Oct 042007
 

Brown Flycatcher – Muscicapa dauurica

Flamborough Head, North Yorkshire – Old Fall Plantation – 4th October 2007.
 
During the course of the day on 3rd October 2007, a Brown Flycatcher was discovered in the small copse at Flamborough Head known as The Old Fall Plantation.  A mega eastern vagrant, breeding in the Himalayas, Southern Siberia, Mongolia & China. A potential first for Britain, with two previous records placed on Category D1 of the official British List. One in 1956 from Northumberland and one from Fair Isle in July 1982.
 
This bird was a first winter and had arrived during an exceptional period of North Easterly weather conditions across the east coast of the British Isles. Already Siberian Thrush had reached Shetland & a whole host of other good rare migrants, including Turkistan Shrike, several Blyth’s Reed Warbler, an eastern race Subalpine Warbler and a bag full of Yellow-browed Warblers. 
 
After a real nail biting evening on the 3rd October, it was at 7:30am on the morning of the 4th October that I set my eyes on this stunning little bird. Remarkably, considering where the bird was located, it performed exceptionally well to around 300 birders that had gathered in the early morning sunshine.
 
My best digiscoped effort is shown above, however the below two stunning images were kindly provided by Steve Arlow and capture all the ID features of this Siberian Gem.
 
 
 

 ©Steve Arlow – Brown Flycatcher.

The bird was not seen on the 5th October 2007.
 
Feb 032007
 
Pacific Diver - A new bird for Britain - Farnham Gravel Pits, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire - 3rd Feb 2007

Pacific Diver – Gavia pacifica 1st winter – 3rd February 2007 – Farnham Gravel Pits, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. This bird, originally identified as a Black-throated Diver, was re-identified as a Pacific Diver a week or so after the bird was discovered. It was then released to the pagers on Monday 29th January 2007.   This is a first record for Britain & the Western Palearctic of this North American race of Blackthroated Diver. It is now officially considered a separate species.   It is much smaller than Black-throated Diver and appeared to be not much bigger than Great Crested Grebe. A slim & […]

css.php Return to Top ▲Return to Top ▲

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close