Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Blacktoft RSPB

 Only my third record in Britain but saw a few flocks in China in 1993 - never close of course but an educational bird with regard to its size and how easy it was to overlook amongst the Dunlin 

Brown Booby

On March 21st 1980 four of us were watching a Brown Booby perched on buoys off the North Beach at Eilat, Israel. A tropical species my only other observation was of an adult and immature at the same locale in March 1992. Warming climate and particularly warming seas have seen a rapid northward push of this and other warm water species with the first British record coming in 2019. More birds quickly followed and this autumn at least two penetrated the North Sea with one lingering off the Yorkshire coast for a few days but my knee op meant I could not get there - fast forward to mid-September and this adult female relocated to the Tees estuary moth being seen daily at South Gare, Yorkshire or Cleveland take your pick. A two hour drive still seemed excessive but eventually on the 21st I haded north with daughter in tow. On a nice but breezy and cool, sunny day the Booby duly perched on its favoured old pier but we had to wait two hours to see it fly. I don't twitch much nowadays hence I am still 8 short of 500 in Britain but this was such a nice bird and gave such great views and we called in to Whitby Abbey on the way home for bonus points. 

Spotted Flycatcher

 there used to be several pairs breeding in Barton but my annual observations are now restricted to odd passage birds and this year I had seen none up until September 20th when this bird was on Waters' Edge - another sad loss in the deterioration of wildlife populations 

record-breaking Cattle Egret flock

 this flock of 6 Cattle Egrets was along Far Ings road on the 20th - a record-breaking flock for North lincs but a sign of the times as this species pushes northwards in ever increasing numbers 

male Migrant Hawker

 one from last week

Hobby family

Managed to get a lift to a pair of Hobbies I found just before my knee op - limited to the RF 100-400 from a chair so nothing great but some really good action from the three fledged young and up to three adults -