Eye-browed Thrush just one of numerous rare birds that have brightened autumn 2026 at Spurn

                     

Eyebrowed Thrush - photo: Robert tdc/flickr via Wikimedia Commons

AN Eye-browed Thrush - only the second record for Yorkshire - has been one of the highlights of this year's autumn migration period at Spurn.

The bird was trapped and ringed in churchfield on Tuesday of last week (September 29) and seen several times later on the same day.

But, by the following day, it had apparently gone. 

Other end-of-September Spurn highlights included Little Bunting, American Golden Plover, Yellow-browed Warbler (as many as 18 on a single day), Firecrest, Ring Ouzel, Pied Flycatcher, Redstart, Lapland Bunting and Brambling.

October has also started well  with sightings that have included  Lesser Yellowlegs, Shorelark and Snow Bunting.

But back to the Eye-browed Thrush of which there are probably only about 30 or so UK records, mostly from islands such as The Scillies.

The other Yorkshire sighting was between April 16 -23, 1981, at Aldbrough, 12 miles north-east of Kingston-upon-Hull.

The very first British example of the species came  on October 5, 1964, when one turned up amidst an influx of Song Thrushes in the garden in Oundle, Northamptonshire, of Mrs Winifred Smith and son Martin.

It was variously feeding on yew berries and drinking or bathing at a garden pool.

Mother and son were gracious enough to allow experts into their home to identify  the bird through a window.

A forest species, the Eye-browed Thrush typically migrates from Siberia and Mongolia to China and South-east Asia where it spends winter.

                                            

Churchfield where Spurn's first Eye-browed Thrush was ringed 

Oil painting of breeding-plumaged Gannets off Bempton Cliffs stars at Yorkshire auction

This enchanting oil-on-board study of Gannets as seen from Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire fetched £400 at auction yesterday. Measuring 13cm by 29.5cm, it was painted by  Piers Browne (1949-2024) in 2015. The hammer price exceeded the £200- £300 expected pre-sale by auction house Tennants of Leyburn in North Yorkshire.                

It's fingers crossed that the 'crex crex' call of Corncrakes will once again be heard in a corner of Lincolnshire

                                                       

Corncrake and chicks as depicted in John Gould's The Birds of Great Britain (1873)

IT is probably many years since Corncrakes bred in Lincolnshire, but could the species make a welcome comeback at a proposed new wetland habitat in the county?

The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust has been given the planning green light to transform 55 hectares (136 acres) of fallow, low-grade grazing land  off Spalding Road, Bourne, to a nature reserve.

And the species it is particularly keen to encourage have been identified by the trust's Norfolk-based partner consultancy, Wild Frontier Ecology,  as:

* Corncrake

* Bittern

* Marsh Harrier

* Crane

* Bearded Tit

* Garganey

* Teal

Other uncommon creatures earmarked for encouragement at 'Bourne North Fen Nature Reserve' include Otter, Water Vole, European Eel, King Diving Beetle, Hairy Dragonfly and Ruddy Darter.

The stated intention of the project is to "restore historic shallow wetland habitats and groundwater tables in order to replicate reedy meres and creeks characteristic of fenland before the widespread drainage activities that took place between the 1600s and 1950". 

LWT submitted its planning application  in June two years ago,

but because of the requirement for extensive consultation with both statutory organisation, such as Anglian Water and the Environment Agency, plus interested Trust members and local residents it was not until September 26 this year that consent was finally granted.

The EA had initially objected because it feared potential flooding issues, but it withdrew its objection after receiving assurances that these could be addressed.   

As conditions of granting consent, the local authority, South Kesteven Council, has asked for confirmation on the following:

* An assessment of visitor numbers 

* Details of access and parking arrangements

* Details of the areas of the site  to be made accessible to the public

* An assessment of any impacts on neighbouring amenity resulting from visitor access to the site

The trust's responses are likely to be brief because, though there may be occasional 'open days', it has indicated it  is unlikely to grant any public access to the site for fear of disturbance to the species that the trust seeks to encourage.

No figures have been revealed about the likely cost of  the project, but a job will be created for a site manager with occasional freelance support from 'suitably qualified ecologists'.

Aspirations for restoration of Corncrakes to Lincolnshire coincide with a more intensive initiative in  North Yorkshire whereby some 148 captive-bred birds have this summer been released at sites in the Lower Derwent Valley.

