Finders in the field: Blyth's Pipit, West Yorkshire, Dec 2014
by Jonathan Holliday
Monday 8th Dec was a bright, cold and breezy morning and my local patch (Pugneys CP and Calder Wetlands) had provided few surprises. I had covered most areas by 10a.m. and decided to cover some of the wet areas on the industrial estate before making for the Chippy for some much needed refuelling. The first area I chose was a reedy ditch where I have previously recorded wintering Chiffchaff that leads to a reedy ornamental pond. As I walked the ditch a few Meadow Pipits flushed ahead of me and then from the opposite side of the ditch I heard an unusual call, a softish but strident 'tchup', as I turned I saw a bird bound a short way ahead and land in a Willow. With bins I saw 2 birds - a Meadow Pipit and what appeared to be a larger pipit but the light was poor with sun behind the birds. Confused, I could not think straight as I already had a ridiculous idea of what the bird was but surely it could not be! Not here, now!?
I slowly edged around to try and improve the light and got an impression of pale-ish underparts. The bird flew again at this point with no call but I saw a bird with a greater bulk and more tail than the accompanying Mipits. The birds alighted in a tree c100 metres away and I managed to scope the bird. Head on I saw the pale buff underparts with just a hint of fine streaking on the throat and upper breast, a quite prominent but shortish off white supercillium and a rather pointy bill with no curve in the upper mandible. At this point I started videoing with my phone and trying to accept that I was looking at what I thought was a BLYTHS PIPIT!
Surely I was mistaken, I tried to get calm and realised I needed to get someone else onto the bird. About 1 min later the bird again flew, back past me into the original field - again the 'tchup' call and impression of 'medium-large' pipit size and unmarked underparts. I phoned local birders KP and also P Smith and J Mcloughlin. A tense wait ensued - but I listened to some Blyth’s calls on my phone and confirmed that it matched well.
Once the 3 had arrived plus A Smith we set to relocating the bird which we managed quickly, having some flight views and more of that call. We regrouped and discussed the need to hear the more diagnostic flava-like call. Thankfully on the next sighting it gave several 'pscheeu' calls and JM called out what we all thought, 'IT'S A BLYTHS!'
Time for handshakes all round followed by lots of phone calls as we discussed parking, viewing situations and managing the adrenaline! The rest of the day passed in a bit of a blur as locals and Yorkshire Listers began arriving but we managed to mostly limit the number of people entering the field and with a couple of organized flushes everybody was able to see the bird in flight and hear the calls. This was far from an ideal situation, but with the bird clearly happy to stay in its chosen field we felt it was the safest way to minimise disturbance.
About 80 people connected on the day and thankfully the bird was still present the next morning - around 400 people saw the bird on the Tuesday and more photos (including of the tail showing the pattern of T5) and sound recordings (of both calls) were obtained. Again we operated a system of keeping the crowds out of the field and allowing the bird to feed etc undisturbed between occasional flushes performed by a handful of people. I had some reservations about this but the alternative - a free-for-all - was surely worse for the bird and it never left it's field throughout the day so we felt it was not being unduly harassed.
Blyth's Pipit, Calder Wetland, West Yorkshire - site map.
For an inland patch watcher, finding a 1st for Yorkshire is the stuff of dreams and having such a tricky species to deal with has made it a most memorable find!
Jonathan Holliday
11 December 2014
Blyth's Pipit in Britain and Ireland
