WHITE-THROATED NEEDLETAIL-SCARBOROUGH CASTLE-NORTH YORKSHIRE

Last Wednesday, news emerged of a juvenile White-throated Needletail photographed at Tophill Low Nature Reserve, East Yorkshire. The bird was later relocated some 26 miles north at RSPB Bempton Cliffs. Photographs circulated that evening were compelling, and observers on site reported that the Needletail appeared to be attempting to land on the cliffs, possibly to roost.

Working in Oxfordshire at the time, I made the decision to travel north, arriving at Bempton shortly before midnight. I slept in the car to ensure I was in position for first light. By 07:00, several hundred birders had gathered along the cliffs, hopeful that the bird had remained overnight.

Bempton Cliffs, first light

Birders on site

As the morning progressed and the sun climbed higher, optimism gradually waned. News then broke that the Needletail had been rediscovered at Loch of Skene in Aberdeenshire, prompting a rapid dispersal of the assembled crowd. I remained at Bempton until mid-afternoon, holding out hope of a return, before beginning the three-hour drive home. Almost incredulously, as I neared home, news came through that the bird had been found again—this time at Filey Brigg, just 10 miles south of Bempton—where it showed well until dusk.

Plans were quickly made to return for first light the following morning with Malc Curtin. After an early night, we were back on the Yorkshire coast by 06:30.

Despite favourable conditions, the hours passed without a sighting, and by mid-morning we retreated briefly to Filey for food. No sooner had breakfast been ordered than the MEGA alert sounded. 

We paid hastily and left, reaching Scarborough Castle some 20 minutes later to find the bird already back in view. There, at last, the White-throated Needletail drifted effortlessly above the castle, showing superbly. After a day and a half of uncertainty and movement, the encounter felt richly deserved—a species I had long assumed I would never see in my lifetime. Parking closer to the castle allowed even better views as the bird passed directly overhead and continued to perform for the next hour.

(c)Ash Howe

(c)Ash Howe

This individual should have been migrating through Korea and Japan en route to Australia from its East Asian breeding grounds. Capable of faster level flight than any other bird on the planet, its presence over a North Yorkshire headland was as astonishing as it was unforgettable.

Cheers! Me and Malc raising a cold beer, celebrating the moment together!

Previous records:

2017 Glen, Castle Bay, Barra, Outer Hebrides 2CY+, 22nd June

2013 Loch Direcleit, Tarbert and Loch Drinisadair, Harris, Outer Hebrides, first-summer male, 24th to 26th June, later found dead, photo, now at National Museums Scotland

1991 Noup of Noss, Noss,Shetland 11th and 14th June; presumed same as Kent

1991 Near Belper, Derbyshire 3rd June; presumed same as Kent

1991  Wierton Hill Reservoir, Maidstone, 26th May, photo; also in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Shetland.

1991 Blithfield Reservoir, 1st June Staffordshire

1988 Hoy, Orkney 28th May to 8th June

1985 Fairburn Ings, West Yorkshire,27th May

1984 Hillwell/Quendale area, Mainland, Shetland, 25th May to 6th June

1983 South Ronaldsay, Orkney 11th to 12th June

1879 Near Ringwood, Hampshire, shot, 26th or 27th July

1846 Great Horkesley, Essex, 6th to 8th July, when shot, now at Chelmsford Museum