News broke on Friday evening that an Oriental turtle dove had been found in a private garden in Easington, East Yorkshire. The species has a wide distribution with geographical variation in plumage that has led to at least six subspecies being designated. The Oriental turtle dove has two distinct migratory northern subspecies, S. o. orientalis in the central Siberian taiga and S. o. meena in the open woodlands of Central Asia. This bird was a Meena, which I hadn't seen before, but had seen Oientalis in Oxfordshire in 2010.
I made my way over to Easington this morning with Mark and Ash Powell, and the bird was showing really well on arrival.
As you can see, the bird showed really well and wasn't fazed by the crowd watching it. These species will probably never get split, but who knows? Stranger things have happened, and it was well worth going to see. News then broke that the Black Browed Albatross was showing again at Bempton Cliffs, so we headed north as Ash needed it for Britain.
On arrival and walking down by the cliffs, Fred Fearne told me that the bird had just flown under the cliffs below us. A quick diversion to another viewing point, and there it was! What a bird! I had seen the albatross last year in July, but it was still worth the drive, and Ash was made up with his lifer.
Other birds of note were the Puffin, Razorbill, Guillemot, Gannet, Kittiwake, tree sparrow, and sedge warbler. As you can see from the videos below, Bempton is an incredible place to see seabirds.
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A great morning birding and great to catch up with these two looneys! And home just after lunch.