cliftonbirding: East Coast Episode

Some favourable winds over the last few days have resulted in a bit of a fall on the East Coast, I nipped out to Long Nab, Burniston after work last Thursday hoping to cash in on some of the good seawatching that had been going on, it was blowing an absolute gale and hardly able to stand up I wondered if I'd made the right decision however I managed to find reasonably sheltered spot but passage had obviously tailed off in the afternoon and the best I managed were four Manx Shearwaters struggling North. Out with Mark on Sunday for a bit of migrant hunting and we had also both booked Monday off for some extra watching, on the Sunday we had decided on Flamborough, we started at South Landing where a Dusky Warbler was in the hedge near Highcliffe Manor for its second day, it was calling a lot but not easy to see and it was quite some time before we got reasonable views of it. Although there had been no news on yesterdays Rustic Bunting we decided to check out the fields at the bottom corner of Millennium Wood next anyway, it was a nice area with lots of Finches and other Buntings flitting about but no sign of the Rustic, also a Buzzard over plus a Short Eared Owl being mobbed high up. With news filtering through of a few goodies down Old Fall we headed off down there next, lots of Thrushes coming and going as we walked down and at the Plantation we were lucky to get straight onto a Pallas's Warbler which disappeared after a minute or two and although we hung around for another hour or more it never showed again and neither did the Red Breasted Flycatcher which had also been in that area, we were entertained by plenty of the more common migrants though including several Mealy Redpolls and Bramblings. Late afternoon after an unsuccessful search for a Great Grey Shrike at the Headland we headed off to Hoddy Cows Lane, Buckton for a Radde's Warbler, it didn’t sound too good at first with returning birders giving negative news but we thought we’d give a go anyway, after a fruitless search around the area it had been earlier we started walking slowly back along the lane when a birder coming the other way alerted us to a movement in the hedge, after a couple of minutes a Warbler flew up and along a bit and although I wouldn’t have said for certain it looked good for Radde's, a bit later a bird flew out from further down the hedge and across the lane into the vegetation on the other side, I went to investigate and up it popped with a caterpillar in its beak, ID was confirmed and we had several more brief views as it made its way along the bottom of the hedge before we lost it again, a fine end to a good day.

high up Short Eared Owl

Pallas's sighting all too brief, no chance to get better shots

possibly a Northern race Great Spot

Mealy

Monday we went down to Spurn and again there were loads of Thrushes, Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests everywhere but it seemed most of yesterdays good birds had moved on. We started at the Crown and Anchor Car Park where Blackcaps and Siskins were posing but there was no sign of the Barred and Yellow Browed Warblers seen earlier, we then moved round to Sammy’s Point after news of a Little Bunting and Great Grey Shrike filtered through, the Shrike was eventually found right at the far end but there was no sign of the Bunting although a stroll along nearby Green Lane a bit later afforded us brief views of another one, plenty of common migrants were also in the area including Common and Black Redstarts, Bramblings and Woodcock. We returned to Spurn and spent the afternoon wandering around the Warren, Triangle and Beacon Lane areas etc, it was rather steady though, highlights being a Short Eared Owl over, female Scaup on Borrow Pit, another Great Grey Shrike, a Merlin that shot through plus Ring Ouzel and at least four Jack Snipe on Canal Scrape, by 5 o-clock it had become rather quiet so we called it a day.