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Wildlife Sightings - October 2015
Wed 11th Nov, 2015
Mild temperatures continued throughout October ranging between a month low of 12° and a high of 17° in Scarborough. Despite the balmy weather there were several periods of ‘fall’ conditions and a steady flow of exciting wildlife sightings throughout the month!
Light south-east-north-east winds at the month start brought good numbers of migrant birds to the coast. Spurn’s impressive first 7 days included Red-footed Falcon, Arctic Warbler, Great White Egret, Pied Wheater, Citrine Wagtail, Olive-backed Pipit, Little Bunting and lots of scarce birds; Firecrest, Yellow-browed Warblers, Cetti’s Warbler, light seabird passage and the first Barnacle Geese of the winter! Further north at Flamborough and Buckton there was a Great Grey Shrike, Barred Warbler, 19 Yellow-browed Warblers, 17 Ring Ouzels and a Honey Buzzard also seen at Filey. This period was especially exciting with almost every family of birds on the move even Little Gulls were seen in big numbers an impressive 1337 were counted passing Flamborough! A Richards Pipit arriving over Long-Nab on the 4th heralded a fine month for this species with 3 together later in the month! A Little Bunting on the 6th was the first time this species has been seen in the Scarborough area.
Olive-backed Pipit © Lee Johnson
October 2015 was a great month for Short-eared Owls these magnificent birds arrived in good numbers along the whole of the Yorkshire coast. Over 30 were logged at Filey Bird Observatory. Down at Spurn things were hotting up on the migrant bird front again by the 10th as the wind turned to the north-east. 2 American Golden Plover together on Kilnsea Wetlands were followed on the 11th by a large fall of Goldcrest at Spurn and further north. 1430 were counted at Spurn.
Short-eared Owl © Lucy Murgatroyd
The 12th October was another red-letter day at Spurn. A few drops of rain are often all it takes and the bird heavens open! Red-flanked Bluetail, Raddes Warbler, Bluethroat, Pallas’s Warbler, Olive-backed Pipit, Great Grey Shrike and American Golden Plover, not a bad list of rare birds! This was also a great time on Flamborough Headland between the 9th and 12th; Olive-backed Pipit, Red-flanked Bluetail, Bluethroat, 2 Red-breasted Flycatchers and 2 Great Grey Shrikes. A Siberian Stonechat and Pallas’s Warbler were found on the 14th and a Dusky Warbler on the 15th. A Rough-legged Buzzard arrived at Spurn on the 15th.
Red-flanked Bluetail © John Hewitt
Siberian Stonechat © Craig Thomas
Winter thrushes arrived in good numbers during this period with 4,400 redwing counted on the 14th at Spurn. A prize find for any European birder is Pallas’s Warbler and this October provided a great opportunity with up to 15 on show at all our coastal watchpoints, The Flamborough Headland area scoring with at least 7 of these. In good weather many migrant songbirds move inland quickly in search of prime habitat. This was certainly the case with Great Grey Shrikes. 3 were found on the same day in Langdale Forest North Yorks on the 19th.
Pallas's Warbler © Spurn Bird Observatory Trust
Flamborough Headland was again the place to be at the end of the month. A Hume’s Warbler was found by the Lighthouse on the 27th and a Pallid Swift on the 31st. This was an excellent day on the ‘Great White Cape’ as many migrants were on the move including 1005 Golden Plover, Long-eared Owl, Merlin, Hen Harrier, Pomarine Skuas and Great Northern Divers. A Hen Harrier also graced Filey on the same day alongside Water Pipit, Black Redstarts and 17 Twite. At ‘wader central’ on the Humber by Spurn a record day count of 1,500 Black-tailed Godwits were counted on the 30th where 1646 Teal were counted on the 29th! Spurn is certainly the best place in Yorkshire for Pallid Harrier One of these once mythical birds was seen here on the 25th.
Pallid Swift © Andy Hood
Twite © Richard Baines
The mild temperatures provided incentive for a late surge in moth trapping. A locally rare Merveille du Jour moth was caught at Silpho North Yorkshire on the 14th with another at Hunmanby Gap on the 28th Small numbers of Hummingbird Hawkmoths were still be found including 1 at Flamborough Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts Living Seas Centre on the 17th.
Merveille du Jour © Nick Carter
On the North Yorkshire coast our Whitby and Staithes ‘whale zone’ continued to come up humps early in October with Minke Whales showing in good numbers no doubt involving many of the impressive 30 seen at the end of September. A pod of White-beaked Dolphin was also found by Whitby Whale watching on the 3rd. Finally a Basking Shark was seen at Ulrome on the 9th.
For more wildlife sightings visit these great web sites!
Spurn Bird Observatory, Flamborough Bird Observatory, Filey Bird Observatory and Group, Northern Rustic blogspot , Scarborough Birders, Butterfly Conservation Yorkshire Branch.