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Wildlife Sightings - September 2015
Wed 14th Oct, 2015
September was a month of relatively good weather with a prolonged spell of Indian summer. In Scarborough temperatures ranged from a low of 14° to a balmy 19°. A north-westerly storm hit the coast in the first few days of the month. After the storm cleared calm weather prevailed for the remainder of the month.
Seabirds were the focus of birders attention early in the month. Storm Petrel, Sabines Gull and four species of Shearwater had flown past Spurn by the 6th including a single Cory’s Shearwater to the delight of a lucky few at the Migration Festival! Further north at Flamborough, a Yorkshire week high of 131 Sooty Shearwaters flew north on the 7th where a single Storm Petrel was also seen along with smaller numbers of Skuas. The highlight of this period at Long Nab was a Sabines Gull on the 6th and a Great Shearwater on the 5th! The best day of the week at Filey was the 6th when all four Skuas were seen including 2 Long-tailed Skua, a Black-throated Diver and Red-necked Grebe. After the big blow the previous week, seabirds were in short supply for the rest of the month apart from at Scarborough and Spurn where sea-watchers were rewarded with a Fea’s Petrel on the 8th and 9th respectively.
Sooty Shearwater at Filey © Mark Pearson
The first rare songbird of the month popped its head out of Gorse on the 1st at Flamborough. An Eastern Subalpine Warbler! On the same day a Red-backed Shrike and Wood Warbler were also on the Outer Headland. Wood Warblers also turned up at Filey and Spurn in this period. The first Yellow-browed Warbler in Yorkshire this autumn was at Spurn Bird Observatory on the 10th with two at Flamborough and Filey the next day! Icterine Warblers were in short supply though with Flamborough and Buckton receiving 2 mid-month including 1 ringed at Buckton.
Yellow-browed Warbler at Filey © Lucy Murgatroyd
Meadow Pipit migration can be seen all the way down the coast, watch points often recording significant movements on the same dates. The 13th was the best day of the month with 4025 over Long Nab, 5835, counted over Hunmanby Gap and 3235 through Spurn. Also on the move south were good numbers of finches including Lesser Redpolls many of which were showing well in the North Yorkshire forests as well as coastal watchpoints including.
Lesser Redpoll Flamborough © Martin Garner
The month end was dominated by Spurn once again with a classic day on the 27th. An Arctic Warbler was the rarest bird of the day but it was joined by no less than 21 Yellow-browed Warblers, 4 Red-breasted Flycatchers, Hawfinch, Firecrest and Barred Warbler! The following days also brought in a Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Great White Egret and a Bluethroat.
Arctic Warbler at Kilnsea © John Hewitt
It was a good month for raptor migration on the Yorkshire Coast. Honey Buzzards were seen at all 3 Bird Observatories and Scarborough along with good numbers of Common Buzzards including 13 over Buckton on the 20th. Spurn held the rarest bop (bird of prey)! A beautiful juvenile Pallid Harrier graced the peninsular on the 29th.
Honey Buzzard Flamborough © Craig Thomas
Juvenile Pallid Harrier at Spurn © SBOT
The annual Pink-footed Goose migration kicked off late in the month with a fabulous 3104 counted moving south over Long Nab Scarborough! Also on the same day 3 Common Crane headed south.
In a similar pattern to August, settled weather from mid-month saw another surge in Minke Whale sightings on the calm sea. On one of our own Yorkshire Coast Nature tours with Real Staithes on the 26th we were lucky enough to watch up to 20 Minke Whales! Whitby Whale Watching reported 30 Minke over the last weekend of September. This autumn has not been as good as 2014 for Humpback Whale sightings but 2 were seen by Whitby Whale Watching on the 18th with a possible Sei Whale mid-month.
Minke Whales Staithes © Richard Baines
It was a good month for late flying Lepidoptera with many butterflies and moths taking advantage of the warm weather. Commas, Small Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals were seen in good numbers in comparison to earlier in the summer Hummingbird Hawk Moths were also seen in good numbers. A Large Rannunculus was caught in Scarborough on the 10th September. Convolvulous Hawk Moths were recorded in good numbers from many sites on the coast and inland as far as Fordon in North Yorkshire!
Hummingbird Hawk Moth at Flamborough © Martin Garner