Zach Pannifer Birding: Super Saturday

I don't get as many opportunities to visit Beddington Farmlands than I used to now that I am mostly living and working up in Yorkshire, so on my occasional visits down south to see family, I also try to maximise my time birding there. I travelled down on Friday after completing my survey work for the week. This unfortunately meant that I missed the 3rd site record of Grey Phalarope, which was found on Wednesday and last seen Thursday evening. However, the wind conditions for the weekend looked ideal, so I was hopeful that something else good might turn up. I only had until the Tuesday, but the forecast was showing that the wind would stay NE for a few more days after that. However, the only day that wasn't sunny whilst I was around was the Saturday, and it is well-known that low cloud can make things much better in a NE wind at this time of year. Therefore, I knew Saturday was going to be my best bet for finding something decent, but I had no idea how good the day would end up being.

I got to site early, entering through Mile Road gate at around 06:45. One of the first birds I saw was a Pintail flying about, last seen heading south. Not a species I had expected to see, and one that is not always guaranteed here. Autumn is usually the best time to see them at Beddington. Shortly afterwards, I bumped into Ian Jones on my way towards the "vismig" hide. He decided to tag along, and we spent the next hour and a half counting the southwards movement of Meadow Pipits and Swallows. Passage seemed to start to slow down a bit just after 08:30, so Ian suggested that we go across the mound and check the Phase 3 Wet Grassland area. Our stroll across the mound took a while, as every so often there were still flocks of Meadow Pipits passing over. Just as we got to Phase 3, some darker low cloud rolled in from the south and put a stop to the movement of Meadow Pipits. Instead, they actually started dropping down and gathering near us on the mound, feeding on the ground and sheltering in the copses.

A short while later, I happened to look up and spot a low-flying Tern above us. Even with my naked eye I could tell it was a juvenile Common Tern as it was so low! Seeing plenty of Terns recently at Spurn definitely helped make the identification of the Beddington bird much easier, as usually I take a lot longer to decide between Arctic and Common Tern when at Beddington, due to all Tern species being irregular/scarcely seen.

About half an hour later, as we walked near the Enclosed Lagoon, Ian spotted a juvenile Ruff in flight. It dropped down onto Phase 3 and began energetically feeding. It has been quite a good year for Ruff onsite, with a mix of both spring and autumn records. When we then headed back up onto the mound, we heard a Tree Pipit calling from a copse, and managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of it as it flew around with a flock of Meadow Pipit. At the same time, I heard a Ringed Plover call about 8 times. It seemed to be flying south but we never managed to spot it.

Once back at the vismig hide, it was clear that the passage of commoner species had entirely stopped. I decided to scope the treeline and other vegetation behind the Sand Martin Bank. I saw a couple of Blackcap and other warblers flicking about, so we decided to head down and check the area to see what else was about, hoping for a Spotted Flycatcher or Redstart. We only ever managed Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, but it was good to see some warbler activity. We then proceeded to skywatch from the Sand Martin Bank.

Not much was happening and Ian had to leave at midday. Given how many good things we had already seen, I thought we had "lucked out", but decided to stay an extra half an hour just in case anything else came in. But what I saw next was totally unexpected. Just 12 minutes after Ian had left, I spotted a large raptor heading south west straight towards me. I am not quite sure what about it alerted me to it being different initially, but I stayed on the bird through binoculars. As it got closer, it became more and more clear that it may be something different to the usual Common Buzzards. I attempted to get my scope on it, but the steep upwards angle meant I was off balance and so viewing was not great. Instead, I grabbed my camera and started taking a few pics, which helped confirm what I thought I was seeing. This raptor had a very interesting shape to it. I continued to take photos, but my settings were not quite right and the light was shockingly poor. It took three minutes to pass over me, plenty of time to assess what I was seeing, and also not too high. I was pretty sure I was watching a Honey Buzzard!

Despite prolonged and good views, the usual self-doubt started to creep in. Was I sure enough to put the news out straight away? I had seen plenty of adult Honey Buzzards when out at Skagen in Denmark two years ago, but this bird looked like a juvenile. I had never seen a juvenile before. I sent an underexposed back of camera photo to Dodge, who I had just been messaging, and purely said "I cannot figure this out". I was starting to convince myself I had imagined it and it was just a Common Buzzard. Dodge asked for another pic, and then brightened them up for me, before sending them back. The features were now clearer to see - the yellow cere was particularly conspicuous. Nonetheless, I still did not have full confidence to put the news out, so I sent the now lightened back of camera shots to a few other birders, who all agreed it was a dark morph juvenile Honey Buzzard. I then put the news out, but by this point half an hour had passed since I had seen the bird. Thankfully, there was no one else onsite so no one missed it due to my delayed news.

Once I got back home and reviewed the pics once more, I really started kicking myself that I had not just been more confident and trusted my gut. Why did I try so hard to convince myself I had got it wrong to begin with? I quite like the fact that as a birder, I do often second guess myself and double check things, but sometimes, like in this scenario, it becomes a problem and I talk myself out of good birds. But anyways, it was a fantastic bird to top off an already amazing day. It is the first confirmed record since 2016 and my 164th species at Beddington Farmlands!

Full eBird list HERE.

Dark morph juvenile Honey Buzzard below: