Back offshore

Two more YCN pelagics off Staithes yesterday and it could not have been more different from the shearwater-fest of two weeks ago. Not a single shearwater seen and only one Arctic Skua. Richard's Fea's-type Petrel didn't reappear and we struggled for the first four hours in rough seas. Fortunately, the Bottlenose Dolphins we'd seen off the harbour before we embarked reappeared heading south off Skinningrove, and we spent our last hour as the sun came out and the wind dropped (=calming seas) drifting with these spectacular animals. At least two adults were identifiable from the nicks and scratches on their dorsal fins - more on that later - and it was great to see a young yearling calf and another three or four year old. Their paler grey skin and smaller size was distinctive next to the gun-metal grey adults. Sean always does a good job of getting ahead of the dolphins, cutting the engine and just quietly drifting with the tide; the dolphins come leisurely past, eyeing us with interest and not at all perturbed by us as we whooped and cheered from All My Sons. 

 

  

A couple of fine juvenile Caspian Gulls accompanied us back to harbour, and on the second trip we bumped into the dolphins again. The sea had calmed by early evening, so we headed out to the two mile line, where most Minke action had been. Sure enough, we shortly found our only Minke Whale of the day, which seemed to be travelling and it soon vanished, but not before everyone got a look. Few birds were present, but Arctic and Common Terns passed by, briefly harried by a pale phase Arctic Skua, and I delighted in seeing seven Swifts over the sea, perhaps my last of the year. We headed back to Staithes in a glorious sunset, a glass of prosecco the only thing missing from another wonderful day offshore.

 

Calves compared with adults. Very cute!

 

Juvenile Caspian Gull

 

Four Swifts off Kettleness

 

Annual York Birding Trip to Flamborough

 I led the York Birding field trip to Flamborough Head today. 

19 of us York birders met at the Head this morning at 8am (though the count was a little higher according to Duncan!). A Wheatear perched on a chimney pot was a good start. We headed down to the fog station with a keen southeaster blowing, so we hid in the lee of the buildings. Several Red-throated Divers were flying about, among the commoner local seabirds, with 5 Arctic Skuas and 1 Manx Shearwater the pick of the seabirds. Several flocks of Teal flew south, along with two drake Pochards which are scarce over the sea here. Two Peregrines gave good close views hunting along the cliffs, and a number of Common, Arctic and Sandwich Terns passed by. Best of all - for some - was a small pod of Bottlenose Dolphins that moved slowly north offshore, allowing us all good views. A few Harbour Porpoises and Grey Seals were noted too. 

We then split into two groups, with Duncan taking one group anti-clockwise round the Old Fall loop, and Jono taking the other clockwise. The wind made birding difficult, but the sun was warm and there were a few migrants around. The best spot was in the Old Fall hedge just north of the plantation, where a fine male Redstart made sorties on to the path to catch an unwary insect, with two Pied Flycatchers and both Common and Lesser Whitethroats for company. 

 

  

A quick coffee break and we drove round to Thornwick as we had heard the exciting news of a Greenish Warbler having been discovered. We reconvened and grilled the copse by the Activity Barn, but despite good views of a trio of Pied Flycatchers, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Goldcrests, we couldn't repeat our luck from last year and find the Greenish.

 

 

 

A relaxing walk down to Thornwick Pools revealed Reed Warbler and a few common ducks, before we headed back to the car park for lunch. Next up, Bempton Cliffs where we peered into the Dell, grilled Pallas's Patch and sheltered out of a brief downpour in the centre, looking for more migrants. A fine Spotted Flycatcher was zipping around; Duncan and me saw a brief Sedge Warbler looking proper rare, and a couple more Pied Flycatchers were along the nature trail. Despite reports of Whinchats all over the place, we couldn't locate any - they seemed to be avoiding us! 

Time was getting on, so we called it a day, and said our goodbyes in the overflow car park. An enjoyable day with a sprinkling of migrants, with Pied Flycatchers and Bottlenose Dolphins the highlights. 

 

A late brood of Swallow fledglings being fed by the parents by Bempton VC. Very sweet.
 

