October is quite rightly considered by many birders to be the best month of the year. The time when a lot of rare birds arrive and can be seen in the UK as they drift off of the usual migration routes towards their winter homes further south and east from the breeding grounds. But November can also throw up some really good birds. We've seen many a rare bird species in past Novembers.
We had finished October with 290 species under our belts, the latest addition being a lifer to boot in the shape of an Alpine Accentor in Suffolk at the end of the month. In 2019, when we had a previous attempt at doing a "Big Year" (to see 300 species in a calendar year), we had seen 278 species by the end of October (that effort was scuppered by a really lean return in August and September because of personal issues that kept us away from birding for a few weeks), and we ultimately ended up with 289 that year. So we'd already achieved our best ever year total, and with just 10 more to get we entered the last two months of the year with a lot of optimism that we'd reach our goal this time around.
However, it isn't that easy for birders based in Oxfordshire to get new birds for the list and we knew that we'd be undertaking some major excursions to distant parts of the country in order to bolster our total. We were further hampered by missing the first full weekend of November as well owing to illness so we'd now have to get those ten birds in just the last six weekends of the year plus the final Christmas week. And of course we had no idea what some of those ten birds would be until they presented themselves at the time. I had a strategy, that we would chase the rarest birds regardless of where they turned up (within reason of course, we wouldn't be flying off to far-flung islands or similar locations on the mainland) and "save" the more expected species for later. Those expected birds were wintering species that would be available somewhere right up until New Year's Eve. I reckoned that there were maybe four "definite's" to get, namely Shore Lark, Water Pipit, Lapland Bunting and Waxwing. If required, and with great effort and more travelling, we could add the likes of Taiga Bean Goose and Surf Scoter as well (there are other seabirds such as Pomarine Skua and Little Auk but they are rarely encountered away from the coasts and we live a long way from any of those). That still left us needing at least four rarer and unexpected birds.
During our enforced weekend off, the first of the rare bonus birds, a Pied Wheatear, was found. That was a bird we had to see, it was showy and it would be a lifer to boot. The downside was that it was in Tyneside, at Whitley Bay, some 250 plus miles from home. The Wheatear had stayed all week, zillions of superb photos of it had been posted all week so on Friday evening we made our plans and readied the car for the journey. We were up early and on the road by five-thirty in the morning. The weather forecast was good and we were eager to get up to the Newcastle area. Years ago I would also have been just as keen to be in the same area on that Saturday but for different reasons, my football team were also playing there. I don't watch football any more though and I've allowed watching birds to fill my life instead. Four and a bit trouble free hours later we parked up opposite the seafront promenade at Whitley Bay. From the carpark, we could see the attendant birders and photographers all looking in the same place so we knew where the Pied Wheatear would be. In fact I could see the bird as soon as I set my eyes to my binoculars, not many life ticks are that easy to gain. I would count the bird properly once I'd seen it close up and obtained a few record shots. Because the bird was only around a hundred metres away those views and photographs followed just a few minutes later. The Pied Wheatear was my 402nd bird seen in Britain and of course the 291st for the year.
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| Pied Wheatear, first winter male, Whitley Bay, 12/11/2022 |
This Pied Wheatear was completely fearless and totally unfazed by its admirers which included many members of the public who walked past (the promenade was fairly busy) as well as the birders and toggers. For the next ten minutes the bird just stayed stood atop a stone wall next to a broad tarmac path that bordered the steep drop to another path below, only flying off occasionally to snare a fly or similar. The photographic opportunities were endless and I made the most of it by constantly changing my own position to gain different angles and backdrops to the bird. The Wheatear only flew off when disturbed by a free running dog.
The Pied Wheatear didn't go far though, it merely relocated to a small ornamental garden area towards the roadside and close to where we parked. The small entourage of birders followed the bird where once again it performed for all comers. The Wheatear was so incredibly confiding that after taking another reel of shots, I actually stopped and admired it at length. Not through my binoculars either since I was only sat on the ground about three metres away from the bird.
