Birdwatch: Katia brings some visitors in her wake

The deep Atlantic depressions will have caught up thousands of birds migrating down the east coast of America and blown them thousands of miles off course and some will have made it to our shores.

There have been exceptional numbers of buff-breasted sandpipers with 10 together at one site in Wexford, Ireland and eight at St Mary’s Airport on Scilly.

Buff-breasted sandpipers are a rare but annual vagrant to this country and resemble juvenile ruffs with their buff heads, necks and underparts. But the buff-breasted sandpiper has a shorter bill, plainer face and more rounded head.

Sabine’s gulls have been reported all along the west coast with two adults off Heysham this week while a number of others have been seen at inland sites in southern England.

Last week, an adult, still with the smart black hood of its summer plumage, was present for half an hour at Swillington Ings, Leeds, where seven observers managed to see it before it flew away.

Sabine’s gulls are small with a forked tail and all ages have an unmistakable wing pattern, a dark forewing with a large white triangle behind it.

They nest in the marshes of tundra around the Arctic Circle and the majority winter on both the east and west coasts of America, although some cross to the Bay of Biscay and one or two venture into the North Sea – one was seen from the last RSPB cruise from Bridlington.

Another refugee from the storms, the grey phalarope, has been seen around inland pools and lakes across Britain, swept off course as this odd little wader heads for wintering areas in the seas off West Africa.

Grey phalaropes are well adapted to spend the winter at sea but the cork-like buoyancy of their plumage, vital for most of the time, is a problem in very rough seas forcing large numbers inshore and further inland where an individual can linger for several days until the weather calms down.

Seabirds such as gannets, kittiwakes and shags might also be driven inland while a Manx shearwater was found stranded a long way from the sea at Meltham, near Huddersfield, on Sunday and taken to the Deer Hill reservoir and released. Another was seen on Wednesday at the Blacktoft Sands reserve.

Rare waders seen in Yorkshire have included a juvenile semipalmated sandpiper seen this week at Beacon Ponds and Patrington Haven while a pectoral sandpiper was seen briefly at Alkborough Flats just below the RSPB’s Blacktoft Sands reserve. There, the waders seen have included 29 spotted redshanks and seven greenshanks..

Many will be hoping that a sharp-tailed sandpiper, seen at Greatham Creek on Teesside last week will put in an appearance somewhere in Yorkshire soon.

Also at Blacktoft Sands, there was the fantastic sight of 25 marsh harriers in the air together one evening as they prepared to come in to roost while there have also been regular sightings of merlin, buzzards and sparrowhawks.

Up to five different marsh harriers have been seen at the Fairburn Ings reserve near Castleford and two ospreys, a merlin and peregrine falcon have also been present. A great white egret was first seen there on Wednesday.

A ringtail hen harrier was seen there and at Swillington Ings this week while black terns have been seen at both sites.

Seawatchers along the Yorkshire coast saw a Cory’s shearwater off Kilnsea and Balearic shearwater off Long Nab, Burniston and there have also been more sooty shearwaters seen. Large numbers of little gulls, over 2,000, continue to be seen off Hornsea.

On land, the first Lapland buntings of the autumn were seen at Burniston and Spurn while another reminder that winter is on its way – 26 pink-footed geese were also seen at Burniston.

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