Don't remember any near Sheffield, Pete. I get a daily digest from Birdguides for waxwings - will watch out for your area.

Sandra

The pictures on Birdguides are overexposed and do not really represent what the bird looks like in the field. The bare parts are black, both bill and legs, though grilling this in the field to be sure they're ALL black is hard. As for call, it's NOT a clincher but some people seem to think it is, although it is an ESSENTIAL addition to plumage features. A chiff which does not give the 'lost chick type call/Bullfinch/Dunnock call' will probably not be a tristis, no matter how 'good' some of the plumage features are, but if a chiff does then it's a good starter to think about tristis.

After that then a combination of all the specificed plumage features (as in the latest BBRC request) and the above call will produce what is now known as as good a tristis as you can get......but further research might change that. The latest request from BBRC will hopefully clarify what is/is not good enough for local rares committees to accept a tristis, which is, after all, a rare bird - much rarer than Pallas's, and probably rarer than Dusky or Radde's............

Hi sibechaser, welcome to BF and the Yorkshire thread...hope you enjoy it here and if you are in God's own county then you might want to check out the meet thread here

Hi Dave
Awesome website!! It's nice to see there are photo gods well and living in darkest Finland! We all must keep trying for those pics. Here's one I made earlier. Aren't birds brilliant?

It's interesting stuff. I know a lot of good birders have seen the Fulford bird so wasn't doubting its credence just interested given all the stuff I have learn't today.

I think they will turn out to be rares like you say as the paper suggests only one in ten pale chiffs are actually tristis.

Welcome to the forum too! :t:

The problem with the Fulford bird is that it's a difficult bird to catch up with, I know birders who have been 3/4 times without success - and it will be even harder now the Ouse is in flood! Hopefully it will stay long enough to start singing and we can all enjoy the distinctive song.

Pale chiffs aren't unusual, and you can see an array of plumage tones on a late October day on the Yorks coast. In the past any grey and white chiff was logged as a tristis and would probably have been published as such in the county bird report, but recent work has now confirmed that these birds were not trisits and that trisits is a rare(ish) bird.

Sibe Chiffs, Nordic and Russian Jackdaws, this forum has become 'subspecies in Yorkshire' - what an interesting day, time to go out and scan through some corvid flocks and see how many Nordic Jackdaws are out there in God's own, plus a Russian Jackdaw was ID in Harrogate in 2005, so when the birding's dull look for other delights :t:

Tanks for the welcomes, keep it interesting.........

Full Devon report to follow when I get back from business trip

Somebody got lucky again :king:

The call of the Fulford bird is a loud piping single note. Very different to the hweet of Chiffchaff. Piping is the best word for it. I connected with the bird after a five minute wait on my first attempt. It prefers the nettles rather than the hedgerows. Ghostly pale bird. Didn't see the bare parts well. I was just blown away by the call note.

As James says it is defo. now on. The British list stands at 578. Both Caspian and American Herring Gull full species.

As you say the call is the best way to pick this bird up as it skulks low in the vegetation, rarely venturing into the hedges. Lost chick/Bullfinch-like/Dunnock-like are the best ways of describing the call, but as sibechaser said the call is generally not considered to be diagnostic of tristis as other Chiff races have plenty of calls, not just the usual 'hweet' that we expect of them.

Although the Fulford bird can appear 'pale' in certain conditions, it does show the buffs & browns in the places expected of a tristis. Ideally a bird such as this would be trapped, or well photographed in decent light (rather than the record shots on birdguides), to prove beyond doubt that it is a tristis and not an 'eastern' Chiff doing a good job of impersonating one.....

The habitat choice of the Fulford bird is interesting, tristis in this country do seem to favour river valleys (preferably ones with sewage farms in them but Fulford Ings has plenty of rancid ditches and flood debris on it, so presumably it feels at home!)

Is it just me or was this bird so close that the tail is out of focus!!


Cheers,
Bob.

That can't be right, shirley? :eek!:


Cheers,
Bob.

Nice! Thought you would have used up all your luck in Scotland with the Wildcat. Look forward to the report.

