It is April, a magical month for the birder. I try and get out birding as often as possible, as with migration in full swing, every day brings fresh arrivals, tiny miracles returning thousands of miles from the tropical heat of Africa to spend the summer with us. Our winter migrants are on the move too, heading back north and east to breed and large numbers pass through our area on their travels. Throw in the chance of literally anything turning up anywhere, and it is a very exciting month!
After work on Thursday I headed out to the LDV to see what was occurring. With the valley flooding again for the umpteenth time this winter/spring, Wheldrake was inaccessible, so I headed to the south end to start my birding at North Duffield. The pair of Scaup and pair of hybrid Scaup-alikes were still present, but the large expanse of water hadn't pulled in the hoped-for terns or Little Gulls. Next, round to the east side of the valley, to check sites on the way up north. My first stop was positive, with a female Common Scoter a fresh arrival, looking rather out of place amid the scores of Wigeon and Pintail. No sign of any Garganey yet though. Swallows zipped overhead and Willow Warblers had joined the Chiffchaffs in the scrub around the church. A late Fieldfare chacked over, heading east. This juxtaposition of incoming summer migrants with outgoing winter migrants is what makes April so special.
Ellerton was teeming with ducks, but nothing scarce, so I headed on up to East Cottingwith, where I could look across the Pocklington Canal on to the refuge at the south end of Wheldrake. Almost the first bird I saw was a Black-necked Grebe - class!
These birds used to breed in the valley, but have become really scarce in recent years and never hang around long, so this was a delightful treat. After a few moments, I thought I better get the news out, and as I opened Whatsapp I saw a message from Ollie Metcalfe saying he had just found a Slavonian Grebe at Bank Island! Nuts - he must have found this at exactly the same time as I'd found the Black-necked, at the other end of Wheldrake. Slavonian Grebes are next-level in terms of rarity in the York area, so my BNG was somewhat eclipsed.
Having taking a few rushed pics and video of the grebe and a smart breeding-plumaged Great Egret, I picked up my sister in Sutton and then shot round to Bank Island. We discovered a grinning Ollie and Craig watching the stonking summer-plumaged Slav feeding out on the flood. What a fantastic grebe double, something not witnessed before in the York area, and continuing our great start to the York birding year.
The following morning, another bizarre twist in this tale. The early morning news was that the Slav had departed, but the Black-necked Grebe was now on Bank Island! Then, an hour or so later, the almost unbelievable news that the Slav was now on the refuge, exactly where I'd found the Black-necked the previous evening. So, the two grebes had effectively switched position during the night! Totally nuts.
Following this strange episode, the Slav had disappeared from the refuge by Saturday morning, only for me to refind it on the main flood out from Tower Hide later that morning. Whilst watching the bird there, an adult Kittiwake dropped in right in front of it - another scarce York bird and proving April really is a phenomenal birding month!
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