Henceforth, the 3rd September will always be known as ‘Brown Booby‘ day – Yorkshire’s first ever lingering off the headland for 30 minutes late morning. The weather certainly suited a visitor from tropical waters, with light south-westerly winds, sunny skies prevailing after a relatively overcast start and temperatures reaching 26 degrees C.
The year’s star bird, an adult, appeared off the Fog Station at c. 1015hrs, where it loosely associated with a small group of Gannets feeding c. 1km offshore. It sat on the sea on a couple of occasions before drifting north at c. 1045hrs and unfortunately wasn’t relocated. A total of five juvenile Caspian Gulls included three birds flying north during the seawatch while a Balearic Shearwater ‘U-turned’ before eventually flying back north. A first calendar-year Mediterranean Gull was on the rocks at Cattlemere and 74 Little Gulls were offshore.
The long-staying Merlin continued to hunt the outer head, where drift migrants included single Pied Flycatcher, Common Redstart and Whinchat. The first post-breeding movement of Meadow Pipits was also evident, with 30 flying south-east at RSPB Bempton Cliffs and seven ringed at South Landing.
