Col Greens Blog: The second Siberian Accentor for Britain

Sunday, 23 October 2016

The second Siberian Accentor for Britain

If you remember my last post, I mentioned a 'first' for Britain turning up on the Shetland Isles the day we returned home; that was on the 9th October. Well, on Thursday the 13th October, the news services were in melt down, as a Siberian Accentor had been found mid-afternoon in the village of Easington near Spurn, in Yorkshire. It was too late to go that afternoon, and after sorting out who could go and who couldn't, it turned out that from the usual crew, there was only Neil Hagley available - the others were either working or had something else planned. Keeping an eye on the the news service, the bird seemed to go to roost early evening, so Neil and I set off at 2.30am on Friday morning, arriving at the site in readiness for first light. Well, after an uneventful journey, we arrived and parked up at the bottom of Vicary Lane - we even managed a few zeds before it was time to go to where the bird had been frequenting. On reaching the said area, we found that there were probably 300 other birders already there, and more turning up by the minute! It was not long before the bird had been seen - and for the first 20 minutes it was mayhem - but once the the volunteers from the The Spurns Obs got a queuing system in place, all the birders were getting superb views of a 2nd for Britain. In the subsequent days, more Siberian Accentors were being found along the east coast, and as I write this post, seven birds have been found so far in the UK, and well over a hundred in Europe! Having had our fill and taking some images of the Accentor, Neil and I went for a mooch around Spurn as strong easterly winds were still in evidence. It was just amazing to watch bird migration in action, as birds seemed to be filling all the trees and bushes - especially at Sammy's Point; from there we ventured to the Bluebell Cafe where a Olive-backed Pipit had been found, and also a quite showy Shorelark. After a few hours,we decided to go and have a last look at the Accentor before coming home. It was a bit strange going back, as there were only about 30 birders there compared to the 500 to 600 that were there when we left earlier in the day.All in all, we had a great day out. Below are some images of the birds we bumped in to throughout the day.