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.