East Coast Again

With easterlies continuing it was another visit to the east coast today.

Started at Barns Ness in early rain but it soon improved. Again lots of Goldcrests, a few Blackcaps & Chiffchaffs and c100 Barnacle Geese. At Torness had brilliant vies of a Pallas's Warbler & Great Grey Shrike. There was also Redwing, Fieldfare & Brambling present.

Finished off with a great view of the Surf Scoter at Musselburgh. Also Long Tailed Duck & Slav Grebe.

The Thrill of Autumn Migration

The last week has been great with all kinds of birds turning up on the British east coast. A run of east/east south easterlies have in particular drifted unprecedented numbers of Yellow Browed Warblers into Britain. I decided to jam in on some of the action at Barns Ness yesterday.

As soon as I got out of the car I heard one & got on it straight away. There were at least 6 at Barns Ness yesterday, possibly many more.

A YBW from Shetland last year....

.... and another

The other feature was the number of Goldcrest, particularly in the morning. There were dozens.

Goldcrest

Other migrants included Blackap & Chiffchaff.

Chiffchaff in the late afternoon sun

On and off during the day I spent c6 hours at the campsite wood trying & failing to see the Pallas's Warbler. My back is still killing me today with all the standing. This bird was so elusive it was untrue. If I hadn't seen some pictures of it on the day I would have seriously doubted it existed.

For a break I ventured down to Torness but aside from Goldcrest & 1 Wheatear it was quiet.

On the way home I had a Merlin chasing a small bird adjacent to the A1 at Longniddry.

This morning I ventured down to the Barr Loch to see an apparently unringed Hooded Merganser that has been present since Thursday. Overall it looked a good candidate for acceptance.

Brunnich's Guillemot - Anstruther Harbour

Skegness

Spent 4 days down at Skegness with Patricia on a largely non birding trip. I still managed to sneak in a some quick visits to Frampton Marsh, Gibraltar Point & Donna Nook. Frampton had c6 Little Stints, Curlew Sand & Yellow Wagtails & Gibraltar Point had 5 Spoonbills, 6 Spotshanks & 3 Green Sands.

The weather was absolutely terrific with 29 degrees on one of the days.

Glorious Weather

Little Egret at Gibraltar Point

Jackson's Marsh at Gibraltar Point

Berlin

East Lothian

I have had a couple of trips through to East Lothian prompted by easterly winds over the last fortnight. Last weeks trip to Thorntonloch & Torness yielded nothing better than a Whitethroat. Today's trip was exclusively to Musselburgh & coincided with a high tide that had pushed lots of waders on to the scrapes.

Ruff - 1 of c10 present

 Other interesting waders included 1 Curlew Sand, 1 Greenshank, Black Tailed Godwit & Bar Tailed Godwit & Snipe.

A Red Necked Grebe was off the sea wall as well as Velvet Scoter, 2 Red Throated Diver & 1 Arctic Skua.

Barwits leaving the roost

Lots of Oystercatchers

Curlews on the move

The Swamp Thing

Arrived at Minsmere at 5:30 am after an overnight from Glasgow. The Western Purple Swamphen was soon on view on the South Pool.

1st for Britain pending BOURC acceptance

Spent the whole day at Minsmere mostly taking in the huge variety of wading birds. I counted 18 different species:

1. Oystercatcher
2. Curlew
3. Dunlin
4. Redshank
5. Ringed Plover
6. Turnstone
7. Knot
8. Lapwing
9. Black Tailed Godwit
10. Whimbrel
11. Spotted Redshank
12. Greenshank
13. Green Sandpiper
14. Common Sandpiper
15. LRP
16. Little Stint
17. Avocet
18. Stone Curlew

Little Egret in early morning sun

Other notables included Bittern, Bearded Tit, Water Rail & Green Woodpecker.

I camped overnight at Leiston (Cake & Ale) & went to Westleton Heath first thing. I managed several Dartford Warbler but could not find any Woodlark.

By 1pm I was at Frampton. I quickly found the White Rumped Sandpiper. Despite being a reasonably frequent trans atlantic visitor this was only my second ever & the 1st one was way back in the 1980's.

Black Tailed Godwit

Dunlin

Frampton really is a super place, just alive with birds. Waders in big numbers particularly Dunlin. Other highlights included 3 Yellow Wagtails, 1 Corn Bunting & finally a Kingfisher for the year.