September started without headline, light vismig added Redpoll to my patch list, before things turned serious on the 3rd when Mark had huge numbers of birds, mostly Hirundines moving south late morning. Good looking conditions on the 4th got me out before work - overcast cloud and SWerlies and brought 4247 Meadow Pipit south in just over 90 minutes. Birds were streaming past on all fronts, decent numbers dropping in to feed or rest momentarily along the beach and path, it was akin to a fall of thrushes with birds flushing from every patch of foliage. A good supporting cast of Hirundines and finches were moving south too, but I concentrated on the Mipit spectacle, Ben noting the huge movement too from Seaton Point, easily the biggest he'd had at the site.
Chase on.
A combined watch between myself, Ben and Mark on the morning of the 5th yielded an estimated 9000 Mipits south from 0700-0930 - definitely slower passage than the day before, so shows how many I missed without the extra eyes! Nice extras included a Harrier sp distantly south at Sea (Hen or Marsh), Osprey S, 2+ Merlin, Marsh Harrier, Peregrine, GND S and a site first Jay seen by Mark which I caught up with the next day. 38 Pinkfeet (new), 19 Sooty and an LT Skua were notable on the 6th, but vismig had dropped off mostly. New for the patch however was a cracking juv Little Stint which I reckon was probably in-off as it flew onto the shoreline of the Steel fairly late-on during a watch on the 7th, calling as it did so!
Things were fairly standard until the 16th, when conditions looked good for another seawatch: early doors was decent, although conditions hampering things a little for me, with 8 Sooty, 22 Manx, a few Skuas and duck, the highlight being 4 Pochard N, also seen by Mark and Stewart at Cullernose, proving to be just the 2nd patch record. Intriguing news came from Low Newton of a Buff-breasted Sandpiper briefly on the scrapes, but I had work to get to. Checking my phone late afternoon, I could see the sea had definitely got going with multiple Sabs being seen around the county, but most gripping of all, a Leach's Petrel N and the Buff-breast at Seaton Point! I grabbed my gear, raced down, and after about 40 minutes had finally found the BBS which was showing nicely. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts of half-scanning the sea whilst looking for the BBS, I had undoubtedly been on site when the Sabine's Gull Stewart had N past Cullernose went past, so feeling aggrieved, spent a few minutes watching the yank before getting to a vantage point for a seawatch. The tide was going out, I wasn't very high and passage was starting to slow, but I persevered - the Petrel which sheered up over a trough about 1/3 distance nearly knocking me back! A big thing (for a storm petrel type), stiff winged and sheering regularly with obvious pale covert bands, it was immediately recognizable as a Leach's: I was able to stay on it for about 5 minutes, being the best opportunity to study the species I've ever had as it slowly worked it's way north inside the big troughs. After the bird earlier in the day seen by Clive, that was the 3rd site record, so it was even more of a surprise when I picked up another 10 minutes later, slightly further out and harder to stay on, but again slowly tracking north. Supported by 2 Blue Fulmar north (1 almost purple in colour it was that dark), 10 Sooty and 2 Velvets it was another great little watch.
The 17th was another really good day, and when writing out the summary message of the morning for the Whatsapp group it really dawned on me just how varied it had been. The sea was great, but unfortunately light wasn't on my side, as a fantastic passage of 51 Sooties N, 86 Manx N, 98 RTD S, GND N, 3 Grebe sp N (prob Slav), 674 Pinkfeet S, 73 Brent N and hundreds of ducks, mostly unidentifiable due to the awful backlighting. During one of my inland scans I picked up a smallish wader coming south, just having reached the cliffs by the stream: it was fairly high and flying like a Tringa, but looked too long and slender to be a Green Sand, and not dark enough. I watched as it u-turned, and appeared to drop onto the beach of all places. Given recent Atlantic weather systems and the fact it had plonked on the beach, Yellowlegs was definitely on my mind, if not then a Wood Sand, so I started a hasty jog with my gear to get a look. Scanning with bins I could see no sign, but a dog-walker usefully flushed it out of the seaweedy area halfway up the beach: it landed again briefly, allowing me to confirm it as a Wood Sandpiper, before it flew south calling. A second site record and one the strangest bits of migration I've ever encountered! The BBS was still around the village bay, alongside a Ruff (new), whilst a Greenshank also went south.
Peachy.
Unfortunately the Boulmer area wasn't able to jam in on any of the passerines that were being found at other sites, and being on 158 for the patch with just a few days left I was wondering if I would be able to get to 160. An uneventful walk to the Steel on the evening of the 18th turned good when I stopped to scan the flock of GBBs that had accumulated in the 2nd field north from the village (same place I had the prob Baltic Gull). I picked out a large 2cy Gull that immediately struck me as interesting whilst head on due to it's stance and jizz. It turned and walked around a little, and it became apparent I was watching a Caspian Gull in transitional plumage between 1st summer and winter. A huge bird, barely smaller than the GBBs, it had dark tertials with a fair amount of white at the tips, dark greater coverts with the typical Casp pattern towards the inners, some grey coming through on the mantle, long thin legs, pale head, a grey shawl and a parallel sided, but fairly hefty bill. Due to the rarity of Casps up here and the fact I wanted to see it's underwing, I put it out as a probable and began taking some video. I watched it till almost dusk before it flew north, pale underwing and neat black tail band seen nicely rounding off the features. The 1st confirmed record for the site after the juvenile I probably messed up in August, and a just reward for my constant checking of the gulls I reckon. I think given the size, structure and the bill that the bird was almost certainly a male.
Birds were rolling in fast: a Red-necked Grebe north with an auk and a Lapland Bunting in-off on the morning of the 19th were both new and took me past 160, whilst my first juv Pom of the year and a GND also went past at sea. My final half-day on the patch before I headed to Lincs was highly anticipated - easterlies, fog, and maybe some rain were forecast. Things started off with a spooned Pom north, a Little Grebe by the village (new) followed by another 2 Lapland Buntings in-off whilst talking to Stewart and John, but things didn't seem to be happening on the passerine front. A Short-eared showed nicely on a post, but as I trundled back towards my car I felt a little deflated given the conditions. Stopping to check the bushes by the bench, the fog had turned into fairly heavy drizzle when a bird flicked into the lone bush opposite the bench. Small, a small warbler or crest, before I even had chance to get my bins up the the distinctive call of a Yellow-browed Warbler exploded from the bush several times. I got onto it, took some record shots and then watched as it flicked into the sycamore behind where it began feeding. Spurred on, I checked the other bushes around, and it did seem like some other bits were new, but I had to get off down the A1.
In exactly 5 months I'd reached 163, plus a few sub-species, missing several things along the way too. At the time of writing, the Boulmer team and visitors have managed to add 13 species to the site list so far this year, taking it to 249 - a way behind other coastal sites but definitely catching up fast! A cracking end to my first stay at Boulmer, I ended up being back several times over the course of the autumn, which I'll cover in the next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment