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Flamborough Foot-it Part 5: What a Wonderful Storm!
Fri 17th Oct, 2014
A settled period of weather brought the glorious sight of Arctic geese and swans migrating down our coastline. Several thousand Pink-footed Geese were joined by a wonderful flock of 22 Whooper Swans over Flamborough Lighthouse on 10th. The Indian summer everyone except birders had been welcoming thankfully came to an end on 13th. The birding god swung the wind north-east, picked up the speed, brought a bit of rain and then in came the goodies!
The first Little Auks flew north at the start of the week followed by lots of wildfowl ticks including tricky species such as Red-necked Grebe and Scaup, but so far I have been unlucky with no Goldeneye or Velvet Scoter. A Radde’s Warbler was a great bird for the list on 12th especially as it was only 500 m away! A Siberian Chiffchaff joined it in the evening, a gorgeous bird but not a full species - damn!
The 14th and 15th were great birding days with Shore Lark, Great Grey Shrike, Ring Ouzel and Short-eared Owl all added to my list on a long stomp to South Landing. The big relief on this walk was managing to see my first foot-it Red-legged Partridge alongside these Scandinavian gems! The best bird though was hiding in a tree in our garden: a Long-eared Owl which had just arrived from a long flight! It was a significant visitor as it clocked up the 200th species we have seen in or from the garden in 11 years.
Another long walk at South Landing early the following morning in rain and wind was richly rewarded with a beautiful male Long-tailed Duck, followedby Woodcock, Jay and Firecrest.
So by 17th October my total stands at 157 species and most importantly I have raised £641.00 so far for bird conservation work on Flamborough Headland. Thank you to all of my sponsors; if anyone would like to contribute a donation please contact me on 01262 851999.
Richard Baines
Flamborough Bird Observatory Conservation Working Group
richard.baines@yorkshirecoastnature.co.uk
For all up to date daily sightings keep an eye on the Flamborough Bird Observatory website here.