The big news of the spring so far came last night with the discovery of a male Penduline Tit at Seamer Carr Scarborough late evening. Fortunately, the bird roosted up and was still present briefly this morning before flying off high west and at the time of posting  has yet to be seen again. For those quick enough off-the-mark this was first twitchable Penduline Tit in the County for over 30 years so well worth the effort. 

The other major excitement this spring has been the discovery of an adult Black Kite at Duncombe Park in mid-April, still present at the time of writing. Despite numerous sightings in Yorkshire all have been pretty much fly-throughs (mostly at Spurn and in May) and as such this bird has become the first to be twitched in the County. If only life was that simple! The reality is that the origins of this bird is being hotly debated as rather unfortunately it's chose to spend much of its time feeding with the various free flying captive birds (including a Pallas's Fish Eagle!) over the National Birds of Prey Centre. However, 'wild' Red Kites also do the same as they come to scavenge food put out for the captive stuff, so surely it shouldn't be written off just because of this behaviour. As best we know so far, it appears it hasn't originated from the centre (although they do keep Black Kites (sporting jessies) and it isn't ringed or tagged. Unfortunately, we have also learnt that Black Kites have become popular in captivity and several known escapes have travelled a long way including one with a transmitter (apparently hard to see) that had moved from West Midlands to Cornwall. The debate is set to rage on for a while yet but if you have seen this bird please let us know and we will hold it on a pending list (Black list!) until more is known. Hopefully it will help it's case by moving on pretty soon!

Male Penduline Tit, Seamer Carr, April 23 - Dave Mansell

Black Kite, Duncombe Park, April 23 - Rich Willison

 

Black-crowned Night Heron, Ossett, April 23 - Rich Willison
One of at least two very obliging birds present

Alpine Swift, Kilnsea, April 23 - Ian Smith
Although this wasn't one of them, there have been several twitchable birds in the County this spring.

Hawfinch, Kilnsea, April 232 - John Hewitt
A typical spring influx so far for this species.