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'EASTERN' BLACK REDSTART AT SKINNINGROVE

'Eastern' Black Redstart (phoenicuroides), Skinningrove, Nov 2016

SO IT WAITED ONE MONTH for me to go and see it. Mark Varley and I paid a visit to the long-staying Eastern Black Redstart at Skinningrove in Cleveland today. It is strange that I’d never been here before, even when I lived in the northeast. I guess it was in a gap between Saltburn and Robin Hood’s Bay and never hosted a rare bird in that time. It is actually quite a strange little village too. The redstart was incredibly tame and we were told it had been fed mealworms for the last few days, mind you I recall one like this from last week in Oman. It might be a character trait? As far as I can see this was the eighth of the eleven, which have now occurred in the UK (Cayton Bay, North Yorkshire Nov 2016, Hartlepool Headland, Cleveland Nov 2016, Donna Nook, Lincs Oct 2016, Skinningrove, Cleveland Oct 2016, Easington, E Yorks Oct 2016, Scalby, N Yorks Nov 2014, St Mary’s, Scilly Nov 2014, Holy Island, Northumberland Nov 2011, Foreness Point, Kent Nov 2011, Wells, Norfolk Nov 2003, Dungeness, Kent Nov 1981) and part of an influx that parallels the Siberian Accentors. I’d been so busy before my Oman tour that I couldn’t find the time to go for it and I had also dipped out on the Easington bird, sleeping in the car at Spurn for that one too! We saw five male birds of this form, phoenicuroides, in Oman and I consoled myself with taking a good look at some of them so I count myself very lucky to have another chance to see one in the UK like this! Split or not it is a fine-looking bird!

'Eastern' Black Redstart, Skinningrove, Nov 2016

Could it be? He has links with Teeside.

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IT'S PENDLE TIME AGAIN!

Sunrise over 't'capital' as my mate Rocket calls it, otherwise Burnley.

NOVEMBER MUST MEAN THAT IT'S PENDLE TIME AGAIN! In a stiff northerly wind I was hoping for the first Snow Buntings of the autumn but got something much better instead, well in Pendle terms anyway - a woodcock! Flushed from the rushy area by the lily pond on the summit near theDownham slope stile. Magic! It slipped over the edge and I couldn't relocate it but while I was zig-zagging across the rough grassland here a couple of skeins of Pink-footed Geese flew over (121 + 266 making 387 in total) and both heading northeast. An unusual movement for this time of year. Maybe birds held back in the easterlies reorientating? A raven flew over the Big End and there were a few Red Grouse on the summit today but nowt else. I was relieved that it was quite easy going up the landslide trail today despite this being my first hike up Pendle since July. I can't say I'd been looking forward to it. It was also good to see Martin Naylor and Steve Grimshaw up there, looking for Snow Buntings as well. Hopefully some will get found soon.

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STEJNEGER'S STONECHAT AT SPURN

Stejneger's Stonechat, Spurn Point. 

THE PARTY WAS OVER at Spurn today with no sign of such as the two Red-flanked Bluetails, Pine Bunting and Eastern Black Redstart etc but at least the putative Stejneger's Stonechat was still present in the Sea Buckthorn bushes beyond green beacon at the point itself. Still worth the late drive from Norfolk and a night in the Hotel Honda though. Even better that it was Andy Roadhouse who showed it to me! Thanks mate. Some painful buckthorn bush walking got me a bit closer but it was generally quite unapproachable while I was there. The warm rufous rump looks spot on according to the literature, as do the other features but we will know for sure once the DNA is extracted from its poo. It is amazing that Dan Branch managed to find it! Stejneger's is already split from Siberian Stonechat so it will be another UK lifer if it is confirmed by the DNA, however, there is a view that, like most things once we know more about them, this species will be accepted from field observations/photos in the future. There's no place like Spurn!

16 January 2017 Update: Well it was worth the drive from Norfolk and sleepless night in the car after all, as this bird has been confirmed as a Stejneger's Stonechat by Doctor Martin Collinson's team at Aberdeen University. However, it is ironic that the folks who ignored it and then went to Dungeness for the grey morph Common Stonechat, which was reported as having been DNA-identified as Stejneger's, should lose their tick, the test results having been mixed up with the positive-tested Spurn bird. How's that for a kick in the stones? All I need to do now is to wait for BOU to recognise Stejneger's Stonechat as a separate species from Siberian! I was surprisd to see that Lee (Evans) doesn't split it yet given the number of heavyweight taxonomists advising IOC who do. Surely just a matter of time?

Stejneger's Stonechat - record shot of its small, warm rufous, unmarked rump.

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DESERT WHEATEAR AT BURNHAM OVERY

Desert Wheatear, Gun Hill

A FEMALE DESERT WHEATEAR AT GUN HILL, Burnham Overy Dunes in Norfolk was very obliging in the late afternoon sunshine, before the sun dipped into a layer of mist before sunset. It was feeding very actively on flies attracted to the hideous ramshackle boat/hut by the sueda there and several hours went by before it chose a different and more photogenic perch when the temperature fell and the flies ran out. I feel sure that the nearby Isabelline Wheatear along the north shore would have also been quite obliging but birders were giving it a much wider berth in view of its extreme rarity in Norfolk. This was my eleventh Desert Wheatear in the UK plus hundreds in the Middle East but I never tire of them. A Northern Wheatear was along the tide wrack closer to Burnham Overy making it a three wheatear day on 25 October.

Sunset over Burnham Overy.

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