Five Of The Ten Stonechats Near Dawson City.

Winter's Pond.

Nosey Local.

Pinks Over The Mitigation Site.

Chatastic!......A Day In The Spurn Area,Sunday 04.10.20.

An organised meet up with Tim today visiting the fantastic Spurn area,resulted in a top class,but knackering day out.The following is what we encountered during the day with a few photos and video clips.

We started by parking near the canal and after getting the kit together we began the long walk down the peninsula to the point.

The walk down was pretty good to be fair,with plenty of migrants to keep it interesting,including a Jack Snipe flushed from the shore near to Chalk Bank,several Redstart,Chiffchaffs,Willow Warbler,Redwings,Song Thrushes,a couple of Wheatear,Peregrine,Common Sandpiper and a Short-eared Owl.

We spent a good while in between the showers covering the point area with 10+ Redstart,2 Whinchat,a pair of Stonechat,25 Chiffchaff,a female/immature Black Redstart near to the Pilots jetty,a single Ring Ouzel which gave some superb views and the best of the bunch a cracking Bluethroat which,with patience gave some nice,close views as it skulked in amonst the Marram and bushes on the Humber side of the point.This is the first one i have seen since the singing male White-spotted bird i found on my local birding patch at East Halton on 3rd April 2018.

The walk back towards the car,was a bit knackering to be fair in the now hot sun,but it had been all worth it.

A few additional sightings on the way back included a couple more Wheatear,a Stonechat,Chiffies and more Redstart sightings.

After we eventually reached the car,a quick change of clothes and footwear and we were off once again to go and visit the Red-flanked Bluetail at Cliffe Farm.

On arrival we saw this stunningly beautiful little bird straight away and at close range,hopping around on the grass in front of the house,what a lovely little species they are,with their big eyes,pale eye ring,white throat patch and orange flanks and obviously that cobalt blue tail.It was getting some unwanted attention from a male Redstart,which constantly chased it around,but still i managed to get the best views of this species i have had to date,what a cracker!.

Also in and around the garden,were 4+ Redstart,a lovely juvenile Spotted Flycatcher,several Goldcrest including one very tired looking individual and a few Chiffchaffs,what a garden!.

After getting our fill of the Bluetail,we wandered back to the car and then drove up to Easington in an attempt to see the elusive Bonelli's Warbler,which we unfortunately didn't see.

A few species here included a few Brambling and a Garden Warbler which gave some really nice views and more Chiffchaffs.

A few personal totals of migrants seen today included 53 Chiffchaff,24 Redstart,2 Willow Warbler,7 Wheatear,34 Brambling and 40 plus Song Thrush.The most Redstarts I've seen in a day for a long time and also 7 species of Chat in a day is also a personal first.

A brilliant day out today at this superb site for witnessing rare birds and bird migration.

Female Redstart,At The Point.