Flamborough Head 22/10/26

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A visiting birder had the great find of a Rufous-tailed Robin at Flamborough on the 20th, the bird being reported several times at South Landing the following day. Naturally I was keen to see it and travelled to south Yorkshire late that day, staying overnight at Bridlington.

In the morning I got to South Landing at first light, finding about a hundred birders already present. The previous day the bird had been seen in a gully, which was overground with bramble with a small stream running along the bottom. Viewing the site was fairly restricted hence birders were soon three deep overlooking the gully.

An Irish birder had a brief view of the robin at about 8 am, and later in the morning there were other glimpses of it, though the bird was generally elusive and I didn't see it at that time.

The robin finally gave itself up at about 2 pm, being seen at the base of a large sycamore in the gully, and on view for about 30 seconds. Two further views were obtained in the next two hours, the last one for about a minute before I called it a day and headed back for the five hour drive home.

Birders at South Landing 

The gully where the bird was seen


Rufous-tailed Robin at Flamborough. Picture by David Carr.




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