Unseasonable...

Just after leaving the main car park on Holy Island this morning, I heard an unfamiliar song coming from close by. We quickly located the bird in question, and initial views were of a phyllosc that we thought had just one wingbar and a broad supercilium, which made us think we were watching a Greenish Warbler.

However, as the bird started to show better and sing more, we could see the start of a second wingbar, a hint of pale edges to the tertials and could better appreciate it's compact shape. We were now pretty sure we had found a singing Yellow-browed. Eventually, and after receving some helpful comments online, it started to give the classic call of a Yellow-browed Warbler. Perhaps not quite as exciting as finding a Greenish, but we were still quite pleased, as we were told it was just the third spring record in the county!

A flog around the rest of the island didn't produce anything quite as exctiting, but still a nice mix of common migrants...

7 Spotted Flycatcher
7 Willow Warbler
1 Lesser Whitethroat
1 Tree Pipit
2 Chiffchaff
1 Ring Ouzel
2 Wheatear
1 Fieldfare
1 Blackcap

Hopefully a few more blog posts over the next few days, including the stunning Citrine Wagtail at Lynemouth and our last two days on Mallorca...

Yellow-browed Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Catch up...

On Wednesday we spent the morning on Holy Island hoping that the easterlies and drizzle might have brought some migrants to the island. Sure enough it had, with impressive numbers of thrushes and Bramblings, but unfortunately the day just lacked something rare...

1645 Redwing
504 Fieldfare
648 Blackbird
8 Song Thrush
1 Ring Ouzel
120 Brambling
5 Woodcock
9 Goldcrest
2 Black Redstart - around the Lindisfarne Hotel.
15 Long-tailed Tit
2 Blackcap
1 Short-eared Owl

Later in the day another Black Redstart was mobile around the compound on Newton Point, while the day before a Jack Snipe had been sleeping in front of the south hide on the north pool at Chevington.

Down in North Yorkshire on Thursday the gull roost at Lingham Lake held 2 Caspian Gulls (distinctive first and third-winters), an adult Yellow-legged Gull and a leucistic Black-headed Gull among the thousands of other gulls.

This morning we managed good views of a male Bearded Tit in front of the north hide on the north pool at Chevington (only my second on patch and a much better view than the first) along with 2 Otters there and a Short-eared Owl at Druridge Pools.

PWC 15
Species: 169
Points: 229 

All my photos recently have been pretty poor and my excuse is that the weather hasn't been great!

Bearded Tit

Caspian Gulls - at maximum ISO and one second shutter speeds!

Sleeping Jack Snipe

Fall!

A couple of hours of easterlies last night was enough persuasion for me and my Dad to go to Holy Island today.

Before we even stopped the car we saw bushes full of thrushes. Sure enough there were hundreds of thrushes flying over and feeding on berries. It was an impressive spectacle with flocks of over a hundred Redwings and Fieldfares frequently heading west. Among these we managed to find 4 Ring Ouzels.

In the village my Dad spotted a Black Redstart in the back of the Captain's Garden, which disappeared not long after it appeared. In the afternoon we had another look in the village and there were 2 Yellow-browed Warblers and a Siberian Chiffchaff. Here's the counts...

3000+ Redwing
1500+ Fieldfare
250+ Blackbird
50+ Song Thrush
4 Ring Ouzel
5 Woodcock
11 Brambling
4 Blackcap
3 Chiffchaff
1 Siberian Chiffchaff
1 Black Redstart
1 Merlin
40 Twite
2 Yellow-browed Warbler
5 Little Egret
3 Black-tailed Godwit

Siberian Chiffchaff

Fieldfares

Brambling

Druridge Bay - Glossy Ibis and Green-winged Teal

I had a morning unintentionally trying out the rain cover for my camera in Druridge Bay, though it was well worth it.

First to Lynemouth, where the Glossy Ibis showed distantly in the rain. At Druridge Pools we got great views of the smart male Green-winged Teal as well as 2 Black-tailed Godwits and 3 Pintail.

At Chevington a Slavonian Grebe was the highlight, and a female Common Scoter, female Red-breasted Merganser and 2 Whooper Swans were also on the North Pool. An 'Ermine' Stoat was a bit of a surprise on the roadside near Widdrington.

Another look at the Ibis on the way home gave much closer views in better weather. 40+ Pink-footed Geese flew over and a few Fieldfare and Mistle Thrush were in the same field.

Glossy Ibis

Green-winged Teal

Mistle Thrush