The Pied Wheatear, a first-year male bird, flew back to the promenade wall again. As well as the stones of the wall it also utilised benches and litter bins as lookout posts from which to scan the flying insect food that it craved. Being the first of its kind that I've seen, I couldn't vouch for the full adult birds but I knew from research that this bird was showing a few signs of becoming the extremely smart bird that it would turn out to be next summer if it made it that far which, considering it should be wintering in East Africa before returning to a mountainous area of Eastern Europe and the Middle East, was unfortunately in some doubt. Adult male Pied Wheatears are mainly black birds with white crowns and underparts. First-winter males, such as this bird, resemble the duller plumaged female birds but have enough black, albeit pale-fringed feathers to the face, nape and back to indicate it's a male.
For a while the Wheatear preferred to hunt for food on the tarmac path itself. This caused some consternation amongst some of the birders because the bird actually encroached on their positions. Some of the toggers were unable to take photos through their long lenses because the bird was too close, it wasn't a case of toggers invading the birds space (an often cited grumble amongst non-toggers) but the other way around! I was further away so had no such troubles and was able to carry on taking more photos unhindered.
Once the bird was fed up with chasing the toggers around and had backed them up where it wanted them, it was time for it to perch up on a rock and eject a pellet. Many species of birds have to eject pellets, made up of the indigestible parts of the food that eat. Everybody knows that Owls throw up pellets consisting of the fur, feathers and bones of their prey items. Less known is that insectivorous birds also have to get rid of the hard exoskeletons of their prey. The act of coughing up a pellet appears to take a great deal of effort on the birds part too.
I tried to get some more flight shots of the Wheatear without much success but did at least gain a few spread tail images and a couple showing the minuscule flies and gnats that it was catching. The Pied Wheatear even tugged away at a worm (missed by my camera) on a grassy area although it looked as if the worm won that particular tug of war and escaped to worm another day.
Next it was to the beach, not for us but for the bird, which after flying up high from the promenade was re-found on the sand. Its new position was indicated by a gathering of birders and curious bystanders on the lower path. Most of the folk who had been watching the bird in the park area decided on a rest and took to the benches but I thought that I may as well expand my own portfolio so I lent over the fence of the path and willed the Wheatear to perform somersaults and cartwheels. It appeared to be only interested in sandhoppers and flies though.
We had decided in advance that we wouldn't stay long once we had seen the bird so when it suddenly flew up and away from the beach about an hour after we arrived we started back to the car. In years gone by I'd have stuck around and taken in the football later that day but that part of my life is consigned to an earlier chapter (or three) in my life book. It would have been good to have met up with some of my old mates but they wouldn't be around until later in the day. We had half a notion to head for Scarborough to see some Waxwings that had been seen there but they hadn't been reported so far. None of the other birders who had remained at the top of the park had moved so none of them must have been aware that the Wheatear had flown past them. I had a hunch which was soon proven right when I spotted the Wheatear perched on top of the highest wall at the sunken garden. We made our way there, it was on the way to the carpark anyway, and were treated to our own private encounter, and best views, of the stunning little chat.
For five minutes the Pied Wheatear stood on a rock and preened, sorting its feathers out in order, likely cleaning the sand off itself, just as we would after spending time on a beach. Every crevice of its body was given the full treatment. My arms were aching from constantly holding the camera up so I gave up, I'd taken over 400 images anyway, and just watched the bird. I was amazed that no-one else had sussed onto the fact that Mrs Caley and I were watching the bird. Eventually somebody did realise that we had the bird and the cavalry charge started with all the other birders making their way to the garden. The private view was over so we said our goodbyes to the folk we knew, doffed our caps to the marvellous Pied Wheatear and made for the car.
At the carpark our friend and fellow Oxon birder Ewan, also there for the Wheatear of course, stopped for a chat. Ewan doesn't miss out on many birds, read his excellent blogs at The Black Audi Birder. Whitley Bay looks nice but on a nice sunny day, and now it was lunchtime, was extremely busy so we didn't linger. We had sandwiches anyway.
