Looks good for eastern England

[Karl J]

After a couple of days easterlies, the forecast is for them to continue for the next few days.

Apparently several good birds in & around Gt Yarmouth today. Pallas Warbler, Firecrest, Woodcock & Fieldfare around and about Yarmouth cemetary .... Firecrest also at Winterton .... & the American Golden Plover was still on Breydon this evening (across the river but viewable from SW corner of Herbert Barnes Park, Cobholm. In among the long stretched out flock of Euro Goldys)

Maybe worth a trip to the seaside !!

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Think I might have to get out tomorrow morning as there's now a Red-flanked Bluetail and Pallas's Warbler 10 miles down the road from me. Was out yesterday and did okay (found a Firecrest) but those two would be quite something. I think they'll certainly be a lot more out there. With the numbers of Pallas's and Yellow-browed Warblers around I'd recommend even inland birders have a got look through tit flocks in their local woods.

[Karl J]

Red-flanked Bluetail - that'd be something.

[Grousemore]

Hi Carlos,glad to see you're having some good birds up there.

I'm slightly puzzled though, as if they are attributable to the easterly winds,how does that stack up with Michael's recent post to the effect that NNW winds are best for North Sea coast seawatching?
Hopefully he'll see this and elucidate.

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Grousemore,

NNW winds for seawatching, i.e., seabirds (shearwaters, skuas, etc.)

E/SE winds are ideal for late passerines out of Siberia - a completely different set of birds!

Michael

[Grousemore]

Sorry Michael,I didn't make myself clear.
I was speculating as to why an easterly wind didn't encourage 'seabirds' to be blown closer to land (N.Sea coast) and hence make better seawatching conditions.

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Grousemore,

Because east winds come from Denmark - which isn't exactly known as a major seabird origin!! (good place for ducks though, so E winds can bring good numbers of Common Scoter, etc)

By contrast NNW winds are coming straing down from the middle of the North Atlantic, pushing lots of seabirds into the North Sea

Michael

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I agree with Michael although I would say that in my experience E or SE winds can be very good for seawatching in certain places. I used to watch a site on the Forth which faced SE and this was much better in SE winds than Northerlies. Last year I had 600+ Sooty Shearwaters there, almost all in SE winds. I also had a Great Shearwater last month at Fife Ness in a SE. One thing I have noticed is that an easterly is good for at first, when birds caught in the North Sea are brought closer in, but after a couple of days it tends to 'clear out' the North Sea. Presumably birds move out into the Atlantic and there just isn't much left to get blown in.

[Grousemore]

Thanks for the info Fifebirder,it was the birds being brought closer in that I was wondering about,but seems they need to have been there in the first place.

[Edward]

Originally posted by Fifebirder
Think I might have to get out tomorrow morning as there's now a Red-flanked Bluetail and Pallas's Warbler 10 miles down the road from me.

Think? Think? Good grief Fifebirder, what is there to think about? Two of the most beautiful passerines in the WP a mere 10 miles away! Check it out and good luck. And when you've finished send them up here.

E

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Edward,

That's just called British understatement ;)

I'm sure he was raring to go, and - to judge by reports on birdguides - he's probably already seen the Bluetail at least

My lift out can't get away from work until late morning, which is why I'm still here on BirdForum . . .
(won't be going for the Bluetail though, too far for me and I've already seem them anyway - will be looking for phalaropes & warblers in Northumbs)

Michael

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Had a very successful morning - just the 3 Sibes (Bluetail, Pallas's and Yellow-browed Warblers) and cracking views (all within about 100 metres of each other). I'll post more later on.

[Edward]

That's excellent Fifebirder, two out of three would be lifers for me and I've only seen Y-bW once (exactly one year ago yesterday). I think Red-flanked Bluetail and Siberian Rubythroat are the most evocatively named WP birds. I'd almost swap my Alder Flycatcher for your Red-flanked Bluetail...almost ;-)

E

[Andrew Whitehouse]

As I posted earlier, this morning's trip to Crail couldn't really have been bettered. I arrived at about 8.20 on the bus and walked the short distance to Denburn Wood. This is a narrow strip of mature woodland that stretches a few hundred metres along a small stream on the eastern side of the village (for those that don't know the area, Crail is the village nearest Fife Ness - the promontory at the eastern end of Fife).

