Lesser Florican - August 2023

Total Pageviews

Saturday 15 October 2016

Siberian Accentor - East Yorkshire 14/10/16

An almighty relief to grip back this mega rare, and quite frankly awesome looking 'Sibe' after not being able to twitch the Shetland individual.

I drove up with Adam, Richard and John and we spent most of the day around the Spurn peninsular picking up a host of decent birds. But it wasn't just the scarcities keeping us entertained. Common migrants were in their tens or hundreds and it was a joy to see. Other than the Accentor, notable species seen were:

Olive-backed Pipit - 1
Pallas's Warbler - 1
Shorelark - 1
Great Grey Shrike - 1
Woodcock - 6
Jack Snipe - 1
Ring Ouzel - 10
Mealy Redpoll - 4
Black Redstart - 1
White-fronted Geese - 50
Hundreds of Redwings, Fieldfares and Robins

Like all big twitches, at first light there was a huge panic to see the bird and everyone charged into the viewing area as if their lives depended on seeing this bird. I however, resorted to climbing up the well-positioned trees and obtained prolonged views whilst everyone underneath me was wrestling for a viewing position. Once things had calmed down, an orderly queue was formed and calmness ensued. It was great to catch up with so many familiar faces from past trips to Shetland and further afield. Great day!!






 Siberian Accentor at Easington - 2nd record for Britain, with the 1st being five days earlier on Shetland
 Olive-backed Pipit at Kilnsea
 Shorelark at Kilnsea
White-fronted Geese over Kilnsea