A full Devon trip report is on my blog

http://www.freewebs.com/ebirder/blog.htm

If you can't be bothered

- surf scoter, slavs and GNDiver Dawlish Warren
- Cirl buntings giving the proverbial porn star views
- a load of annoying chiffchaffs
- an awesome peregrine chase

Back in God's own now!

Yorkshire Bird Reports
 

Trying to catch up with bird reports... found this:

"The process of collecting data for the County’s Bird Report has been a long and difficult process for many years. The last full report published was for 1997 but as I write Geoff Dobbs and his team have put together a full report for 2005, which is now at the printers."

http://badseawatcher.googlepages.com...dsinyorkshire.

It always did take a looong time to produce but, erk, no report since 1997?! Any ideas where/how I might get hold of a 1997 report (or any from the 90s for that matter)? The most recent one I have is from about 1990.


Cheers,
Bob.

Geoff Dobbs is a member of Birdforum, you could send him a pm

I'm thinking of going up to Scarborough area tomorrow, does anyone have any info on the recent sightings BT Diver?,Snow Buntings?,SEO?Red-Breasted Merganser?Are they still about?
Also is Forge Valley worth a visit?
Thanks Martin

Forge Valley Feeders have Jay, Marsh Tit, Nuthatch, GSW plus all the normal stuff. Plenty of raptors in the valleys plus Mandarin up at Hackness Pond. At Burton Riggs reserve nr Seamer there is Scaup and B-t Diver at mo. Holbeck Car Park in south Scarborough has Med Gulls if you take some bread.

Had a five raptor day today. First i dropped in at Thorganby Ings where i failed to pick out the American Wigeon but there were plenty of them in close to the platform but a good number were obscured. Also a Peregrine bothering the Lapwings over Ellerton (too distant to tell if it was the juv id been seeing higher up the valley. Went on to Blacktoft Sands where i year ticked Mistle Thrush, Whooper Swan, Golden Plover, Marsh Harrier plus the ringtail Hen Harrier. About 2,000 Pinkfeet dropped onto alkborough flats to roost and there were probably 3 times that many plovers about. Kestrel came onto the marsh at last light and as i walked toward the car a sparrowhawk was chasing a Dunnock. Heard the warden saying that a couple of Bearded Tits were knocking around the cut areas as you walk onto the reserve, wandered up there in the dark and there was Pinging in the air. Finally at about my 20th visit to Blacktoft nailed Bearded Tit in the dark. Ace. Up to 100 for the year for Yorks and 109 UK.

The YNU went onto a dual publishing system a few years back.

An annual Yorkshire Rare & Scarce Bird Report has been done yearly, which in itself is pretty comprehensive - started with a 1998-1999 publication, and the last one I've got is 2004. The 2005 report will be one of the occassional all inclusive reports.

For Scarborough birds, I would think the black-throat is still at Burton Riggs (probably not looked for during the week), the short-eared owls are wintering and should be present (though the one at Bempton may be easier to see), and for snow buntings try Blue Dolphin just north of Filey - take the entrance into the caravan park, drive 200 yards to the end near to the coast, and there has been a flock of 30 feeding on a newly seeded area to the left. The merganser hasn't been seen at the mere recently.

Thanks for the info re Scarborough guys.I'll give it a go.

Loshpotts
 

Quick visit this morning. A lot of birds have moved out.

However, 3 Shelduck beats previous best count of 2!
Also Jay new for Losh list.
Still 3-4 Little Grebe.

The full list now stands on 79 species, including 10 duck and 8 wader. Not bad for a bit of run-off from the A1.

I've seen 75, with Marcus (jimmy2faces) adding another three and Graham (bitterntwisted) adding the remaining bird.

There's plenty of easy stuff yet, so challenge is 100.

Funny that, i dropped in at Losh this morning as the house had a viewing. No shelduck there when i visited. 5 or 6 tufties, a small flock of Corn Buntings and 2 little Grebes were the highlights. Not a lot there!

Make that 80!!!!! Where were the Corn Buntings James?

When I arrived there was one Shelduck, and two more flew in so I think they are in and out.

