HOT NEWS

Rock Thrush flew north at Spurn late morning (Adam Hutt).

White Wagtail at Orgreave today - Ron Marshall

The drake Ring-necked Duck was at Tophill Low today and the Black Brant was again at Kilnsea Wetlands.For the second day running a 2nd year Iceland Gull was at Potteric Carr. A/the Alpine Swift was at Flamborough this morning. Good numbers of Arctic Tern were seen throughout the county today and gatherings of wagtails around the waters included good counts of White and a number of Blue-headed.

Blue-headed Wagtail at Orgreave today - Ron Marshall

The Baikal Teal did a bunk Monday night adding strength to its credentials of being  'the real deal'.

Chris Harris

Chris Harris

There was also this pretty Firecrest at North Landing, one of a good few in the County currently.

Rich Willison

The last few days have seen sightings of Alpine Swift around Bridlington, Flamborough, Filey and Scarborough. Just how many birds are involved is not clear. Maybe the guys at Spurn will count them when they start moving on? This interesting 'Channel type Wagtail' has been at North Cave recently.

Mike Ashforth

Drake Baikal Teal, Northcliff Marsh, Flamborough - Justin Carr. Present until dusk today (Monday 15th April).

BAIKAL TEAL

A drake Baikal Teal is at Flamborough this morning, currently (12.20) on North Marsh.

Wot no spring?

Its been a quiet start to 2013 for the Yorkshire lister with very little quality birds turning up. And of the few things that did arrive, many of them courted controversy, their identification being in hot debate.

The 'Kumlien's' type Gull at Barmston - Justin Carr. Fighting nearly broke out during heated debate of the identification of this bird.

There were a few sub-rarities around to give a bit of incentive to go out such as this Great Grey Shrike:

Great Grey Shrike at Market Weighton in January - Mike Ashforth

And Anglers CP. continued in a rich vein of form:

This Great Northern Diver visited Wintersett, Anglers CP during February - Ron Marshall.  

And of course the Med' Gulls were always available at Holbeck:

One of at least eight Mediterranean Gulls at Holbeck - Mike Ashforth.

Moving into March, a Black Brant obliged at Kilnsea:

'Black Brant' (centre) at Kilnsea - Rich Willison

And you could tie it in with the lemmings of Withernsea - is it really that bad?

Snow Buntings or Lemmings? - Rich Willison

Spring was pretty much on hold with the biting cold weather but the first Little Ringed Plovers are beginning to filter in:

LRP displaying at North Cave Wetlands - Rich Willison

A few eyebrows were raised with the announcement of a possible 'African Chaffinch' at Hatfield Moors. The real deal? Blue flanks apparently suggests not.

The mooted possible 'African Chaffinch' at Hatfield - Justin Carr

This thought 'Continental Stonechat' at Barmston looked a better bet:

'Continental Stonechat' at Barmston at Easter - Justin Carr

Old year out, New year in...........

Bewick's Swans at West Carlton in December - Adrian Johnson

December remained mild until close of play and most of the highlights were wintering birds that had generally been around for a while. West Yorkshire continued to attract plenty of birders with Wintersett CP. in particular fairing well. Birds seen here included the long staying American Wigeon (though it did go awol for a while), the female Long tailed Duck, a drake Smew, a couple of drake Scaup and an impressive selection of roosting gulls including Caspian, Yellow-legged and Glaucous. 

One of the first-winter Caspian Gulls at Wintersett CP - Kev Denny

And with a drake Long-tailed Duck at nearby Pugneys and the Ring billed Gull still visiting Mirfield it not really surprising that many coastal birders were tempted inland. The coast was not completely birdless however, with the odd Bean Goose (three at Cayton Carrs), Little Auk, and Velvet Scoter, among the highlights. 

Velvet Scoter, Hornsea Mere - Adrian Johnson. Well, almost coastal!

A roost visit to Blacktoft Sands RSPB must have been impressive, with a remarkable count of 30 Marsh Harriers as well as five Hen Harriers a stark reminder of how things have changed. And then of course there were Waxwings, hundreds and hundreds of them, the largest flock being a spectacular 470 in Wombwell, South Yorkshire. 

Waxwing at Old Moor RSPB - Keith Pickering. An amazing flock of at least 470 visited nearby Wombwell.

So overall how did 2012 check out for the Yorkshire birder? A decent spring, and a generally disappointing autumn, certainly for rarities anyway? Most Yorkshire listers did manage to catch up with the double dose of Pallid Harriers but most didn't get to grips with the double dose of Gull billed Terns. And nobody who wished could have failed to add Roller to their Yorkshire tally but everybody who wished did fail to add Black Kite despite the fact that there were two multi-observed.  As for 2013...................

Part of a healthy flock of Twite between Ringborough and Grimston in early January - Adrian Johnson