August 2014 Bird Sightings Round-up

Thu 4th Sep, 2014

Plenty of action up and down the coast throughout the course of a month which saw passerines, waders, seabirds and more all signalling the beginning of autumn proper. Notable waders included good scatterings of Wood Sandpipers, Little Stints, Spotted Redshanks and Curlew Sandpipers, but the real showstopper came in the banana-billed shape of a cracking Terek Sandpiper at Beacon Ponds on 7th. 

The patience of sea-watchers at the regular watchpoints paid off with a good cast of the rarer shearwaters from mid-month – Cory's graced Filey and Scarborough on two dates and Flamborough on no less than six, with up to three birds involved on at least two dates there. The latter two sites also logged Great Shearwaters, with Flamborough scoring two this month. A quiet month for Balearics saw just a couple in Yorkshire waters. 

Less common terns were out in force, with Black, Roseate and Little all checking in at the main sites, while gulls provided plenty of interest for those predisposed to the challenges they create. A putative juvenile Baltic Gull at Flamborough on four dates may well be one to watch, while perhaps the biggest story of the month concerned Caspian Gulls at the same site. With a clear turnover of birds and photographs allowing individual differentiation, as many as twelve were involved – an exceptional influx; singles were noted at a further six sites along the coast. 

Tallies of Little Gulls were suitably impressive, with the Holderness coast attracting the biggest assemblages as usual. Counts of up to 520 at Hornsea were, unusually, eclipsed by counts from nearby Mappleton, where an amazing 3,750 were recorded on 28th. An impressive evening movement past Flamborough on the same day saw 707 passing the headland. Other notable gulls included four Sabine's (all from Flamborough) and a hybrid Mediterranean x Black-headed Gull at Beacon Ponds. 

Skua passage was generally light, but Pomarines featured in ones and two at several sites and Long-tails were noted at Filey, Grimston, Spurn, Flamborough and Scarborough; summer plumage Black-throated Divers illuminated seawatches at both Spurn and Flamborough. A Spotted Crake reported from a garden pond in Scarborough was an oddity to say the least, while several records of Great White Egrets were less unusual. 

Scarce continental passerines were well represented (although nothing really pulse-quickening has arrived with them as yet), with Barred Warblers being particularly numerous – both Spurn and Flambmorugh hosted at least three each, with another at Long Nab, where a brief Ortolan Bunting was reported on 29th. Further south, a Greenish Warbler took up residence on Castle Hill, Scarborough from 28th. 

The Spurn area dominated records of the other expected scarcities, with at least five Wrynecks (and one at Flamborough), a couple of Icterines, a Rosefinch and a Red-backed Shrike at various sites in the area. Finally, following news of the successful breeding of Marsh Warblers at Spurn last month, news was also released of a pair successfully breeding at Flamborough this summer. 

Mark James Pearson