After hearing the Pied-billed Grebe hadn't been seen this morning,Trace and myself were discussing where to go and thanks to a text from Karen,this was soon decided...Crag Martin at Flamborough @#%#.I knew this journey would not be an easy one,Friday shopping traffic through Beverley was a tad frustrating to say the least and every OAP on the road in the world....no disrespect to OAP's,but they are a little more carefull at driving than a manic birder desperate to get to his destination.I eventually made into the lighthouse car park,grabbed the binos and camera bag to be told the bird had flown....Nooooo!.I could see a group of birders just to the west of the lighthouse so i made my way down there,a few friendly faces said the bird had not been seen for the best part of an hour,this was not good and i had visions of it being found over Hornsea Mere.A few people started to filter away and we all just wandered about then thankfully one of the lads i was with got a VERY well timed phone call to say he was watching the bird close to South Landing.What ensued was a 2 mile route march/run to South Landing and eventually we could see the guy watching the bird.A quick phone call as we got closer confirmed it was still there,we eventually made it looked over the cliff edge but only Sand Martins were on view,then suddenly infront of us about 100 feet away was the Crag Martin...boooom!.It was watched as it fed at fairly close range the larger size,diagnostic white spots in the tail and blackish area on the underwing being very noticeable when compared to the accompanying Sand Martins,giving the bird a very distinctive jizz.It was also heard to call several times a harsher more grating 'Chirr' than the Sand Marts.We continued to watch it for about ten minutes and it disappeared,appearing further away at South Landing itself before being lost to view and that was that,it wasn't seen again!.After looking for about ten minutes i decided to go and look for the Pipit Sp. that had been reported from earlier and about 100 metres from where we had been stood watching the Martin i flushed the Pipit,it flew past me calling a distinct 'Shueep',almost Yellow Wagtail like in quality and not has harsh as Richard's,all pale,sandy mantle etc...it must be a Tawny i said to myself.I went back to the assembled birders and they all looked at me in disbelief at what i had seen,someone even put it out as an unconfirmed sighting of Tawny Pipit...but what else could it have been.I walked off back towards Old Fall slightly peed off and around towards the Lighthouse,when it happened again,i couldn't believe it,the bird flew past me calling and landed on the footpath in the open,there it was in full view a definite Tawny Pipit.I got as many shots with the camera as i could before it flew into an adjacent rough grass pasture field and i tried to phone as many people as possible and put it out on F.book and Twitter.I was then joined by my friend David Aitken and he gladly watched his 'First' Tawny Pipit as it fed in the pasture,sometimes being lost to view and also being chased by a pair of Skylarks on a couple of occasions.It gave a full range of calls as it was watched here,from a Sparrow like 'Chup' to the earlier calls,it was the best way to keep tabs on the bird when it flew.I was so chuffed to have had my initial sighting confirmed with some photos as i had been 100% certain that was the species i had seen.After spending some quality time watching this southern beauty i said my goodbyes to the boys and headed back to the car park.Other sightings during this amazing day included a single Common Buzzard,2 Peregrine one of which was watched killing a Wood Pigeon near South Landing,White Wagtail and my 'First' Wheatear of the year,a cracking male.Well what a day and as i write this I'm still in shock in what was an incredible day at this superb site.
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| South Landing. |
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| South Landing. |
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| Small Tortoiseshell,South Landing. |
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| Tawny Pipit,Outer Head. |
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| Tawny Pipit,Outer Head. |
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| Tawny Pipit,Outer Head. |
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