Just another nine birds needed for glory!
Amazingly the Pied Wheatear after being present for almost two weeks, wasn't seen again after that Saturday so we had timed our visit perfectly!
Year List addition;
291) Pied Wheatear
The end of October and November is prime time for Sabine's Gull to be seen moving along the coasts of Britain particularly those in the South. We had only ever seen three of the smart Gulls before and all were adults including a bird that graced Farmoor Reservoir way back in August 2001. I'd never seen a juvenile Sabine's though and I was still peeved that I'd waited a day too long a couple of years back, before going to Daventry Country Park to see one that had been present for almost a week. Quite a number of Sabine's gulls had been reported over the preceding fortnight or so including a very confiding juvenile that had taken to feeding in the overflow carpark field of a zoo in Kent. As we drove home from Tyneside we discussed the next target bird and decided that it had to be that Gull before it too disappeared. It would mean another long drive but on a Sunday morning the dreaded M25 is usually relatively traffic free so it shouldn't be too arduous. We would do another "smash and grab raid," see the bird and return straight home.
We didn't leave until nearly eight on the Sunday morning, we were still a little jaded after the nine hours driving the previous day but Kent is easily accessible by motorway from home and the journey if smooth would only take a little over two hours. Apart from a five minute stoppage while a broken down van was removed from the carriageway we had no problems on the outward journey and turned into the entrance road of the Lympne Wildlife Park just after ten o'clock. We wound around the track until the zoo buildings came into view. There were four birders stood by the road next to a couple of grassy enclosures but they didn't appear to be studying anything. That was strange because I could see the juvenile Sabine's gull strutting about the field just fifty metres away from them!
I parked the car next to the others vehicles and motioned towards the Gull saying, 'It's still here then'. To my complete surprise, shock even, the other birders to a man stared at me and said, 'What is?' and 'Where?'. Incredibly they hadn't noticed the dainty little Gull in the enclosure just the other side of the fence. Apparently it hadn't been there just minutes before and the other birders were about to leave. We had timed another trip to perfection!
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| Sabine's gull, juvenile, Lympne Kent, 13/11/2022 |
A juvenile Sabine's gull, like the adult, is a thing of beauty. The upper parts are coloured grey-brown and have a scaly appearance. The mousey grey extends right up the long slender neck to the head. The eyes are black and the bill is slender and pointed. When the long wings are extended, a distinctive pattern of grey, black and white is exhibited along with a black tipped and forked tail. I lent over the fence and just waited for the Gull to walk to within ten metres of me before rattling off photos. Bird number 292 of the year was secured and, probably because I had waited so long to see one, it was one of my favourites of the whole year. Of course it would have been more aesthetically pleasing to see it flying past a storm battered headland but the views then wouldn't have been as good as the ones we were getting of this smart little bird in a field ten miles from the coast.
The other birders left after ticking the bird leaving just the two of us and the Sabine's Gull at the enclosure. The Gull was totally unfazed by us, just as the Pied Wheatear had been the day before, and at times it was so close that I could barely focus the camera on it. We've definitely been spoiled of late with so many birds giving so many excellent views and photo opportunities.
I really wanted to see the Sabine's gull in flight but the bird itself just appeared content to wander around the field hunting for worms and the like. We watched it tug a worm free from the grass and devour it with much gusto. For the most part though the Gull wasn't finding easy to find food that morning.
We hadn't wanted to stay for very long and by half past ten we were ready to leave and make for home, that was always our plan and we intended to stick with that. As we walked towards the car, the Gull was still pottering around the field, Mrs Caley suddenly said, 'Look, it's going to fly'. I turned just in time to see the bird stretching its wings ready for take off which it did seconds later. As it flew round and past us I managed to capture some shots of the long distinctively patterned wings that I mentioned earlier. The day was complete.
Year List addition;
292) Sabine's Gull
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