Very quiet today - adult Long-tailed Skua south at Spurn.

No sign of Arctic Warbler, Flamborough.
Barred Warbler still at Spurn.
Osprey still at Sprorbrough Flash - photographers dream?

Arctic Warbler Flamborough, Old Fall til dusk.
Barred Warbler, Spurn.
Osprey still at Sprotbrough.

Flamborough hogs the limelight

Best bird in the County today is an Arctic Warbler at Old Fall Flamborough, still present this evening. Flamborough also scored with a Lesser Yellowlegs on the beach at South Landing but that flew off west early morning. Several coastal sites logged Long-tailed Skuas passing again today. A couple of Quail near Scarborough were noteworthy. Inland, the most popular bird is the Osprey which continues to show well at Sprotbrough Flash.

The obliging Osprey at Sprotbrough Flash - Ron Marshall

This juvenile Red-necked Phalarope spent much of the day at Old Moor RSPB  Thursday but despite remaining til dusk was not seen next day. - John Hewitt

The Yorkshire List Increases Again

It's on the list!

As expected (see Yorkshire Birding volume 20 page 74), the British Ornithologists’ Union’s Records Committee has adopted recommendations by the Taxonomic Sub-committee that Eurasian Stonechat Saxicola torquatus should now be treated as three species: European Stonechat S. rubicola (added to Category A), Siberian Stonechat S. maurus (added to Category A) and African Stonechat S. torquatus (removed from Category A; extralimital). This of course means that the Yorkshire list has now increased by one and that many Yorkshire listers will have gained an extra species. European Stonechat is of course a reasonably common in the County whilst nowadays Siberian Stonechat is recorded almost annually. For the purpose of the Yorkshire Listers League Table we need to know if you have seen Siberian Stonechat in Yorkshire so we can add one to your tally, although in the case of the majority of observers we do have this on record and have altered the list accordingly. However, if you are unsure if this has been done for you or not (eg. your total given in the League Table does not tally with your own copy) then please let us know immediately. For those who have a copy of the list which currently does not contain Siberian Stonechat at all, this should be inserted below (Eurasian) Stonechat which should be now named European Stonechat.

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more on that goose............

Re the Scaling Dam Red-breasted Goose, whilst the age is encouraging its behaviour and locality are quite incompatible with likely BBRC acceptance and it is clearly much less likely to be wild than the Nosterfield Nature Reserve bird of February 1998. That individual was originally accepted by the BBRC based on its sighting at Dormans Pool, Cleveland, on 7 January 98 (BB 92:563). Unfortunately, this was only seen by birders from outside of Cleveland. Some locals were so peeved that they (disgracefully) lobbied against the record and had it overturned. Had it been widely seen by Teesside birders, keen to add a new species to their county lists, this would undoubtedly not have happened and the Nosterfield bird would very likely have been accepted the following year. It had not been submitted in time to be accepted alongside the Dormans Pool sighting. Scaling Dam Reservoir has had numerous records of escaped waterfowl. During the last six years, Baikal Teal, Speckled Teal, Grey Teal, Wood Duck, Fulvous Whistling Duck, White-faced whistling Duck, Lesser Whistling Duck, Ruddy Shelduck, Bar-headed Goose and Hooded Merganser have all been seen. It also has very small numbers of feral Pinkfeet and the occasional feral Barnacle Goose. Those that lobbied against the Dormans Pool (Nosterfield) bird might now be regretting that as they can hardly pursue the Scaling Dam bird which is obviously much less likely to be wild than the earlier bird. They have clearly been hoisted by their own petards!

Post from Dave Britton