My health was much improved on 2024, but I didn’t feel up to long car journeys, so apart from a disastrous trip to Scarborough and a couple to North Lincolnshire, I never left East Yorkshire. As I only blogged a few times in 2025, a good few pictures are new here.
January is Corn Bunting at High Eske NR on the 14th. Actually, the only picture from this month, but as a seriously declining species, the first I’ve seen here for a good few years well justified.
February is Purple Sandpiper. I planned to try to see a few species don’t see regularly so on a mild late February day, I went to Barmston with this species in mind. For the full trip, check here.
March is Blue-winged Teal at Brough Airfield Marsh. Near dusk on the 20th, having seen little of note earlier, I was checking the channel between the marsh bank and the footpath across the airfield, when I saw what I was sure was a drake Blue-winged Teal. I quickly got closer from the footpath where I also located a female accompanying it. The first for the site and almost certainly the pair seen intermittently at Tophill Low NR 2023/4 [and the female later this year.]
April again is Blue-winged Teal, this time the female, which arrived at Tophill Low NR sometime before the 23rd and quickly paired up with a Shoveler. They were seen to mate, and she then became elusive, maybe sitting, but wasn’t seen after 20th May. Unlike the previous two years, neither Blue-winged Teal appeared in late summer.
♀︎.Blue-winged Teal with ♂︎.Shoveler-Tophill Low NR-30/4/25
May is Temminck’s Stint at Tophill Low NR on the 12th. The one I found at High Eske NR on the 18th may be a better record, but I didn’t get a decent picture.
Temminck’s Stint-Tophill Low NR-12/5/25
June finally brings a true rarity, the Song Sparrow at Thornwick Bay on the 10th. Not a great picture as I wasn’t feeling too good, so I made do with a record shot, but it was my first of only two Yorkshire ticks this year. My previous was at Seaforth, Liverpool, in October 1994.
Song Sparrow-Thornwick Bay, Flamborough-10/6/25
July is Hummingbird Hawk-moth at Tophill Low NR at the 12th simply because it is the best picture I have ever taken of one.
Hummingbird Hawk-Moth-Tophill Low NR-12/7/25
August, I would have liked to have posted the Night Heron at North Cave Wetlands YWT, but it never showed well to me, but the Palpita vitrealis or Olive-tree Pearl [a moth] I trapped on the 29th was a first for me, so a good 2nd choice. Once a rare migrant from southern Europe it is becoming more regular.
Palpita vitrealis or Olive-tree Pearl-Cottingham-30/8/25
September is the Siberian Stonechat at Grimston on the 27th. Check here for more details and other sightings in late September.
Siberian Stonechat-Grimston, E.Yorks-27/9/25
October is Black-faced Bunting at Spurn Point on the 21st. A Yorkshire tick, but I did see the first at Pennington Flash in March 1994 [also an earlier bird at Spurn, with a deformed bill and damaged eye, which I haven’t yet found a date for]. More details and the rest of October here.
November is Bearded Tit at Welton Waters on the 7th. I spend a lot of time looking for the species, becoming more abundant through autumn and finally becoming photogenic this month.
Bearded Tit-Welton Waters, East Yorkshire-7/11/25
And finally, for December, one that usually features in my annual review, Smew on Watton NR, Tophill Low NR on the 10th. It disappeared later in the month, but likely the bird seen at the end of the month nearby at High Eske NR [still present in the New Year].
♂︎.Smew-Watton NR, Tophill Low NR-10/12/25
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