I woke this morning at 3am having arranged to meet the Jims at 4am with our destination being Easington in East Yorkshire a four hour drive away. My usual two hour rule was to be broken but with the target being a Siberian Accentor the extra mileage was justified but may have put me on a slippery slope for future twitch rules.
The weather guys had forecast clear skies over night so we left worried that our target may well have taken the clear skies as an aid to continue on it’s stretched/reverse migration route but as we drove up the A1 we encountered large thick fog patches which kept us positive.
Eight miles from the target and some three and a half hours into the journey the pager bleeped for the first time and news was good. Ten minutes later we’re watching the splendid vagrant as it picked insects from the moss covered tarmac backing onto Vicars Lane.
The twitch was well managed by the locals and seemed to go off really well whilst we were on site and what a star the bird was.
With good views had and the bird then flying to the gas works over the road we left to search for migrants. The Shore Lark was our first bird found just a short walk from the toilet block car park at Kilnsea. Two Ring Ouzel and a probable glimpse of the Raddes’ Warbler followed by a group of Tundra Geese and then a Pallas’s Warbler made for a good trip before the heavens opened and cold wind and rain arrived forcing all but the hardiest back to the cars. We left and thanked our lucky stars for a great day that could have easily been a very bad day.
Year list now 269
Life list now 378
Brian Anderson
Essex Birder using the blog as a diary of my trips around the country chasing birds. Enjoying the places it takes me and the people I meet along the way. Great to spend time with my Dad and brother as we chase our year lists and grow our life list in the process.
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