Rarities
and Occasional Visitors - Bunting
|
| Lapland Bunting |
| Corn Bunting |
| LAPLAND BUNTING Calcarius lapponicus | Scarce visitor | |
1989 |
A single watched feeding at close range on the border of Bingley and Hawksworth Moors on 24th February was still present early the next morning. |
|
1991 |
A calling bird was amongst a party of Meadow Pipits flushed on Midgley Moor on the morning of 9th November. | |
1993 |
Two sightings, both from Thornton Moor Reservoir, represent only the third and fourth records in the Group’s history. A single flew north-east over the reservoir on 16th September and on 30th October, at a time of an influx of this species on the Yorkshire Coast, four birds were flushed from peat hags, circled and then flew off south-west. | |
1994 |
One dedicated local patch worker braving the elements of Fly Flatts on 11th September flushed an individual in bad weather. Patience paid off later in the day and good views were eventually obtained. |
|
1999 |
This species was last seen in the Group’s recording area in 1994, and might never even have made it into the 1999 list had it not been for the co-oridinated attempts to record early morning visible migration in the area, where apparent movement over and along the Aire-Calder watershed was noted during the autumn visible migration watches. On 25th September, the day of mass Pipit movement, a single bird flew south-east over Thornton Moor Reservoir at 7:20 hrs, followed at 07:54 and 07:58 hrs by another two single birds. | |
2000 |
The first record was of a bird flushed, and watched at close range at Buck Stones on 29th September, followed by two records from Kex Gill Quarry on 17th and 22nd October. |
|
2009 |
There were two records of a species not reported in the area for nine years, and concerned individuals which passed Thornton Moor on 23rd September, and Timble Ings on 13th October. |
|
2010 |
A good year at Thornton Moor turned up a total of at least 11 birds on 12th, 23rd, 25th, and 26th September, and 11th, 17th, and 23rd October. Others flying over on a further eight dates around this time (when there was a considerable national influx) could have been this species. | |
| CORN BUNTING Milaria calandra | Scarce visitor | |
1987 |
A rare bird in the Bradford area, a single at Apperley Bridge on 11th January being the only record. |
|
1988 |
There was one in the Tong-Cockersdale Valley on 20th October. | |
1996 |
An unexpected find was a (well described) bird feeding on animal fodder in a field off Gas Works Lane, Silsden on 26th March. |