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Birding Discovery Days – Highlights of the Year 2022
Wed 28th Dec, 2022
After two difficult years we were very excited to start our Birding Discovery Days again in January. Mark’s Coastal Winter Birding Days got the year off to a great start on the 7th. It was chilly but a wonderful day at Filey included sightings of Snow Buntings, Purple Sandpipers, Grey Phalarope, Red-throated Divers and Great Northern Divers to warm the hearts of our guests.
Northern Goshawk North Yorkshire 2022 © Richard Baines
Our Goshawk Birding Safaris start at the end of February every year and 2022 kicked off with fabulous views of several adult Northern Goshawks performing their spectacular display. One particular female was not happy when an immature bird ventured into her territory. The weather was mild and the forest was bursting with the sound of Eurasian Siskins, Common Crossbills and the incredible sound of the calling Goshawks.
Ring Ouzel North Yorkshire spring 2022 North Yorkshire 2022 © Mark Pearson
March is one of the best months for watching Black Grouse and this year was no exception with several adults performing well. Guests were also treated to some excellent Ring Ouzel action as Johnny Mac, our expert guide in the uplands, found several breeding territories on his Yorkshire Dales National Park Upland Birding Days and Black Grouse Safaris. On the same day as Johnny was enjoying The Dales, I remember being excited to show four Forest and River Birding Day guests in the North York Moors National Park a newly fledged White-throated Dipper. We had wonderful views of it being fed by its mother whilst its father sang his beautiful song on a branch above his family and the river. Two National Parks bursting with life.
Black-browed Albatross Bempton 2022 © Mark Pearson
To everyone’s delight our very famous Black-browed Albatross arrived back at Bempton RSPB earlier in 2022 than previous years. This was great timing for another of our Design Your Own Birding Days on the 19th April when we welcomed a couple from Massachusetts. They really didn’t expect to be treated to a huge Albatross amongst 200,000 breeding seabirds! Yorkshire really did win a birding gold medal on that day.
European Turtle Dove North Yorkshire © Richard Baines
Late April heralds the arrival of our precious European Turtle Doves, our North Yorkshire birds are the most northerly breeding population in the UK. My first sighting of the year was on the 10th May at the typically early time of 7am in Cropton Forest. I was leading a Design Your Own Birding Day for two keen birders from Cambridgeshire. After our first views we then found another three birds singing in the forest, it was a really beautiful sound.
European Honey-buzzard North Yorkshire 2022 © Richard Baines
May is one of those months in the birding calendar where I often wonder ‘where do I start?’. There are so many highlights and great birding moments. Alongside our Goshawks and Turtle Doves, one of the most popular birds in North Yorkshire are our European Honey-buzzards. Our Forest and River Birding Days didn’t disappoint in 2022 with excellent views in the North Yorkshire Forests. One memorable day involved four Honey-buzzards circling low over a forest clearing with Tree Pipits, Crossbills and Turtle Doves singing beneath them. What a memory!
European Bee-eater Spurn May 2022 © Mark Pearson
Our YCN Spurn Spring Migrants Birding Days were again very popular with trips being fully booked well in advance of our special week. I remember advertising these days with a photo of a European Bee-eater, this photo definitely brought us luck with one of these dazzling birds gracing Mark’s birding group on the 23rd. I managed to find an even rarer bird for Spurn a day later when a Stone Curlew flew up in front of my birding guests.
The Nightjars are back! Was the cry of a local birder, excited to welcome these most mysterious birds. Our YCN Nightjar Safaris once again hit the mark from May to July with fabulous views on every one of our ten trip dates. The evenings traditionally start with a dusk birding walk during which I introduce our group to the sound of common songbirds in the tranquillity of the forest. What I didn’t expect was to find a Song Thrush mimicking a Nightjar! The earlier dates were also a good time for Eurasian Woodcocks with a regular group of three males, roding (woodcock display) above us. We even had a Eurasian Hobby appear out of the forest swooping above one very surprised Nightjar.
