After birding heaven on my birthday, I hit the coast again today. Sadly, the rough sea meant our Yorkshire Coast Nature boat trip was cancelled, so me and Rich checked out the North Yorkshire coast, just south of Whitby, for a change of scenery. Chris and Ollie's fabulous Two-barred Warbler had done a bunk and several forlorn birders were mooching about early doors. Having seen the Flamborough bird last year, we were fairly chilled about this, but it would have been great to see. We birded the area where it had been seen as it was an excellent bit of cover, with a similar vibe to some of the little hamlets on Unst. The best we could do was a Reed Warbler and a few Blackcaps and Goldcrests, but we could see why Chris and Ollie like this place!
We wandered down to the Kettleness Fog Horn and admired it, took a selfie (above) and then pottered along the coast in glorious sunshine, checking out this and that, but mainly not a lot. A dead Minke Whale lay on the shore, a sad sight.
A bit later, we met up with Sean our boat trip skipper for an end of season lunch, which was great, before heading down to the Cape (we couldn't stay away!). At Bempton, the Isabelline Shrike had disappeared round the back of the hedge on the nature trail, to keep out of the freshening southerly wind. It would have been viewable to everybody from the overflow car park, and after a while, the site staff agreed to let the half dozen birders in to have a look. The pallid shrike stood out a mile against the dark of the Hawthorn, like a small pair of witch's knickers*, which I guess is apt, given where the bird gets its name 'Isabelline', although the Spanish princess Isabella could scarcely be described as a witch, despite her unsanitary behaviour!**
The bird was an exceptionally pale individual, quite heavily scalloped on the breast and with a very washed-out face pattern. Not much was discernible from the range through the scope, but it was a good bird nevertheless. I tried my best to get a photo of the bird with the North Sea in the background, perhaps with a Gannet sailing past; two species that shouldn't really be photograpable together!
Many thanks to the patience of the Bempton team who supported the twitch - Dave Aitken, Ivan Nethercoate, Tony Hood and Trev Charlton.
Also noted, a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers and a lot of Pink-footed Geese.
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*Slang for pieces of plastic, often carrier bags, stuck in bushes or hedgerows, which witches use as underwear. Probably.
**The origins of Isabelline trace back to the 17th century, named after the Spanish princess Isabella. Legend has it that the color was inspired by the princess's vow to not change her undergarments until a siege was lifted, resulting in a pale, off-white hue (yuk!).
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