With my current work schedule (complicated) and Covid, I had a period of just over a week where I'd be able to spend a lot of time on the patch birding. I had a few patch ticks in mind to target - things like Long-tailed Duck, Water Pipit, Woodcock, Jack Snipe and Snow Bunting, plus Fieldfare which I reckoned would be a banker.
My first day out, the 2nd, was fairly quiet, though did bring my first Fieldfare as well as Chiffchaff, 13 Twite, GND and 82 Whoopers south. The 3rd was much better, again decent Whooper passage with 79 south, plus a late Greenland type Wheatear new in on the beach, another GND and patch ticks in the form of Snow Bunting in-off, a very late Garden Warbler and a heard only Moorhen from the layby at Seaton Point.
The Garden Warbler was particularly interesting, having a very weird jizz, different looking bill, being quite a bit paler than normal, and seeming bigger too. The eastern race Woodwardi seems a decent bet given the date and features noted above, but it only showed twice despite further looking by myself and Mark - glad I got some shots which reflect the slight weirdness of the bird. The 3 patch ticks added on the 3rd put me on 182 for the area.
There had been huge numbers of Pinkfeet moving both north and south during the first few days, and with a bit of scanning the odd Barnacle could be picked out in the flocks. 8 Tundra Beans north early doors on the 4th at Whitburn caught my attention, but there's not a great track record for picking stuff up from further down the coast at Boulmer. The morning produced a couple more GND, Snow Bunt and more geese before I picked up 8 Goose sp going N just inland at 1055 from my position at the Steel.
They immediately appeared darker and lacked the typical pale grey inner forewing of Pinkfoot, despite the light being good. They were slightly bigger and bulkier I felt, all fairly uniform in size and with fairly large heads on long, but substantial necks. They were already heading away N up the coast, so I rattled off some record shots, and watched for a while longer to get a look at the tails.
They banked briefly, showing a nice dark outer tail band and no white visible beyond, the back of the birds being the same dark brown of the as the flanks, again no hint of the grey expected on Pinkfoot. I then gave Stewart a call at Howick to see if he could pick them up, but unfortunately I think they had probably passed over him by the time he got out. I tracked them over Howick where they seemed to head slightly more inland.
Having never had good flight views of Bean, I stuck them out as probables initially incase anyone else could get on them, and then continued birding hoping to do some research later. From my views, pics and subsequent trawling online I'm happy that at least 7 were Tundra Bean, although one particular bird in the photos seems to have a slimmer neck and head profile - maybe a Taiga, but probably within variation. A Little Egret south and Lapland Bunting at Seaton Point rounded off the day's birding.
A higher pressure system building up to the south and east on the 5th caught my eye, with the hope for some arrivals. It was a great day - 3400 Pinks S, a trickle of Thrushes and Starling in-off, 18 Whoopers, 4 Crossbill, 2 Snow Bunts, and best of all 3 patch ticks: a winter plumage Black Guillemot N mid distance, 2 Woodcock in-off and a very brief Water Pipit at Seaton Point which then flew N. The Woodcock were great, one coming past feet above my head in an evening watch on the Steel, whilst the Water Pipit (possibly a returning bird) flushed from rocks when I luckily got some shots. I never saw the Pipit again, expecting it to settle down with the fairly large Rock Pipit flock.
The 2nd half of this stay requires another, bigger post, but certainly a very good first few days with a fair bit of quality given the conditions and how later in the autumn it was.
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