Review of 2019 and 2020 - Birds: Sparrows, Accentors, Wagtails and Pipits

SPARROWS (family PASSERIDAE)


House Sparrow Passer domesticus - Common at home and sometimes present at the meadows but I can go months without seeing them there (though they're always along Church Lane a few metres away).


Tree Sparrow Passer montanus - 4 at Fairburn Ings (Yorkshire) on 7th April 2019 and one at Llobregat Delta (Spain) in February 2020.


Rock Sparrow Petronia petronia - A flock of 12 along the road leading to the Emabalsa de Santa Ana (Spain) on 23rd February 2020.

Rock Sparrows, near Embalsa de Santa Ana (Spain), 23rd February 2020

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ACCENTORS (family PRUNELLIDAE)


Dunnock Prunella modularis.  Common at the meadows and in the garden.

Dunnock, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th March 2019

Dunnock, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 21st June 2019

Dunnock, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th March 2020

Dunnock, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 15th April 2020

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WAGTAILS and PIPITS (family MOTACILLIDAE)


Eastern Yellow Wagtail Motacilla tschutchensis.  A new bird for me, one at Sedgeford on 24th December 2019 and again on 1st January 2020.  Another great find by James McCallum and Kayne Forbes.  Incredibly this was the only 'Yellow' Wagtail I saw in either year!

Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Sedgeford, 24th December 2019

Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Sedgeford, 1st January 2020

Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea.  Singles flew over the meadows on 8th March and 8th November 2019 and 5th and 23rd September and 4th November 2020.  None noted over my garden these years but at least 2 elsewhere in North Elmham.  Also noted at Bintree Mill, Great Ryburgh, Bylaugh, Burham Overy, Stiffkey and Sedgeford.  Out of county one in Cumbria, 4 on Mull, one in Spain and 15 in Cornwall.

Grey Wagtail, Great Ryburgh, 17th April 2019

Grey Wagtail, Porthgwarra (Cornwall), 8th October 2020

Pied Wagtail Motacilla (alba) yarrellii.  Often seen at the meadows including a flock of up to 25 frequenting a sheep field in February 2019.  Occasionally seen or heard from home.

Pied Wagtail, Iona, 11th June 2019

Pied Wagtail, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 28th December 2020

White Wagtail Motacilla (alba) alba.  Small numbers seen at several locations in Spain in February 2020.

White Wagtail, Gava Mar (Spain), 22nd February 2020

White Wagtails, Llobregat Delta (Spain), 22nd February 2020

Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis.  Small numbers occasionally present at the meadows and more often flying over.

Meadow Pipit, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 7th November 2020

Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis.  One singing along the road to Carsaig (on Mull) on 11th and 12th June 2019.

Tree Pipit, Carsaig Road (Mull), 12th June 2019

Water Pipit Anthus spinoletta - 2 at Titchwell on 7th December 2019 and one at Llobregat Delta (Spain) on 22nd February 2020.

Water Pipit, Titchwell, 7th December 2019

Water Pipit, Llobregat Delta (Spain), 22nd February 2020

Rock Pipit Anthus petrosus - Only a small number recorded and no significant records.

Rock Pipit, between Carsaig and Rubha Dubh (Mull), 10th June 2019

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Local White-fronts, Cley, Christmas & an Eastern Black Red

No birding on 21st December though I did drive past Lyng Easthaugh gravel pits on my way home from Norwich and noticed a Greylag x Canada Goose hybrid there.

On 22nd I popped in to the local patch for the first time in ages.  Not much doing on the whole except for one exellent local record - a flock of 26 White-fronted Geese.  Not the first time I've seen this species on the patch but a flock this big is very unusual.  The flock comprised 18 adults and 8 first-winters.

White-fronted Geese, Hell Pit, 22nd December

A drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker was great to hear - I thought it might prove to be my earliest but checking through my records I've heard them drumming this early several times before.  On my way up to the coast I paused briefly at Bintree Mill.  Not much doing there but a flock of 20+ Brambling opposite the end of the road.

I headed up to Cley hoping to see the hybrid sparrow that's been knocking around there.  I spent a good deal of time in Cley Spy looking at the feeders but with no luck.  Eventually I gave up and headed along the road to look in the hedgerows and gardens (I gather it was first seen at Steve G's place).   A party of 3 White-fronted Geese flew around, eventually heading inland with Brent Geese.

White-fronted Geese, Cley, 22nd December

Once I'd given up on the sparrows I headed to Dauke's where a Water Pipit appeared briefly.  Interesting that it seemed to be quite heavily streaked (especially above) which made me doubt my ID slightly, but in the end it has to be Water, unless I'm much mistaken.

Water Pipit, Cley, 22nd December

Lots of duck there, but I failed to find anything unusual among them.  A Bittern flew low over the reeds and a Kingfisher sped past.  A Stonechat perched up in the distance.

Shoveler, Cley, 22nd December

Wigeon, Cley, 22nd December

On Christmas Day Vitty and I headed up to Burnham Overy for a picnic lunch after church.  Two Red Kites were trying to feed on roadkill north of Sculthorpe.  The walk out to the dunes and back was a bit more rushed than usual (with Vitty not being interested in standing around in the wind while I looked at birds), but I had time to pick out the Black Brant x Dark-bellied Brent Goose hybrid, an odd-looking Pink-footed Goose with very dark head and neck (stained?), at least 46 Barnacle Geese (far and away the largest number I've seen here - perhaps wild but with a feral population nearby I'm not sure) and at least 2 White-fronted Geese.  Finally a single Stonechat was seen in the dunes, and we headed back home for another goose, cooked this time.

We headed up to see family in the Lake District on 27th, stopping en route at Skinnigrove (ok, Cleveland isn't exactly en route, but near enough) to see the Eastern Black Redstart.  A thoroughly lovely bird it was too, although the sun was some way off rising enough to shine on it before we had to leave so the photos are a bit grainy.

Eastern Black Redstart, Skinningrove. 27th December

Amazing the number of birds feeding on this unvegetated pile of boulders - Wren, Dunnocks, Robins, Pied Wagtails, Rock Pipits and the Redstart.

It's grim up north, and whether it was the air or just a bug, I was pretty unwell for the rest of the day, which was a shame as it rather spoilt the lunch we had at one of the best restaurants in the country. 

Feeling a bit better next day I ventured out around the south Lakes, stopping first at Windermere where one of 3 Goosanders was very tame.  

Goosander, Windermere, 28th December

Also a hybrid between a domestic Greylag and a Canada Goose here.  From the Roa Island causeway a large mixed flock of Dark- and Pale-bellied Brent Geese contained at least 220 of the latter.  Also 319 Eider.

Hodbarrow held another Greylag x Canada Goose hybrid, at least a dozen Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser and 12 Scaup.  2 Greenshank flew over the causeway to the beach.

I had just a short amount of time to kill on the morning of 29th before meeting family for lunch and had a drive round Ullswater.  Not much doing there - just a couple of goose flocks and a one Wigeon flock.  The former included 40 Barnacle Geese and 5 Greylag x Canada Goose hybrids.