Zach Pannifer Birding: An Early Red-flanked Bluetail

It is just over a week since I arrived back at Spurn for another autumn as a residential volunteer. My first few days were focused on Migfest 2023 and helping out, where possible, to ensure the event ran as smoothly as possible. It was really great to see some familiar faces again over the weekend and have a good catch up - even when there are not so many scarce birds about Spurn is still great just from a social aspect too. One of the Friday evening talks (Stephen Menzie's educational "Beginners Guide to Moult") was temporarily disrupted when a Short-eared Owl flew over North Field and caused a lot of people to run out of the marquee for some views. However, it was on the Saturday evening that the weather became the disruption. I was sat in the Observatory when some lightning struck insanely close to the building (there is dispute as to where exactly it hit but the consensus seems to be near the pub somewhere). The result was a loud gun-like noise. The impact shook the building and all power was temporarily lost. Most of the lights came back on shortly after but some guests were saying that their lights were no longer working. It soon became apparent that most of Kilnsea had no power. Nonetheless, the Migfest team did a great job at keeping the lectures and other events going.

This past week has had some very quiet days but also some pretty decent days too. So far I have had eight Spurn ticks, four of which were lifers. Undoubtedly, this weekend just gone was the craziest couple of days yet. On Saturday morning I was walking along the Canal Footpath heading towards the Peninsula to do the point counts when I heard an unusual call coming from behind me. It sounded a bit like a weird Quail, which was the way my thought process was going until I realised it was something flying over. Frustratingly I never got onto the bird. I was hoping that I was not the only one to hear it and that maybe someone else had also managed to see it. Sure enough not long later Harry Appleyard appeared from round by the Discovery Centre and asked if I had it. Then Adam Hutt announced on the radio that he had picked up a wader with a call he had "never heard before" going low south past The Warren and down the Peninsula. At this point Harry said he had got a couple of record shots of the bird and so he sent those to Adam. Discussions were still happening on the radio so I asked Harry to suggest to Adam that I thought it sounded like an Upland Sandpiper. Harry then also showed me the pics and that confirmed my suspicions. About a minute later Adam came back on the radio to say that he had listened on Xeno Canto and it was definitely an Upland Sandpiper. Result! A first for Yorkshire that only a few people actually managed to see, but some more people were like me and only managed to hear it. On the same day at Middle Camp down the Peninsula I found a Lesser Stag Beetle, which also turned out to be a first for Spurn, so two firsts on the same day!

Yesterday did not have anything as rare as an Upland Sandpiper but there were plenty of scarce migrants around (the lack of common migrants is concerning though). I once again was doing point counts along the Peninsula. It was quite a strong easterly wind, which on paper looked promising, but equally made birding most of the Peninsula very difficult as most birds were sheltered away. I knew my best bet for finding something was right at the end of the Point. Thankfully once I got there it did not take me long to find my first Spotted Flycatcher of the autumn and then on the way back through that same path on my way back I found the first Yellow-browed Warbler of the autumn here. Jacob Spinks then took over and I headed back towards the Observatory. I hadn't made it far before he found a Barred Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, and 2 Redstart, all of which were along one of the only routes I did not walk. Things were also turning up back in Easington, Kilnsea and the Triangle, with 2 more Barred Warblers and 2 Red-breasted Flycatchers. I had seen on Birdguides that Fair Isle had got a very early Red-flanked Bluetail but I never expected there to be one here so early as well, but amazingly Andy Bunting found one in the 3rd Paddock at Sammy's Point. I was hoping to get one here last year but knew that I was leaving about a week too early as they are much more a classic October scarce migrant. Thankfully I managed to get brief but superb views of Andy's one, which definitely made up for not seeing any of the Barred Warblers or Red-breasted Flycatchers, and even helped heal the pain of the news that there was a Little Stint at Beddington Farmlands back home, which is a much wanted patch tick!

Highlights so far:

Long-tailed Tits (Spurn tick), Fieldfare (Spurn tick), Short-eared Owl, Lesser Redpolls, Barn Owls, Spoonbills, Great White Egret, Barred Warbler, Pied Flycatchers, Pink-footed Geese, Spotted Redshanks, Great Skuas, Little Gulls, Manx Shearwaters, Merlin, Curlew Sandpipers, Little Stints, Pectoral Sandpiper (lifer), Leach's Storm Petrel (lifer), Sooty Shearwaters, Crossbill (Spurn tick), Jack Snipe, Caspian Gulls, Black Terns, Shag (Spurn tick), Tree Pipit, Brent Geese, Upland Sandpiper (heard only, lifer), Yellow-browed Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Yellowhammers, Red-flanked Bluetail (lifer).