Couple of Yorkshire non-washers heading on the big trip south west tomorrow - wish us luck!!

All the best mate, hope you connect with the target bird.

Will be paying a flying visit over the weekend, gotta make the most of what daylight I'll see. Not sure where my priorities are going to be other than trying to cover as much ground as possible...

Any Redwings or Fieldfares about yet? Spurn have recorded a steady trickle so far in Oct but only tiny numbers.

At least one Redwing at Old Fall, Flamboro today
Cheers
Michael

I saw about 30-40 fieldfare flying over last Sunday and may have seen a couple of redwing Tues evening but it was a little gloomy to tell, though they did sound like redwing.

Just a quick mention here of the draw that you may see at the top of the page, I've entered and as it will be the only chance I've got of owning a pair of Swaro bins I'd ask all the Yorkshire birders to not enter to give me a better chance.;)
In case you don't see the announcement about this draw the link here will take you to the relevant page
http://www.birdforum.net/announcement.php?f=629&a=25
and best of luck to you!:t:

I'm on line and there are no posts today so far! I hope that means that a significant number of you have headed south west to clean up on the alder flycatcher - or are you all down the pub (which is where I was up to now). Anyone go to Scilly Isles or Cork?

Alder Flycatcher OML (and note Mike so is Cetti's, Cirl and Dartford - local breeder gripback!). Amazing couple of days with Marcus. Will post a trip report to my blog asap. Insane!

Trip report now on the blog. Was crackers

Don't you have homework to do?

Pleased it was a good trip though.

Loads!

suggestions christmas birding in Yorkshire
 

Michael / Hotspur

Many many thanks for this. I'll pass them onto my brother to sift through and come up with a plan.

All the very best

You dirty, tick hungry twitcher!

Does anyone have any gen on the probable/possible Semi-palmated Sandpiper at Blacktoft???

Cheers

Andy

Thinking of going tomorrow Andy???? Thought I'd wait to see if it was definite first. We may go first thing tomorrow if it is one and is still there!! Maybe see you there!!!

Hi Rach

I've got to go into the office tomorrow in Leeds so will have to wait until the afternoon if it does get confirmed. RBA don't put it down as probable as far as i can see, will have to wait and see, has anyone on here seen it???

If anyone has seen it, does it look like this one? The picture was taken in Peru but bears a remarkable likeness to a bird Marcus and I were watching in York this morning.

In addition to this we had c.70 species,

York:~50 crossbill, ~100 redpoll, siskin, woodlark, marsh tit, wood sandpiper, greenshank, snipe, dunlin, teal, golden plover, lapwing, godwit sp.,

Filey: Purple sandpiper, ringed plover, Knot, dunlin, sanderling, turnstone etc.

Bit more on Yorks Semi P
 

Jim and I spent the morning at Allerthorpe (plenty of Crossbills and redpoll plus Marsh Tit) before deciding to head to the coast to see if we could pick something up. We left and decided to take a short cut and were amazed to see a large body of water covered in duck and other stuff at approximately 'Black Dike Ings' here EDIT east of Feoffee Common Lane.

On arrival immediately we were pleased to find a wood sandpiper feeding with some snipe and a couple of greenshank. There were plenty of teal and some very flighty golden plover. In amongst the goldies were three smaller waders. Two were obviously dunlin and one was noticeably smaller. We watched the smaller wader in flight for several minutes, noting faint white wing bars and a white rump, possibly split. The bird also had a slightly different flight action to the dunlin.

Finally the bird alighted at considerable distance and we noted some salient features. Firstly it was not a dunlin(!). Obvious I know but until now we had only gained flight views. The bird was about 3/4 the size and appeared small and dumpy. Our thoughts turned to little stint, but we were unable to find any braces and the bird appeared generally dull. The only diagnostic features at the distance were a noticeable white super, dark eye stripe and white cheeks. We were stumped, but at the distance had little choice, but to say unidentified stint/peep. The bird then flew again.

This time the bird landed slighlty closer and we confirmed the key features again. We were unable to see any braces. Indeed the back/scapulars were pretty much monotonal. The super and eyestripe were very clear cut and the most obvious feature in combination with the dullness of the bird. This was accenuated by dark lores. The bird flew off high South West at 12:30 PM. We returned to the site at 17:00 but were unable to relocate the stint/peep. We made some field sketches and decided to check the books and internet when we got back.

The news of the Semi-P is indeed interesing...

Andy, I went for it this afternoon as soon as news came through, arriving about 5.30pm. What a nightmare! It was a painful experience.

In the fading light I was shown the bird. I'm not having it, becuase it was impossible to id. All the birds were flighty - loads of Dunlin, Curlew Sand and Little Stints. Many of the Little Stints didn't appear to be the classic juv's. with the mantle braces which didn't help.

Some birders who'd seen it earlier were finding small peeps and thinking they had it, then challenging themselves - nobody was certain they were even on the right bird when I was there. Birders were disagreeing.

So, don't expect an in and out trip, and hope the light is good. The bird I was shown had a lot of white on the face. I'm pretty sure I've seen the bird in question but that means nothing.

On setting off, I didn't know what to expect - there may only have been one small peep. On arrival the scene was nothing like - flighty birds and several of the Little Stints looking very like the target bird. Some birders had taken fantastic shots of it, but were still asking whether their 'photo was it. I needed time to get into the site and start to sort them out - time I didn't have.

Good luck if you go!

In a turn up for the books we resorted to an ancient craft, obviously not well practiced but hey-ho.

Birdguides is saying the Semi-P has now been reidentified as a Little Stint!

That's a shame! |:(||:(|

Jim this does look a bit like our bird. Some sort of dull little stint.

No winter thrushes to report in a very quiet weekend. The only remnants of summer were a handful of Swallows and 2 House Martins. A few Goldcrest and a couple of dozen Golden Plover was about as autumnal as it got. Most of the water in the fields has gone now so no interesting waders and few wildfowl though quite a few snipe here and there.

Despite conditions I still managed a year tick - two Pintail feeding with some Teal on the small remaining flood near Foston. Only my third record locally so a very much appreciated bonus!

That's a very late date for Wood Sand... nice one.

According to birdguides it's there again today. And a pectoral sandpiper! Jim seems we are not the only ones birding this flood!

NB birdguides ref is Barmby Moor