With only ten accepted UK records to the end of 2022, the Black-faced Bunting is a true three star mega rarity. So when one was found on the Spurn peninsula in Yorkshire a few days back a twitch was a real no-brainer.
Some two weeks ago I had got up in the middle of the night only to dip, along with several hundred other birders, another 3 star mega, a White-throated Needle Tail, at nearby Bampton. So I was not particularly motivated to have another short nights sleep. Instead I decided to leave home at 7 am on the assumption that, if present, the bird would be reported by 8 am. If it had done an overnight bunk I would divert and spend the day birding elsewhere.
As it turned out the gods of birding were with me on this occasion and the Bunting was duly reported as present and correct at 8 am. Its pushing on for a four hour drive from home to Spurn so it was around 11 am when I arrived with the bird still being regularly reported.
The Spurn peninsula is a long narrow stretch of land some 3 miles long terminating at Spurn point lighthouse. Its location means that it’s the first dry land encountered by vagrant birds flying from mainland Europe and as such has an enviable reputation for rarities. There used to be a well made up path along the peninsula to the point but storms have washed away a good chunk of it and so the first part of the walk out is along the beach. Some care needs to be paid to tide times as part of the peninsula becomes impassable at particularly high spring or storm tides. A fact emphasised by a high tide shelter on some higher ground some halfway along the peninsula. The bunting was also located approximately halfway along the spit where the path is still in good condition and is separated from the beach by buckthorn.
A rather bracing 40 or so minute walk had me joining perhaps 20 other expectant birders and sure enough the Bunting soon showed as it rushed from one side of the path to the other.
It breeds in southern Siberia across to northern China and is migratory wintering in north-east India, southern China and northern south-east Asia. The breeding male has a dark grey head with a mix of yellow green and black between the bill and eye. The upperparts are brown and heavily streaked with black, except on the rump. The rump is brown and the tail is also a dark brown. The underparts are yellowish white with some fine dark brown flank streaks. The stout bill is pink.
The Spurn bird was either a female or a first winter male and as such had weaker head pattern, with olive-grey cheeks and a weak creamy white supercilium. Its underparts were creamy yellow heavily streaked with dark brown.
I have to admire the identification skills of the locals who pick up these birds. At first glance I would have probably dismissed it as a female Reed Bunting. I guess location in this context is everything!
I spent some six hours on site during which the Bunting occasionally showed very well. My friend Richard was also at the twitch and we spent time when the bird was not showing chatting about amongst other things, as horse owners often do, the current high price of hay resulting from the summer drought. There was some disturbance from fishermen cycling out to the point and a couple of wildlife trust vehicles that passed by several times. Each time the bird would flush but the advantage to us at least was that there was really nowhere else in easy reach that the Bunting could go so it always returned to the Buckthorn. It was very actively feeding on grass seeds in the sparse grass next to the path so fingers crossed that it is in good shape and will head south somewhere for the winter. I would guess there is now no chance of it ending up in southern China.
A slow and bracing but very invigorating walk back along the split in the early evening twilight was made all the better by that satisfying feeling of a successful twitch.
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