The previous day both a Red-flanked Bluetail and a Pallas's Warbler were reported quite late in the afternoon. Not surprisingly, a good crowd had developed early in the morning and I soon found about 20 people along the main trail through the wood peering across into a patch of understory scrub. The Bluetail had apparently just been showing very well but, wouldn't you know it, had just flitted out of sight. Although I was a bit frustrated, I was at least relieved that the bird was still present. There followed a wait of maybe 15 -20 minutes before a quick flurry of movement and the Bluetail appeared briefly - perched on a low branch. It soon flitted left where I managed to get a good view of it before it moved further away. It was only on show for less than a minute but I had managed to get a look at it in my scope. It was a fairly brown looking bird - probably a 1st winter - but the dull blue tail could be seen quite easily from certain angles. It was remarkably busy and nervous looking too, with lots of flicks and twitches of wings and tail.

I was quite relieved to have seen the Bluetail, although I hoped I would get better views. I decided that it might be worth a wander around the wood to see if I could find the Pallas's Warbler. This was a species that, like the Bluetail, I had never seen before but nobody seemed to have seen yesterday's bird by that time. A walk about the wood and the adjacent churchyard didn't produce anything but when I returned to where the Bluetail was a crowd were watching a Yellow-browed Warbler, which I managed to see very well. In all the excitement I suppose there was a certain feeling of being underwhelmed by a Yellow-browed but they're really not a bird I could tire of seeing. Always very smart.

I then walked further down the wood and found a group of three other birders looking through a small group of crests. After a few minutes someone shouted "Pallas's" and after a few seconds panic I got onto an excellent Pallas's Warbler in the trees above. It really was a very busy and active bird - much more so than a Yellow-browed or even a Goldcrest. I had good views before the bird seemed to disappear over the wall and into someone's garden but becaue I was looking up at the bird I didn't manage to see the two big 'features' very well - the central crown stripe and the yellow rump.

The bird failed to reappear, with others now looking for it. I contented myself with some more views of the Bluetail and the Yellow-browed. Happily I had at least seen all the birds I'd hoped to see by about 9.20 - something of a relief as I had to be back home later in the morning. Not too many other migrants were about, although I did have a Woodcock going through and also managed at least 1 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap, a few Brambling and 3 Siskins.

I was hoping to get better views of the Pallas's and later on met a guy who had just seen the bird briefly in the middle of the wood. A small crowd soon gathered but the bird could not be relocated. But then suddenly it appeared in a low bush about 10 metres away and then proceeded to bathe itself in the stream for a couple of minutes giving us all extraordinary views. It then flitted up into the bush to preen before carrying on feeding in the trees. There were some contented looking faces after that. If any of you have a copy of Birdguides CD-ROM of "All the Birds of Europe" have a look at the video clip of Pallas's Warbler bathing. I expect I'll be having a look at it regularly over those winter nights.

Before catching my bus, I managed the best views yet of the Bluetail, which now seemed to be showing very well - chasing about with Robins in the scrub. Siberia really had come to Crail today and I keep wondering what will turn up next.

[Harry Hussey]

Hi Fifebirder,
What a great day's birding!I have only recently seen my first Pallas' Warbler(on 12th Oct),and they are stunning little birds!
Always enjoy seeing Yellow-broweds as well.
As for Red-flanked Bluetail,well:we can but dream....;-)
A little bit too windy at the Old Head:singles of Black Redstart,Blackcap and Swallow the only migrants.
Elsewhere in Cork there is a Little Bunting at Dursey Sound and a few Yellow-broweds,Ring Ouzels,Lapland Buntings etc scattered around the place.
Harry H

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Fifey,

Congrats on a good day! – certainly much better than mine, got a nice Red-necked Phalarope at Newbiggin, and Yellow-browed Warbler at Newbiggin Mound, but not a whisper of the Pallas's W that was supposed to be there too. Tried a few other places to see if we could find anything new, but just Chiffs, Blackcap, a Ring Ouzel, lots of Redwings, etc, nowt special

Michael

[david r]

Hi,
Today on the Uisge Gorm we have had a light passage of birds throughout the day that included a Pallas warbler that arrived with a flock of approx 22 Goldcrests ( 1130hrs ) a Short eared owl at 1200 a Tree sparrow at 1245 ( which promptly went to sleep ) a Peregrine falcon at 1400 and 2 Sparrow hawks at 1700 along with the usual Bramblings, Chaffinches,Fieldfares, Redwings,Blackbirds, Song thrushes, Robins and a wren.
Dave