YCN Forest Birding Group © Richard Baines
Our Goshawk Safaris started again in late July and continued throughout August. This is a great time for forest birding and a perfect time for views of the first fighting juvenile Goshawks of 2022 soaring above the trees. Every year I look forward to watching these magnificent birds scrapping with each other in their first few weeks of life. We were proud to donate £650 from our Goshawk Safaris again this year to RSPB Species Investigation to help their incredibly important work.
Pallid Harrier Spurn September 2022 © Ray Scally
One of my personal highlights every year is Spurn Migration Festival. YCN sponsored the events marque and I joined forces with Linda Jenkinson at Start Birding to lead several free guided walks. The first weekend of September never fails to impress. There were thousands of waders on Kilnsea Wetlands for our ‘Waders for Beginners’ guided walks and for those birders looking for a rarity they didn’t have to go far as a Pallid Harrier flew over the Mig-fest marque!
Migration was in full swing by mid-September and bang on time Mark started his popular Autumn Migration Special Birding Days. It was straight into a sea-watching spectacular at Flamborough with a skua extravaganza for our guests on the 17th with 21 Arctic Skua, three Great Skua, two Long-tailed Skua and one Pomarine Skua putting on a great show.
Pallas's Warbler Spurn October 2022 © Richard Baines
In late October and early November, we were back at Spurn and very fortunate to have our first scheduled week right in the middle of the best east coast fall of migrant birds of the whole year. The forecast looked great and for once the birds followed our prediction. Rain and easterly winds brought a deluge of birds on the 20th; 2 Red-flanked Bluetails, 4 Pallas's Warbler, Great Grey Shrike, 2 Little Buntings, a Barred Warbler, 3 Yellow-browed Warblers, 8 Hawfinch, a single Woodlark, 19 Firecrests, 35 Black Redstarts, 15 Woodcocks, 11 Jack Snipe, 3 Long-eared Owl, 23 Chiffchaff, 24 Blackcap, 5200 Starling, 1555 Blackbird, 2700 Redwing, 222 Song Thrush, 6 Ring Ouzel, 400 Robins, 2 Pied Flycatchers, Redstart, 2 Whinchats, a Tree Pipit, 208 Bramblings, 6 Mealy Redpolls and 3 Eastern Lesser Whitethroats all on one day! (day list courtesy of Spurn Bird Observatory sightings log).
Waders at Spurn November 2022 © Richard Baines
Our second birding week at Spurn was quieter for migrant songbirds but full of waders and wildfowl treats and still a rare bird or two. Visible migration was in full swing with thousands of birds moving down the peninsular including a Hen Harrier and three Marsh Harriers on our first morning! Most unseasonal but very welcome were two Red-rumped Swallows seen by our day birding group, one of which flew around everyone as Mark and our guests enjoyed a coffee at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust centre.
Pink-footed Geese Yorkshire 2022 © Mark Pearson
December is usually a month when everyone starts to wind down, not in the YCN office! Our new Estuary Birding Days created by Margaret Boyd (who also runs our Birdwatching for Beginners course) started with our guests enjoying many great sightings including Greenland White-fronted Geese, Pink-footed Geese, thousands of waders including Avocets, Grey Plovers, Godwits and huge numbers of European Golden Plovers. The Humber Estuary is one of the wild jewels of our county. We also had a new trip focused on Birding in the Uplands in Winter led by Johnny Mac. Our first winter trips were a great success with Hen Harrier and Merlin among many other birding highlights.
Waders in the Lower Derwent Valley December 2022 © Jono Leadley
Close to the historic city of York is one of our largest and most impressive National Nature Reserves; The Lower Derwent Valley. Every winter we host our Wetland Birding Days here (starting in December) led by local expert Jono Leadley. The cold weather in early December helped concentrate massive numbers of birds with guests wowed by thousands of wildfowl, swans and raptors including Peregrine, Hen Harrier and Marsh Harriers.
After such a great year we can’t wait for 2023. Our Birding Discovery Days kick off with three great immersive birding experiences; On the 6th January it’s time for our Coastal Birding Days, then we move inland to the Wetlands on the 13th before our first Estuary Birding Day completes the month on the 29th January.
A big thank you to all our regular guests from 2022 and a Happy New Year as we look forward to 2023!
Richard Baines
Director and Wildlife Guide