 |
|
Empidonax flycatcher on Blakeney Point |
|
|
|
Britain's second Empidonax flycatcher in a
very unlikely location (© Richard Stonier) |
|
Early on the morning of the 24th September I had walked out to Blakeney Point as the weather promised to be good for seawatching. As the wind turned NW then increased seabirds gradually began to appear and by the afternoon it was blowing a gale and raining and a constant stream of birds were passing. Being an ex seasonal warden there and friends with the current staff I had the privilege of staying the night and seawatching again from first light. |
|
|
|
Gale force north-westerly winds meant a gruelling 7 mile walk for birders (© Rob Holmes) |
|
At dawn on the 25th I set out with high hopes of another good passage but in spite of the gale force northerly winds there was much less birds than the previous day. By mid morning I had given up and decided to have a walk around the reserve to see if any migrant birds had been blown in. The landscape was wild and spectacular; the tide was one of the highest of the year and was covering much of the marsh highlighting the shape of the shingle spit that ran back eastwards towards Cley. Huge waves were crashing onto the beach sending clouds of spray right over the ridge while a mass of foam was being blown across by the strong winds. Many of the suaeda bushes were underwater so the area of available cover for migrant birds was greatly reduced. A wheatear flashed passed me and I noticed a redstart cowering on the shingle on the leeward side of the ridge. I took a few photos of the landscape then headed towards The Plantation to see if anything was there. On my arrival I saw a young peregrine hanging in the air above the shrubby trees trying to get at a song thrush. On seeing my approach it quickly headed off flushing a redwing from the dunes – my first of the autumn. |
|
|
|
The flycatcher showed very well during its three day stay (© Jim Lawrence) |
|
Another wheatear appeared on the roof of the huts but there seemed to be little else around so I headed back to the Lifeboat House to see the others. After lunch Paul Nichols, one of the wardens, joined me for another look around. The garden held a goldcrest and a garden warbler indicating that birds were indeed arriving. Next we headed to the plantation, Paul taking the western edge and me the eastern. The song thrushes had increased to three and the redwings to two then coming to the northern edge a lovely fresh-plumaged chiffchaff was in a small lupin bush. Immediately above it was another passerine viewable between a fork in one of the white poplars. It was a sitting facing away from me showing off its striking whitish double wingbars and tertial markings, its large dark eye was surrounded by a pale eyering. I shouted to Paul and gestured to him to quickly join me, announcing that I was looking at some kind of American flycatcher. Looking back I am surprised how calm we both were – maybe we were shocked at seeing such a rare Nearctic bird on the east coast of all places. Soon after we had seen it there was a heavy downpour so we retreated indoors to get Eddie Stubbings, the warden, our scopes, notebooks and my video camera. There were no relevant field guides in the Lifeboat House so we had a quick look at the internet while it was still raining hard. Quickly it was clear that the empidonax flycatchers are an identification minefield so we immediately switched it off again, phoned the news out then went back to watch the real thing while we waited for help to arrive! |
|
|
|
A brief break in the weather allowed for some 'clear optic' viewing (© Penny Clarke) |
|
|
|
|
|
For some it was all too much! (© Penny Clarke) |
|
Video footage of the flycatcher (© SmallyBJ1) |
|
|
|
James McCallum |
