We managed very few other migrants with single Willow Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat, and a couple of Common Whitethroats. However, the always stunning scenery made also helped to make it a very nice day.
Red-backed Shrike
Swallow at The Lough
Showing posts with label Lesser Whitethroat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lesser Whitethroat. Show all posts
Monday, 1 June 2020
Holy Island
With a bit of east in the wind and some misty weather overnight we decided to spend yesterday on Holy Island. While the hoped for rarity didn't materialise, it was nice to see a female Red-backed Shrike on the fences near the Straight Lonnen. It largely remained distant along the far end of the fences but did come a bit closer for a few minutes, although we were always looking towards the sun.
We managed very few other migrants with single Willow Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat, and a couple of Common Whitethroats. However, the always stunning scenery made also helped to make it a very nice day.
We managed very few other migrants with single Willow Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat, and a couple of Common Whitethroats. However, the always stunning scenery made also helped to make it a very nice day.
Monday, 20 May 2019
Broad-bill and Red-spots...
With such a quiet spring, we were pretty looking forward to Saturday and the promising weather charts. There's really only one place we go when the conditions look like they did - Holy Island.
We arrived on the island for around 7am, and started at Chare Ends. It was immediately apparent that the fall of common migrants we'd hoped for had not taken place, and in fact, we didn't see a single migrant for our first hour and a half on the island!
Things picked up when we got word of a Bluethroat at the Excavations. We were nearby so headed straight there. When we reached the area, the bird had gone to ground, but after a bit of searching, the male Red-spotted Bluethroat reappeared and showed nicely if briefly.
We continued on and made our way towards the Lough, picking up a Cuckoo and Spotted Flycatcher on the way. On reaching the bushes, a smart male Pied Flycatcher was sat on the fence along with a Redstart. Two showy Lesser Whitethroats were in the bushes by the hide.
The Crooked and Straight Lonnens provided a further Redstart, Pied Flycatcher and a couple of male Whinchats. It felt like there was more to be found so (unusually for us) we decided to stay on the island over the high tide and this proved to be a good decision!
Next, we decided to head to Snipe Point where another male Red-spotted Bluethroat had been found. This bird proved much more cooperative, giving superb views as it sang from a dead log on the beach and nearby dunes.
Just after we left this bird, we saw a message from RA about a Broad-billed Sandpiper he'd found on the north shore near the Snook. This is a bit of bogey bird for me having missed them at Druridge, Teesside and North Yorkshire so I got there as quickly as possible.
Having survived the 800 metre run across the sand, we arrived just in time to look through the finder's scope at the Broad-billed Sandpiper before all the waders started to move around with the incoming tide, and the Sandpiper disappeared. Over the next two and a half hours, it was looking unlikely that we would get any better views, but out of nowhere it appeared right in front of the three of us still scanning. We were treated to excellent and prolonged views down to just 15 metres at times (it was so close we could identify it by the naked eye!!) before it took off and flew north, and it is yet to be seen again. A stunning end to an excellent day!
Just a quick note, my A-levels are rapidly approaching so my blog updates may be a bit sparse over the next month or so. I do have plenty of photos from this spring to go through over the summer, which will appear on here at some point. These include more from Fuerteventura, Black-necked Grebes and butterflies from Yorkshire...
We arrived on the island for around 7am, and started at Chare Ends. It was immediately apparent that the fall of common migrants we'd hoped for had not taken place, and in fact, we didn't see a single migrant for our first hour and a half on the island!
Things picked up when we got word of a Bluethroat at the Excavations. We were nearby so headed straight there. When we reached the area, the bird had gone to ground, but after a bit of searching, the male Red-spotted Bluethroat reappeared and showed nicely if briefly.
We continued on and made our way towards the Lough, picking up a Cuckoo and Spotted Flycatcher on the way. On reaching the bushes, a smart male Pied Flycatcher was sat on the fence along with a Redstart. Two showy Lesser Whitethroats were in the bushes by the hide.
The Crooked and Straight Lonnens provided a further Redstart, Pied Flycatcher and a couple of male Whinchats. It felt like there was more to be found so (unusually for us) we decided to stay on the island over the high tide and this proved to be a good decision!
Next, we decided to head to Snipe Point where another male Red-spotted Bluethroat had been found. This bird proved much more cooperative, giving superb views as it sang from a dead log on the beach and nearby dunes.
Just after we left this bird, we saw a message from RA about a Broad-billed Sandpiper he'd found on the north shore near the Snook. This is a bit of bogey bird for me having missed them at Druridge, Teesside and North Yorkshire so I got there as quickly as possible.