                                     

Low-grade gazing land - part of the site earmarked to become a wetland reserve 

The Wryneck says: The Lincolnshire wetlands project is to be welcomed, but will the proposed transformation bring adverse consequences at Bourne North Fen for other struggling farmland bird species such as Skylarks, Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings? Is there a risk of robbing Peter to pay Paul? Hopefully not, but it would  be enlightening if the LWT could  publish its survey (presumably such a document exists)  of the birds and wildlife that currently dwell on the site. The 'before' and after 'comparison' would certainly be revealing. 

Ouch! RSPB poised to increase membership subscription rates by inflation-busting 10 per cent

                                                       

Beccy Speight announces the proposed increase

          

THE RSPB is to put up its membership subscription fees.

The announcement came at this morning' AGM from chief executive Beccy Speight who said it would be the first increase for 10 years.

Ms Speight did not reveal the extent of the hike, but, according to insiders, it will be 10 per cent - more than three times higher the current rate of inflation which stands  3.3 per cent.

The RSPB has various subscription levels but the annual amount paid by an individual is £36.

The society currently has about 1.1-million members.

It is not known how many members watched the annual meeting, which was held online via Zoom, but about 2,500 registered in advance.

Amiable and gentle enough but Sam and Ade TV birding show lacks sparkle and excitement

 

The magnificent Yorkshire Dales provided the setting for part of the programme

IT certainly didn't help that so early in the show a Woodpigeon was wrongly identified as a Collared Dove.

Thereafter,  Sam West and Ade Edmondson proved as amiable in the first episode of the second series of Sam & Ade Go Birding as  they had in the first series.

It was set in spring in the magnificent countryside of the Yorkshire Dales where the duo marvelled at the sounds of a dawn chorus, then went on a successful safari to look for breeding Curlews and Lapwings.

But the hour-long programme never came to life. It limped along, with Sam describing the birds as "delightful", while Ade thought they were "lovely". Alas, there was never any fizz, nor excitement.

Although described as "birding buddies", the banter between the two seemed a little rehearsed without ever giving the impression of being born of a bond derived from an established friendship, trust and affection.

Later this month, there are to be be two further Thursday early evening episodes on Channel 5 - one shot as the pair thrilled to Red Kites at a feeding sanctuary in Wales and the other as they marvelled  at Gannets, Puffins and other seabirds off the Yorkshire Coast.

Here's hoping for something less soporific with a bit more urgency and  sparkle

Sam (left) watch Swallows and Swifts as they relax over a pint 

Sam and Ade get down to business - the former opting for Swarovski binoculars, while the later plumps for the Bushell brand  

Oh dear - a serious case of misidentification

Headline birds - the three species making a splash on front covers of this month's ornithological magazines

 

Short-eared Owl, White-throated Needletail and Isabelline Wheatear  are the species featured on the front covers of the October editions of three frontline ornithological titles.

                                                   

Birders head for nature reserve on Lincolnshire Coast in pursuit of mega-rare Eastern Bonelli's Warbler

Eastern Bonelli's Warbler - the bird here was photographed in Israel

A MEGA-rare Eastern Bonelli's Warbler sighted on the Lincolnshire Coast has today been a magnet for twitchers.

A vagrant from south-east Europe or western Asia, the bird was described as a "probable" when first spotted  at Gibraltar Point nature reserve by warden Kev Wilson, then photographed by colleague Owen Beaumont.

But its ID was later confirmed as this species, rather than Western Bonelli's Warbler, on the basis of its one syllable call note - likened by one hearer to the "back end of a Marsh Tit's call". 

The bird, a member of the leaf warbler family, was elusive this morning, but more conspicuous from early afternoon, though it was often hard to pick out among the abundance of similar-looking Chiffchaffs.

For this species, there are believed to be fewer than 20 other UK records, and this is the first for Lincolnshire.

Last year, there were three records, all in April or May - Dungeness in Kent, Barra in the Outer Hebrides and Whalsay in the Shetlands,

The bird is named after Italian naturalist  Franco Bonelli who grew up in Turin and became professor of zoology at that city's university with  further responsibility for oversight of its zoological museum.

The professor realised he had something special on his hands when a specimen was brought to him in December 1815 - a momentous year for him because he had earlier married Ferdinanda Dancona.

Sadly, for the next 15 years of his life he was dogged by ill health, and he was only 46 when he died on November 18, 1830.

He also has a species of eagle known after him.

Franco Bonelli - only 46 when he died 

                                    

Bonelli's Warbler as depicted in an antiquarian  book

* Pictures: Wikimedia Commons