Not So Quiet

 

Friday morning, and with they day off work, I headed out to Flamborough Head with Duncan Bye, to see what we could turn up following the easterly winds. A veritable deluge of 'good birds' had kept me on the edge of my seat all week, waiting to escape work and get stuck in to the feast. The weather - overcast with a diminishing easterly - looked promising. 

 

Parking at the lighthouse, we donned our wellies - you never can be too careful (?!) and headed round the Old Fall Loop, checking out anything that moved. The Golf Course Willows (and us) were blasted by the onshore wind, making birding difficult and keeping everything low and out of sight. Yesterday's Hume's Warbler was, unsurprisingly, nowhere to be seen. The skies were surprisingly quiet too; no flocks of thrushes heading over, and no Bramblings bouncing around, although a presumed Mealy Redpoll headed past calling. A Woodcock flushed as we turned on to the track down Old Fall Hedge, which lifted our slightly dampened spirits. Several Blackbirds startled from the Hawthorns, but little else of note was in evidence, besides a flyover Common Snipe and four rather sedate Whooper Swans munching rape leaves in a field. 

 

Down at the plantation, we bumped into a solitary Phil Mountain who was pleased to report yesterday's Dusky Warbler was still present and had been showing occasionally. There was no sign currently however, so we decided to work the edge of the wood, in the lee of the wind. The wood was spookly quiet, with no hweet from a Chiffchaff, a peep from a 'crest to be heard. 

Round to the south side and I noticed the distinctive 'teck' of the Dusky from the hedge running south of the wood. I pointed this out to Dunc, who immediately got on the bird. As soon as I lifted my bins, the bird flew out and along the hedge towards the wood. Fortunately, it did the honourable thing and pitched into the large Hawthorn by the steps where it gave good views, calling constantly. A typically dark phyllosc, with a big pale eyebrow and little white crescent under the eye, giving the bird a slightly annoyed look. After a bit, it melted back into the wood and vanished. 

We carried on round the circuit, adding a few Red-throated Divers and Common Scoters surfing the breakers. On to the lighthouse grasslands, where three big frosty fluffball Mealy Redpolls dropped in on the path close-by and gave nice views before being flushed by approaching dog walkers. There was nothing in the hedge, apart from a dozen Tree Sparrows munching on the seed left out for them. The wind was starting to fade slightly, so we opted for a caffeine boost, before slogging up to North Marsh. I felt this might be an area that hadn't been checked, so could be holding a good bird. We grilled the golf course as we past, hoping for a rare wheatear, but to no avail, not knowing that a Pied Wheatear was in the process of being found a few KM along the cliffs at Bempton... A Bar-tailed Godwit was busy probing the turf along with a couple of Skylarks and Pied Wagtails, but that was all. 

The big field by North Marsh has a huge area of wild bird crop in it at the moment, and a large flock of Linnets was buzzing around as we walked up. Surely there must be something good here! Approaching the first patch of scrub, I heard a single 'teck' call and rather speculatively said to Dunc that it sounded like a Dusky Warbler. Not really believing myself, moments later a dark shape shot across between two bushes calling several times. This time there was no doubting it, we'd found another Dusky Warbler!  

For a tense minute or so, there was no sign of it and no calls, before it popped out on a Gorse bush right in front of us.  

'Our' Dusky! Pic Duncan Bye.

Dunc managed a very nice pic of the bird, before it dropped back into cover. Shortly, it flew towards us into the cover crop and began hopping around, low down in the vegetation, giving great views. I even managed to get a couple of pics with my Dad's camera! 

 

Delighted with our luck, we left the bird in peace to feed and headed round the field, hearing a Twite and seeing a trio of smart Mealy Redpolls. A couple of buntings flicked into the field, but proved to be Reeds, nothing rarer, though everything had to be thoroughly checked.

Our walk back along the clifftop was buoyant and yet more was to come. As the wind had dropped, I suggested one last check of the Golf Course Willows before heading back to the car to grab some grub. as we walked past the trees, Duncan pointed and said very casually, 'there's the Hume's Warbler'! 

 

Sure enough, up in the willows, a tiny, pale sprite was zipping around catching aphids. I was quite surprised to say the least and especially when the little dude put on a great show, flicking around hyperactively, in the willows right in front of us. Over the next few minutes, we got stonking views and soaked up its distinctive yet subtle features. I was hoping to hear it call, but it was completely silent the whole time. We put the news out and shortly a couple of birders rocked up to see it. This was a tick for Dunc and he was especially pleased to have refound it for himself. Full credit to Lee Johnson, who found this bird and the Old Fall Dusky Warbler yesterday. We left the others to enjoy the bird and headed back to the car. 

 

Next up, we tried the north side of the Cape. Dunc was clearly on fire, and picked up a Firecrest in the willows at Holmes Gut within minutes of arrival. Remarkably this was the first and only 'crest we had seen all day, with no Goldcrests present at all. The two Duskys and one Hume's were the only warblers we'd seen too. Bizarre. Holmes held a dozen Redwings, a couple of Bullfinches and nothing else, we we moved on to Thornwick for our last hour. We finally added a common warbler, a Chiffchaff to our day list, but failed to find much else. So, despite the head feeling a bit quiet, we had had the most excellent day and continued the party by heading into Leeds to see Yard Act at the O2.