Having survived the 800 metre run across the sand, we arrived just in time to look through the finder's scope at the Broad-billed Sandpiper before all the waders started to move around with the incoming tide, and the Sandpiper disappeared. Over the next two and a half hours, it was looking unlikely that we would get any better views, but out of nowhere it appeared right in front of the three of us still scanning. We were treated to excellent and prolonged views down to just 15 metres at times (it was so close we could identify it by the naked eye!!) before it took off and flew north, and it is yet to be seen again. A stunning end to an excellent day!
Broad-billed Sandpiper - video should be viewed in HD at 1080p
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| Red-spotted Bluethroat - stunning male at Snipe Point |
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| Red-spotted Bluethroat - the other male at the Excavations. Notice the white streaking behind its left eye and much more intense orange breast band compared to the Excavations bird. |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Lesser Whitethroat |
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| Whinchat - male. |
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| Sanderling |
Tuesday, 16 October 2018
Back again...
On Sunday we planned to spend the morning on the patch. We were at Druridge Pools just long enough to find a Yellow-browed Warbler in the pine plantation before some good birds were reported from Beal and Holy Island.
We decided to head up there and the first couple of hours proved frustrating with no sign of the scarcities at Beal. We moved onto the island where things did pick up, with the best birds including 7 Yellow-browed Warblers and the incredibly confiding Snow Bunting still on the Crooked Lonnen. The counts included the following...
7 Yellow-browed Warbler
1 Ring Ouzel
1 Pied Flycatcher
1 Redstart
5 Chiffchaff
2 Willow Warbler
1 Lesser Whitethroat
1 Wheatear
40+ Brambling
1 Snow Bunting
1 Swallow
1 Short-eared Owl
We decided to head up there and the first couple of hours proved frustrating with no sign of the scarcities at Beal. We moved onto the island where things did pick up, with the best birds including 7 Yellow-browed Warblers and the incredibly confiding Snow Bunting still on the Crooked Lonnen. The counts included the following...
7 Yellow-browed Warbler
1 Ring Ouzel
1 Pied Flycatcher
1 Redstart
5 Chiffchaff
2 Willow Warbler
1 Lesser Whitethroat
1 Wheatear
40+ Brambling
1 Snow Bunting
1 Swallow
1 Short-eared Owl
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| Yellow-browed Warblers in Holy Island village |
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| Yellow-browed Warbler at Druridge Pools |
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| Snow Bunting |
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| Lesser Whitethroat |
Saturday, 28 April 2018
More patch birding...
Back to the patch again this morning, and there were a few more new summer migrants for us...
The first was Swift with 8 over Chevington, while a Wheatear at Hemscott Hill was a patch year tick. The male Channel Wagtail was also showing well here with a single Yellow.
At Druridge Pools, the 2CY Spoonbill was behaving typically lazily, though did have a bit of a fly around as we were leaving. A pair of Garganey also remained here as well as 3 Ruff, 13 Black-tailed Godwits and a couple of Lesser Whitethroats by the track.
At Cresswell, 7 Wheatears were north of the causeway, with a couple of them showing really well. Another Yellow Wagtail was also here and 2 White Wagtails. 2 more Wheatears were at Snab Point too.
The first was Swift with 8 over Chevington, while a Wheatear at Hemscott Hill was a patch year tick. The male Channel Wagtail was also showing well here with a single Yellow.
At Druridge Pools, the 2CY Spoonbill was behaving typically lazily, though did have a bit of a fly around as we were leaving. A pair of Garganey also remained here as well as 3 Ruff, 13 Black-tailed Godwits and a couple of Lesser Whitethroats by the track.
At Cresswell, 7 Wheatears were north of the causeway, with a couple of them showing really well. Another Yellow Wagtail was also here and 2 White Wagtails. 2 more Wheatears were at Snab Point too.
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| Channel Wagtail |
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| Wheatears - very smart birds! |
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| Second calendar-year Spoonbill (with attached weeds) |
Sunday, 14 May 2017
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
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...
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
Friday, 21 October 2016
Baird's revisited
After a disappointing morning on Holy Island today we stopped at Low Newton on the way home for some more views of Baird's Sandpiper on the scrapes. The bird was showing really well, especially when walking around the grass on the close shore. Unfortunately we were looking into the sun, which made photos difficult. 15 Whooper Swans also flew over calling.
Also, here's a few photos from Holy Island last Saturday (15th)...
Baird's Sandpiper - best viewed in HD at 1080p
Also, here's a few photos from Holy Island last Saturday (15th)...
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| Siberian Chiffchaff |
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| Ring Ouzel |
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| Lesser Whitethroat |
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| Goldcrest |
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| Redwing |
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| Song Thrush |
Great Grey Shrike - best viewed in HD at 1080p
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