Friday, 14 October 2016

SIBERIAN ACCENTOR!

As I was leaving school just after 3 on the Thursday evening, I checked my phone for any notifications and I saw the word 'Siberian' come up on BirdGuides, as I saw it I just assumed it would have been a Siberian Stonechat but as I read along and read the word Accentor, I nearly burst out in excitement! The brilliant thing was that it was only just over an hour from me just outside the birding hotspot, Spurn. More or less straight after I got a text from my Dad saying that we could go that evening or the following day, considering its a bird you couldn't afford to miss, I easily chose the evening option. I walked twice as fast home and by quarter to 4 we were all ready to set off and hopefully see this magnificent bird! On the way we picked up my good friend Darragh Hudson who was also very excited about seeing the bird. This is the 2nd time the Sibe Accentor has occurred in the UK with the 1st being just a week before on Shetland. This would also be my 300th British bird, so as you can imagine I was really hoping to see it. It was a very nervous trip, the thought of it going to roost or just flying off was always going through my mind, being stuck in traffic in Hull wasn't a good sign either as we didn't have to much light left. After getting through Hull the traffic wasn't bad at all and thankfully we made it with just about a good amount of light left. We parked up and started walking to the spot, we passed a few birders on the way who said it was showing brilliantly, we rushed straight over and very kindly some birders put us straight onto it! It wasn't much more than 3 meters away, without doubt one of my greatest highlights ever in birding! Me and Darragh were absolutely ecstatic at the sight of this truly incredible bird! You could say its definitely not a bad bird for my 300th! I could have stayed and watched it all evening, its a day that will stay with me forever. I managed to get a few decent shots of it but just watching it was fantastic!





Siberian Accentor
 
I hope to have another look at this little cracker at the weekend, it was truly an incredible experience.
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3 comments:

  1. Findlay Wilde14 October 2016 at 12:22

    What an amazing 300th bird. Brilliant pictures and a great blog post.

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  2. David Ousey14 October 2016 at 14:50

    Well done Ellis and congratulations on your 300th species!!!

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  3. rccollis3 November 2016 at 04:48

    It was my 300th bird for Yorkshire coincidentally then Sibe Stonechat the week after and Brown Shrike. What an autumn we've had. Well done Ellis.

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