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| Lindisfarne Castle - Holy Island, Northumberland. |
With two trips up to Northumberland within a week and a marathon twitch to an offshore Scottish Isle sandwiched in between I was beginning to physically resemble
Phil Mitchell during his heroin addiction phase. My planned score today however consisted of a delightful little fix, freshly smuggled in from the mountains of Central Asia - a
Black Redstart of the subspecies
phoenicuroides or
Eastern Black Redstart as it is sometimes known.
We were unable to gain access to Holy Island until around midday due to the high tide so we headed across to Embleton in the first instance. Whilst driving slowly down one of the weaving lanes we finally located a large flock of
Pink-footed Geese resting up in a stubble field. Due to the distances involved we failed to pick out any
Tundra Bean Geese but there were a scattering of
Eurasian White-fronted Geese and
Barnacle Geese amongst them. Unfortunately there was also no sign of the two adult
Ross's Geese either but most of the geese remained out of view in a valley. Just before we left the area a further 60
Eurasian White-fronted Geese flew in off the sea to join the flock, no doubt attracted to the constant calling of those that were already present.
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| The Eastern Black Redstart twitch. |
After an enjoyable drive across the exposed causeway we quickly located the school in the village and made our way down to the nearby beach. After a quick rope climb down the small cliff we were all soon admiring one of the rarest birds to reach Britain this autumn. The first winter male Eastern Black Redstart showed exceptionally well for the next few hours as it fed on a glut of insects that had emerged in the glorious early afternoon sunshine. This subspecies is a long distance migrant that breeds predominantly in the Altai and Tien Shan mountain ranges in Central Asia. Its wintering grounds can be anywhere from the central plains of India across to Iran, Arabia, Somalia and Ethiopia in the west of its wintering range. Even though it is not a 'tickable species' this bird along with another in Kent earlier in the month are the only thoroughly examined examples that have ever appeared in Britain. Four historical claims of this subspecies were rejected by the BOU on the basis that Redstart x Black Redstart hybrids could not be ruled out.
I did my own little bit for scientific research by scraping a nice 'stool sample' from one of its favoured rocks. Hopefully DNA analysis may lead to this particular bird being confirmed to subspecies level but who knows? For a fantastic in depth discussion of this particular race on
Surfbirds please click
HERE.
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Eastern Black Redstart (first winter male) - Northumberland
Photo by Adam Archer |
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Eastern Black Redstart (first winter male) with its eye on the fly.
Photo by Ashley Howe |
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Eastern Black Redstart (first winter male) amongst the barbed wire.
Photo by Adam Archer |
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Eastern Black Redstart (first winter male) amongst the seaweed.
Photo by Adam Archer |
Other species of note in the area were the wintering groups of both
Dark-bellied and
Pale-bellied Brent Geese as well as 4
Long-tailed Ducks and the occasional
Red-breasted Merganser. Further towards the sea a
Red-necked Grebe was found along with the odd
Red-throated Diver amongst the large groups of
Eider. A magnificent
Short-eared Owl quartered the rough grassland between the village and the pool where small flocks of
Lapwing and
Golden Plover were spooked by a male
Peregrine that eventually showed well perched up on the impressive Lindisfarne Castle. With the light quickly fading we headed back to the car to commence the long journey back south.
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| A view from Holy Island at dusk. |
Special thanks to
Mike Feely (driver),
Snapper Richards (entertainer) and
Jules Allen (last minute substitute for
Stevie Dunn who preferred to stay at home due to an alleged north east curse involving missed ticks for Nottinghamshire) for contributing to yet another epic
ASBO outing.