Seabirding

 

Another day leading Yorkshire Coast Nature pelagics off Staithes. The sea was still lumpy, getting over the big northerly swell that had been running all week. This made finding stuff tricky for the first few hours, but hitting the five mile, the swell eased considerably, and we found a big feeding frenzy, with 300 Gannets, 200 Grey Seals, 12 Minke Whales, and best of all, a Great Shearwater feeding with 80+ Sooty Shearwaters. The Great Shear fed by diving from the surface and would disappear for 20-30 seconds, clearly going deep to hunt Herring. The Sooties were also doing this. 

 

Adding further class, a Blue Fulmar cruised past giving great views and my first pics of this form. Also noted, four Bonxies, a single Arctic Skua, Arctic, Common and Sandwich Terns and a dapper juvenile Caspian Gull.

 

Blue Fulmar, Sooty and Great Shearwaters, plus Fulmar and Kittiwake

Casp.

Blacktoft Renaissance

Needing a wader fix, I have had two recent visits to Blacktoft Sands, the first on 12th August, and then a second today, the 24th. The first visit was with my folks, and was really lovely, with great views of Bearded Tits scurrying along the mud at the edge of the reedbed like ginger mice, plus lots of waders (8 Spotted Redshanks, 149 Black-tailed Godwits, 9 Green Sandpipers, 25 Ruff, 3 Greenshank - pic above etc), a prolonged Bittern fly-past and several Water Rails. 

 

Ginger mice

 Water Rail

 Gorgeous juvenile Black-tailed Godwits, fresh in from Iceland

Moulting adult Spot Red
... 

With a few hours to kill this morning, I went back again and enjoyed really grilling the waders on the lagoons, including two smart juvenile Curlew Sandpipers, seven Spotted Redshanks (4 adults, 3 juveniles), 24 Ruff, 45 Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Greenshank, etc. The ginger mice were still in evidence, along with a few Water Rails, plus some excitement provided by a couple of Hobbies, hunting over the reedbed. 

 

Top: Curlew Sandpiper with Dunlins; bottom, Greenshank with two Spotted Redshanks.

 

 

South Atlantic Style

Another seawatch at Flamborough Head, with nine Sooty Shearwaters the highlight, plus 30 Manx Shearwaters, juvenile Caspian Gull, two Little Gulls, c250 Common Terns, c100 Sandwich Terns, Whimbrel and a Minke Whale. A quiet walk round the Old Fall loop revealed one Whinchat, a Lesser Whitethroat and a few Willow Warblers. 

 

Second Pec

After enjoying the Pectoral Sandpiper at Wheldrake Ings earlier in the month, I was quite surprised and delighted to find another bird there this morning. On entering the Pool Hide, I was initially fearing the worst, as most of the water had drained away with only a few wet muddy areas and the occasional puddle. A quick scan revealed virtually nothing in evidence. 

 

 

Switching to my scope, I noticed a handful of Snipe at the back, with a couple of Green Sandpipers and scanning right, picked up a gang of elegant and pristine juvenile Ruff, wading about in the shallows. Then I noticed another smaller, darker bird - an adult Pectoral Sandpiper! The bird was pecking about behind the tern raft, so at quite a distance, but the clear breast band and attenuated rear end, together with its smaller size and proportionately longer bill and shorter legs gave its identity away. Nice.

The Pec was quite distant initially, but the pool ain't that big, so it was still reasonable through the scope. After a bit, the waders flushed and flew into the middle of the pool, giving much better views. I watched the bird feeding with the eight Ruff for a couple of hours, before I had to head back. Also noted, 8 Ruff, 7 Green Sandpipers, 10+ Snipe, 2 Marsh Harriers and 2 Yellow Wagtails. 

Following the bird ten days ago at Wheldrake Ings, this is my third in the York area and my second self-found bird, following a pristine juvenile at Grafham Water in 2006, co-found with Mark Hawkes.

 

Our Grafham juvenile from September 2006, pic by Stuart Elsom:

 

A Quick Pec!

Duncan rang while I was walking Luna to say he'd sent me a pic of a bird he had seen on the Pool at Wheldrake Ings, that he thought might be a Pectoral Sandpiper. I opened Whatsapp and sure enough, an image of a Pec Sand presented itself. Nice one Dunc! I shot home, grabbed my gear and headed over to Wheldrake. Despite the heavy gear swinging round my neck, I just about managed to run most of the mile or so down to the Pool Hide, and was delighted that Dunc was still watching the bird when I arrived. 

