Sibe Friday

Siberian Accentor - two words to get the pulse racing! Thanks to flexi-leave, I booked today off in order to see the bird that was found at Easington yesterday. After taking delivery of a washing machine (which, thankfully, arrived before 8am), I arrived at Easington just after 10, and had ticked off the Accentor soon after. Like the last tick I had at Spurn (the Great Snipe), it showed ludicrously well, down to just a few metres. Very nice indeed.

However, as nice as it was, it didn't give me the same sense of fulfilment that finding my own birds increasingly gives me (not that I'm very good at finding my own, but I try...). And what's all this congratulating that goes on on Twitter? All you've done is jump in a car and drive a few hours...

So after the Accentor, I couldn't face chasing off after Dusky/Radde's/Pallas's Warblers, Shrikes etc.., so I birded the cemetery at Easington, and then Marsh Lane (having seen that the carpark at Sammy's Point was rammed). The hedgerows and fields were dripping with birds - Redwings and Song Thurshes, 4-5 Ring Ouzels, 40-50 Brambling, loads of Robins and Goldcrests, Blackcaps and Chiffs, one apiece of Redstart and Willow Warbler, and a total of 67 Euro White-fronts (37 + 12 over south, plus 18 decked). Fun. I would've birded some more, but had to leave just after 2pm, having had another quick look at the Sibe Acc.