Sunday 9 June 2019

Black-headed Bunting: Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire

Leaving home this morning at 5am, we were a little anxious, to say the least. We have not had much luck when birding up North. Dipping the Scops owl in County Durham and more recently dipping the Brown Shrike and Collared Flycatcher.
Two hours into the four-hour journey positive news came through via Twitter that the bird had remained overnight. We arrived on site shortly before 9am only to be told the bird had been seen by some of the hundred or so birders present but it had disappeared and not been seen since! I scanned the distant hedgerows and picked out a yellow blob within the hedge, it looked good, Brian took a look through the scope and confirmed it was the Bunting. Having told the birders around us that we had re-found the bird, the walkout along the public footpath began. We had superb scope views of the bird and I managed to grab a few photos with my phone held up to the scope.



Black-headed Bunting









Along with the Black-headed Bunting a female Subalpine warbler had also been found yesterday. It had been found in Willows running alongside Flamborough Head Golf course close to the Lighthouse car park. Although it had been seen again this morning it was proving to be very elusive. Common and Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap and Tree Sparrows all appeared within the Willows and after an hours search so did the Subalpine Warbler. Mostly hidden within the Willows and Wild Rose Bushes it did pop out long enough to get some nice scope views.


Some of the crowd scanning the Willows 

To break the returning journey up we stopped at Welbeck Raptor Watchpoint in Nottingham, hoping a Honey Buzzard would make an appearance. But in the hour's search, we only saw Common Buzzards in the air.

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