The bird, an adult, was pecking about in the wet mud among a flock of loafing Lapwings, showing nicely in the morning sunshine. This is only the second Pec I have seen in the York area (see here for my write-up of my first), and the first adult, so very welcome - hence the dash! There has been a little flurry of Pecs into the UK in the last fortnight and so great that York got in on the action. 

Craig, Rob and Jane turned up before the flock was flushed by a hunting Sparrowhawk. At first the Pec, which called, a Bee-eater like prrrt, circled around with the Lapwings, but after a bit, before heading off high south. It seemed to have gone, and Stuart Rapson turned up two minutes too late. Fortunately for Stuart, it came back in ten minutes later and whilst landing out of sight, it came back out after I had left. This is the tenth record for the York area. Also present, nine Green Sandpipers, c100 Lapwings, Water Rail, Marsh Harrier, Cetti's Warbler and Willow Tits.

 

Seawatch Season

A great start to the seawatch season with a moderate northwesterly blow pushng a few good seabirds into the North Sea. Following yesterday's handful of Great and Cory's Shearwaters past Flamborough Head, I was up early and heading east hoping that the wind, that had continued overnight, would continue to reward.

 I hadn't missed much by the time I arrived on the cliff at 7.30am, and the first bird in my scope view was a Manx Shearwater. The sea was large with plenty of white crests, and the cool northerly made it feel more like autumn that early August! An hour later, James Spencer announced 'Cory's!' and moments later I picked up the large form of this southern shearwater, slowly heading north. True to form, it made its way through in a very relaxed style, taking the best part of five minutes to do so, allowing me to attempt some phonescoped video. It was fairly distant, but the views were reasonable through the scope. 

 

Ten minutes later, and a spooned-up pale phase adult Pomarine Skua cruised north into the wind, low over the sea. A cracker, and one of my favourite seabirds, although I have not seen many in early August.  Terns were very much in evidence, with lots of small parties of Arctics heading north with a few Commons and noisy Sandwich Terns thrown in for good measure. Good numbers of juveniles among the Arctics suggest that some colonies have been spared from bird flu. A fine intermediate adult Arctic Skua headed north, and the tally of Manx Shearwaters topped 20 in the first hour. Cetaceans were in evidence too, with several Harbour Porpoises seen despite the rough seas, followed by a pod of c10 Bottlenose Dolphins that passed close inshore, heading north, followed a few minutes later by two more. Later, glimpses of fins in among a Kittiwake feeding frenzy eventually led to confirmation views of two Minke Whales, my first of the summer. Among the flock, I also saw a single Sooty Shearwater, my only sighting of the day. Also noted, a Whimbrel, c30 Common Scoters and 25 Teal. As midday approached, passage eased off, so I decided to head home. 

Please Help York Swifts!

One consequence of heatwaves is that young Swifts often become unbearably hot in their nests and are forced to jump out before they can fly, to seek cooler air. In recent weeks, many have been found on the ground in the York area. It is nigh on impossible to get these back into their nests - often householders don't know where they have come from, or the nest is inaccessible.

 

  

The lucky ones get picked up before the local cats etc get them and are taken to a local person who can look after them until fledging. In York, we are lucky to have Hannah Tate (a local vet) and her husband Adam in Fulford, who have been doing this job voluntarily for a few years now. I went to visit them last night - she currently is looking after 18 young Swifts! This is an unenviable task, requiring hourly feeding from dawn til dusk. The cost of food - crickets and waxworms is quite a lot for those hungry mouths so I made a donation from the York Swifts project to help cover some of their costs.

 

 

So, why am I telling you this? Well, firstly to be aware that if you come across a grounded adult or young Swift in the York area, they can be helped, so please rescue, put in a box and drop me a line and I can then arrange for it to be collected and taken to Hannah. Hannah is not in a position to take fledglings of other species - and they are usually best left alone anyway.

