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SIBERIAN ACCENTOR AT SPURN

Siberian Accentor, Vicars Lane, Easington.

SO IT HAS HAPPENED! We've all been waiting for this species in the UK for a long time and the disappointment of being unwilling to spend £600+ on seeing the first one for Britain in Shetland on Monday was well and truly washed away today. First of all a very big thank you to the finder, Spurn regular Lance Degnan, who must now be just about the most popular person in birding this week! I could hardly sleep last night, which is unlike me. I am usually much more relaxed about twitching but this bird is so rare that there may not be many chances of seeing it here in my lifetime. Last Sunday's was of course the first for Britain and even though there will probably be more over the next few days, on the other hand, when the wind swings to the south there may never be another. Riding with 'Sherbie' RocketRon Jenkins today we left Accy at 3.30am, where there was a queue of four cars at the McDonald's drive-thu!!!?? We arrived in Easington, near Spurn, well before dawn but there were plenty of other birders on site already and we stood in the dark near the place the bird was last seen the previous evening. Eventually there was a big cheer not long after dawn, when the accentor flew in to the moss-covered old school yard, although my first view of it was sitting on a skip. We watched it almost all morning and again in the afternoon as it became even more confident feeding actively in the open almost all the time. Rocket and I also caught up with a Pallas's Warbler in the Crown and Anchor Car Park and a showy Shore Lark by the Bluebell as well as a flight of white-fronted geese today but we spent most of the time with the accentor. After all, why go off and photograph something else badly before you've done as well as you can with the main course? The lanes and fields were full of thrushes, Goldcrests and robins and there were still a few chiffchaffs around. A late Common Redstart was along Vicars Lane and a Black Redstart was near Westmere Farm. Another big thank you to the Spurn Bird Observatory team who spent all day looking after the crowds and making things much more bearable. It was also great to see so many old friends today. We all crawled out of the woodwork for this one. Finally, I wrote last weekend 'Well it's still up for grabs as a first for Yorkshire and Spurn'. There you go. There is no place like Spurn!

Shore Lark, Kilnsea.

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I LOVE SPURN IN AUTUMN!

Pallas's Warbler, Easington

A GRAND DAY OUT AT SPURN started as usual at the Warren, with a hopeful seawatch. A few Red-throated Divers were on the move south, some Common Scoters went in the opposite direction and three eiders flew south, they have apparently become very scarce in Yorkshire now, which is worrying news. A Pallas's Warbler eventually showed at Easington, in some disused land near the church - found by Paul French, thanks! However, it was very lively and hard to get a prolonged view of, hence the poor record shot. Just like at Bempton during the week there were lots and lots of chiffchaffs here, as well as some goldcrests. Yellow-browed Warbler(s) were also calling frequently nearby.

In the absence of a better idea I found myself walking down the point, past lots of Redwings, Song Thrushes and particularly robins. A few swallows and skylarks flew south along the point and chiffchaffs, blackcaps and chaffinches were also here. A redpoll looked good for Mealy but I didn't manage to get a shot of it and there were Northern Wheatear and Black Redstart by the jetty at the point. As the summer visitors depart the brent geese have already arrived for the winter.

Adam Hutt was running a mist net at the point bushes beyond the green beacon and we watched a Little Bunting hit the net here, get in! A nice bright one. The point bushes were alive with Redwings, Song Thrushes and Blackbirds. A few Bramblings and chaffinches were also flying about here. Despite a bit of effort I didn't see much else as everyone walked around in disbelief at the news of the Siberian Accentor on Shetland. Well it's still up for grabs as a first for Yorkshire and Spurn and there's Black-throated to come one day as well...

Adam with the Little Bunting at Spurn Point

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ARCTIC(!) WARBLER AT BEMPTON

ARCTIC WARBLER at RSPB Bempton Cliffs Reserve on 5 October. An Arctic Warbler was reported at Bempton on 6 October in addition to the Greenish (Eastern Crowned and Yellow-browed Warblers!) leading to some discussion. These photos were taken when the crowds were first taken into the usually out of bounds field to see the bird reported as a Greenish.

I hadn't looked at my rather poor photos of it until later and they appeared to be OK for Greenish, with some pro-Greenish ID features like small dark spot on lores, pale feathering at base of upper mandible, diffusely spotted ear coverts, broad supercilium not narrowing behind eye, pale tip to pale lower mandible, whitish unstreaked underparts, uniform crown, c.65% primary projection vs. tertial length and tail projection vs. primary tips about the same length.

However, opinion seems to be Arctic now, especially having heard the call and it is generally thought that the Greenish and Arctic were one and the same all along. Surprising how tricky this one is, it does look very, much like a Greenish in some of these photos but it has the same primary covert pattern and greater covert bar of the bird that looks much more like an Arctic in flat light on the following days. The wings-open shot below seems to show emarginations to only three primaries (P3,4+5), which is mentioned as diagnostic for Arctic. The pale feathering above the bill is probably not extensive enough for Greenish but the broad supercilium behind the eye is still perplexing but maybe just a result of a particular stance? There are photos of clearer Arctics on the internet with pale tips to the lower mandible as well as uniform crowns, whitish unstreaked underparts and a similar pp to this bird.... so it looks like I need to forget some of the features mentioned above as exclusively for Greenish and this pair can obviously still cause problems to experienced observers. I commented at the time that the head pattern of these phylloscs changes with their stance and also the direction of light but please note I have rewritten this post in light of subsequent opinion. Please comment below if you would like to add to the debate! Thanks again to the finder Trevor Charlton and the lovely people at RSPB Bempton for looking after us.

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EASTERN CROWNED WARBLER AT BEMPTON

Eastern Crowned Warbler, Bempton Cliffs, N Yorks, Oct 2016.

EASTERN CROWNED WARBLER, Bempton Cliffs, North Yorkshire. These photos, which show a lot of the ID features, were taken on the second day of its stay, 5 October 2016. It started in the shadows of the small copse next to the overflow car park before moving to the sunny west side for much of the afternoon. As time went by, it climbed higher into the sallows along the edge of the copse in search of insects and into lovely evening sunlight. I feel very lucky for the chance to see it after being out of the country for the previous two British sight records. Mind you some of my friends (Garry Taylor for instance) have seen all three! This one might have been the best so far though. The copse was full of chiffchaffs and Goldcrests with a couple of noisy Yellow-browed Warblers also present and in a nearby hedge what transpired to be an Arctic Warbler was found. Bramblings and Redwings flew by calling and Red Admiral butterflies basked on a lovely sunny autumn day. One of the best for a while. A big thank you to Dave Aitken and his staff at RSPB's Bempton Cliffs Reserve for such a nice welcome and for looking after everyone so well.

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