I would be interested in the corn bunting gen too!

Was about 8 or 9 flew onto the reserve grubbed around between the bridge and the reservoir in the planted trees. Could only hear em on the deck for a while and then they cleared off. Also had Corn Bunting on the outskirts of York the otherday.

With the Shelduck, i found a number of em on a farm pond the far side of Kirk Deighton last spring when i was lost and searching for Losh so maybe they flit between there and Losh.

Can anyone confirm how you view the redpoll flock at Fulford. Do you park where you park for the Sibe. Chiff. and walk along the river, or can it be accessed quicker from another road leading off?

Thanks.

No its not. Carry on into York, past the car park for the Sibe Chiff which is flooded now and on the A19 turn left at the 2nd set of traffic lights in Fulford onto a road called Broadway West. Drive to the end - it's a dead end anyway, and walk onto the 'waste ground' beside it (there's a footpath through it) and the redpoll flock (30 birds) are tending to feed on nettle heads giving really good views and very photographable if anyone is interested (though the area may be busier at weekends and the flock might be less approachable). The grid ref is SE605498 - whack it into Streetmap - http://www.streetmap.co.uk/

Anyne been across to Farnham yet? Just in case...

Got the Lesser Pecker at long last at Fairburn but got the worst views in the world. Flies in lands on tree, flies off followed by 2 hours later it bounding down the path over my head in the gloom. Did see all three species in one clump of trees though.

I took the missus to York shopping today on the condition that we stopped by the flooded field at Catterton. Two minutes later I had Water Pipit in my scope. Result!
The day went down hill from there!

Mike, I was there today and watched it from about 10:15 - 11:15. It was constantly present. Got a few shots of it. Posted one on Birdguides. Strong wind, poor light, and distance meant it was always going to be a record shot.

Earlier I had tried for the Common Redpoll. At very first light the flock was on the nettle heads, but after being spooked by a dog walker, I never saw them on the nettles in about a two hour watch. I never saw anything that resembled Common as the dispersed flock moved about the hedgerows and trees. Good little spot with Goldfinch, Siskin, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Bullfinch. It came through later which is good but frustrating at the same time.

James, you may have seen Uncle Lawts at Fairburn. He was going to try for the Lesser Pecker. I went to Catterton instead.

I was thinking the same thing just yesterday, seeing as the other two birds from last year have now returned. However, I would think the suppressing *@:;+"@* at Harrogate Nats would be advertising it on all the pagers if that was the case, so they can finish tarmacking the drive....

Fulford Ings - Common Redpoll
 

I also ticked the two Eagle Owls? there today. Anyone who's been will know what I mean.

Anyone going, I can guarantee they will be showing well.

I got the bittern at Old Moor on Saturday!

I also discussed the possibility of this today. Against - it left relatively quickly. It wasn't as though it fully wintered at the site. I actually think if it was there we wouldn't get to know this time.

Dropped into Bempton yesterday, and according to the warden there is definately a Long-eared Owl on the reserve. May be of interest to anyone local.

A LEO was also reported at Flamborough head a few days ago http://www.scarboroughwildlife.org.uk/flamborough.htm
If weather ok tomorrow I might get out for a look.

Yorkshire Bird Reports
 

Hi Bob

As stated in earlier threads, YNU produced 'Rare & Scarce reports' for the period 1998-2004; the first such report covered both 1998 & 1999, the rest covered a single calendar year.

The 2005 report covers all species recorded during the year and is currently at the printers. It is a sizeable tome and tries to address several species trends between the last full report 1997 and 2005, as well as every species recorded within the county in 2005.

YNU fully intend to publish a full report for every year from now on. However, it is a very difficult to capture data across the entire county in a timely manner. YNU are at the mercy of local socities publishing their own records; as a consequence, we are still awaiting masses of data for 2006. However, the writing of species accounts for 2006 has started.

I believe there are still several unsold copies of the 1997 report. The YNU website, under the Ornithological section, has contact details for either myself or Geoff. If you get in touch, we should be able to update your library!

Thanks

Craig