Secondly, if you want to support her efforts with a small donation to help cover the costs of the food etc, I am sure she would be delighted - click link:  https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/yorkswifts2025

Lastly, if you are in the York area and would like to consider becoming a Swift rehabber, I am sure Hannah would be pleased to train you up. There is a lot of info and support available, but be aware it is a big commitment of time.

Please drop me a line directly - jonoleadley@gmail.com - if you have any thoughts or wish to help.

 

Encounter with Antarctic Type B2 Orcas - January 2025

 Our time at South Georgia had come to an end - or so we thought. Our last afternoon was spent cruising the spectacular Drygalski fjord in the island's southeastern corner, enjoying Snow Petrels, Weddell Seals and Humpback Whales. As we headed back towards the ocean, news came through that another vessel had seen Orcas not far from the mouth of the fjord, so we increased our focus forward as we neared the area. We didn't hold out much hope as we assumed the pod was just passing by. Shortly, Philip and me picked up the Orca pod distantly as we left the fjord. They were purposefully moving north at about a mile range, and appeared to be a large pod of 15-20 animals, but then, to our astonishment, they turned towards us, and came straight in!  

The next hour was incredible. The captain stopped the engine and we drifted with this inquisitive group of Orcas, which stayed with us, checking every inch of the hull, spyhopping to look directly at us, whilst the juveniles messed about, breaching and tail slapping. Eventually, the captain decided to move off, proceeding very slowly at first. We thought the Orcas would depart, but instead they decided to follow, surfing our wake, close behind the stern. This gave us unbelievably close views, looking straight down their blowholes at times. The adults were spectacularly impressive animals up close and I could look into their eyes as they tilted sideways - a really humbling and moving experience. We got snotted on a few times, when they exhaled very close under the stern too - something I never thought I'd experience! As the captain picked up speed, the Orcas increased speed too and it became a full on chase, with these mighty animals porpoising along behind us, white water spraying out as they crashed through the swell. We were all astonished and awestruck by this incredibly moving encounter. I feel my emotions welling up as I type this, as the memories of it flood back. I hope you enjoy some of the footage and pics I managed to get, enduring frozen hands whilst trying not to drop my phone in the sea!

 

 

Remarkably, I put this photo on to HappyWhale and it was identified as a male B2, number BC-SGB026, and was first photographed south of South Georgia on 26/02/2018, almost seven years ago!

We knew these Orcas were Antarctic Type Bs, with diatom staining on their backs, and a clear black dorsal cape contrasting with paler sides. They were big, but not that big and in a large pod, hundreds of miles north of the pack ice, so I am pretty sure these are the smaller Type B2s, which have been seen up here before and feed on seals and penguins. A few days later, we encountered the much bigger Antarctic Type As, hunting a Fin Whale near Elephant Island, which were much bigger and very black and white, followed by a small pod of Antarctic B1s amongst pack ice in the Weddell Sea. They were busy checking out penguins on ice floes, presumably looking for seals, but they didn't come as close as these B2s. Together with the Type D south of South Georgia, we did incredibly well for Orcas - I don't even know what ecotype the pod in the Beagle Channel from Ushuaia were! 

 

Not Dipping a Dipper

Dippers are really rare in the York area, having been lost from their few breeding areas in the north of the recording area years ago, presumably as water quality declined. It was therefore quite a surprise to find myself dashing up to the River Foss at New Earswick a couple of miles from home to see a gorgeous juvenile that had been found by Ian Andrews this evening. I picked up James Byatt, parked at the Link Road and hit the riverside path. James went upstream and I went downstream; our gen was vague, so spreading out felt like the best option. I got lucky, and a few minutes later, noticed the little dude chilling on a lump of wood on the far side of the tiny Foss, although I almost walked past it without noticing!

 

It was totally unconcerned by my presence so I immediately phoned James, who came running. Fortunately the Dipper stayed in place for several minutes giving us great views. After a bit it flew off downstream, though didn't appear to be going very far. 

 

This was a very unexpected York tick and something I wasn't really expecting today! The last York bird I can recall was one at Newburgh Priory several years ago which I dipped - although I did see its droppings on a rock! The prolonged drought may well have forced this bird to leave its natal area and head into the lowlands looking for food. The Foss here seemed pretty good, so hopefully this little guy will do ok and return upstream once river levels improve.