Thursday, 20 August 2020

 The wind stayed a fairly constant 40mph today, occasionally gusting to 50. George and Alex were out dazzling in the strong winds last night and caught five Dunlins, 3 Wheatears, 1 Redshank, 1 Ringed Plover. Not a bad night, often the windiest nights are the best for dazzling.
A walk to the South End produced a flock of 36 Curlews as well as six Redshanks, six Dunlins and two Sanderlings along the Narrows, not much of note was had on the South End, just the usual Meadow Pipits and a handful of Stonechats. There were 34 Turnstones and six Ringed Plovers feeding on Solfach, and as Sam stopped to count them, a wagtail flew up and appeared to make buzzing call which immediately triggered hopes of a Citrine Wagtail, so he walked to where it had flown to and it flew and called, again. The wind and fleeting views made it quite difficult to see anything important on the bird, and every time it took off it caught the breeze and flew quite some distance, which made it a bit of a pain to pin down. After five minutes or so, views where had which were at least decent enough to see the key features of a Citrine Wagtail, but no photos were taken.

Steve, George and Alex came down to the Narrows to try and re-locate it at around 8am after it had flown out of view. It was incredibly elusive and didn't show for hours, Steve stayed down on the Narrows after walking around the South End. Whilst Sam, George and Alex had slowly walked back to the Obs. After eating some Breakfast, Sam walked back down to meet Steve on Solfach, and luckily it flew over and called, which is when Steve managed to get photos of it, but it's definitely fair to say that it was far from a showy bird! It wasn't until the afternoon before everyone had seen it, and even then, the views were brief as it fed amongst the rocks on Solfach. Citrine Wagtail is an eastern European and Asian species and rare vagrant to the UK. The key ID features for first-winter birds (as this one is) include a complete, unbroken pale border around the ear-coverts, monochrome colouration (perhaps some very slight buff on the breast), a lack of a dark bib and broad, white wing-bars. 

This bird has almost certainly been present since Sunday, when Steve heard a Citrine Wagtail call twice on the Narrows but even after an hour of searching could not pin it down, and after today’s efforts where we spent over 20 man hours looking for the bird it would not be surprising that it has remained hidden until this morning  
Note the pale border to the ear-coverts

The slight buff colouration to the breast and face, a buff 'wash'


It was a shy bird, never allowing for prolonged views.


Common Sandpiper flying through the waves

A flock of Turnstones

A moulting Sanderling on Solfach

two Grey Herons were on Solfach


One of this years young Oystercatchers
An adult Ringed Plover

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