Blyth's Pipit, Wakefield, January 2015
THE WINTERING BLYTH'S PIPIT IN WAKEFIELD HAS BECOME MUCH MORE OBLIGING now that its favourite field has become more flooded and then frozen. It is now feeding quite frequently on the surrounding exposed roadside verges so Alan McBride and I risked a visit to the People's Republic and enjoyed some superb views of this hitherto skulker. The local birders did a great job in encouraging folks to give it some space and stand back from the banks surrounding the field, which is hemmed in by a business park and the pipit duly obliged with a couple of great walk pasts. Very happily there was no need to enter the field or hassle it in any way and it was very instructive to have such a good look at a bird I do not see very often. It called a couple of times as well. Yorkshire is off to a great start this year! 'Great' could have been the word of the day, with the pipit views followed back in East Lancs by a couple of long-stayers - Great Northern Diver at Rishton Reservoir and Great Grey Shrike at Grindleton Forest, although these two could have been a bit closer.
Blyth's Pipit, Wakefield, January 2015