THE BEMPTON SHRIKE

The main excitement in Yorkshire at the moment is the presence of a bird at Bempton which is widely believed to be a Turkestan (Red-tailed) Shrike. Because of the complexities of identification of the 'Isabelline Shrikes' we have decided to await the birds formal acceptance by BBRC before adding it to the Yorkshire list and thus allowing inclusion in the Yorkshire Listers League. Any Yorkshire Listers who have previously seen an Isabelline Shrike sp in the County will already have included it on their tally under the 'common sense rule'  and so their total will not increase for the time being and even if accepted as Turkestan will not gain numerically until they see an accepted Daurian. A copy of the situation explained sometime ago under the section 'THE RULES' is repeated below.

● Isabelline Shrike: The Isabelline Shrike complex has now been split two ways, Daurian Shrike Lanius isabellinus (also known as Isabelline Shrike) and Turkestan Shrike Lanius phoenicuroides (also known as Red-tailed Shrike) Daurian Shrike should be placed below Red-backed Shrike on the list and Turkestan Shrike below Daurian, however, as there are currently no accepted records of either in the County (see below) we will currently record it on the Yorkshire list as Daurian/Turkestan Shrike.

The current situation in Yorkshire is that none of the previous records of 'Isabelline Shrike' have been accepted to the new specific level which means there are currently NO accepted records of Daurian or Turkestan Shrike in the County. We are told that all records  of 'Isabelline Shrikes' will eventually be reviewed by the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC) so this situation may eventually change, however, we are led to believe that this is not going to happen any time soon. With this in mind we are quite happy  to allow the 'Yorkshire Birders common sense rule' to apply again and as such if you’ve seen one or the other (eg an 'Isabelline Shrike') in the County then you can count it as one, but only as two when you have seen accepted records of both Daurian and Turkestan.

Photos below of Bempton presumed Turkestan Shrike - John Hewitt

Photos below, Rose-coloured Starling, Kilnsea Wetlands, July 22- John Hewitt

Is your Yorkshire List up to date or do you simply fancy joining the fun? If you require an electronic copy of the recently updated master list please email a request to yorkshirebirding1@gmail.com  and don’t forget to let us know whenever you add a species. Full details can be found by clicking the League Table option.   

Do you have photos of any scarce or rare birds taken in Yorkshire that might be suitable to post on this site? If so they would be very much appreciated. Please submit to  yorkshirebirding1@gmail.com

The Honey Buzzards have been showing well recently at Wykeham Forest raptor viewpoint - photos John Hewitt

Rose-coloured Starling, Kilnsea, June22 - John Hewitt

 

Today's main news concerned the discovery of a Stone Curlew at Kilnsea that eventually settled down in Well Field for several hours allowing a number of the County's keen listers to catch up with what is not an easy bird to see in Yorkshire.

Stone Curlew, Kilnsea, May 22 - Tom Wright

 

 Is your Yorkshire List up to date or do you simply fancy joining the fun? If you require an electronic copy of the recently updated master list please email a request to yorkshirebirding1@gmail.com  and don’t forget to let us know whenever you add a species. Full details can be found by clicking the League Table option.

BAIKAL TEAL- To tick or not to tick?

The main bird of interest in Yorkshire at the moment is the drake Baikal Teal which has visited several sights in East Yorkshire and is currently at Tophill Low. Despite the fact that the last Baikal Teal in the county (another drake in East Yorkshire in May 2019) was controversially placed into Category D by the BBRC (and thus deemed not countable for the purpose of the Yorkshire Lister's League) we are happy to allow Yorkshire Listers to include this latest bird on their tally although should it suffer the same fate with BBRC as the 2019 bird then ultimately it would have to be removed. Until then, go and see it, enjoy it, stick it on your list and let us know!

Drake Baikal Teal, East Yorkshire, January 22 - Erich Hediger

 

Is your Yorkshire List up to date or do you simply fancy joining the fun? If you require an electronic copy of the recently updated master list please email a request to yorkshirebirding1@gmail.com  and don’t forget to let us know whenever you add a species. Full details can be found by clicking the League Table option.           

Now fast-approaching the back end of November the White-tailed Lapwing remains ever faithful to Blacktoft Sands RSPB where it has been since 26th August, thus fast approaching a 3 month stay!

 Photo - John Hewitt

 

Is your Yorkshire List up to date or do you simply fancy joining the fun? If you require an electronic copy of the recently updated master list please email a request to yorkshirebirding1@gmail.com  and don’t forget to let us know whenever you add a species. Full details can be found by clicking the League Table option.           

Dusky Warbler, Kilnsea, November 2021 - John Hewitt

 

Is your Yorkshire List up to date or do you simply fancy joining the fun? If you require an electronic copy of the recently updated master list please email a request to yorkshirebirding1@gmail.com  and don’t forget to let us know whenever you add a species. Full details can be found by clicking the League Table option.            

After the rather brief appearance of a Taiga Flycatcher on the cliffs at Flamborough Head on 16th October there was a sigh of relief for lots of Yorkshire Listers when on 4th November this bird (below) was discovered at South Landing allowing those who didn't get into gear fast enough first time round a second bite of the cherry. Whether or not it was the same bird that had simply relocated was up for debate (although photos seem to suggest it probably was) but whatever the case it did the obliging thing and remained several days including a full weekend and better still was joined by a rather showy Red-flanked Bluetail! 

Taiga Flycatcher, Flamborough, South Landing, November 2021 - Tim Cowley

Red-flanked Bluetail, Flamborough, South Landing, November 2021 - Justin Carr

Paul French has kindly provided the following map which shows the Yorkshire boundary as used by the YNU and is also applicable for use in the Yorkshire birding Lister's League. For the more detailed sector maps please visit the IN OR OUT? - The Yorkshire Boundary page