Rare breed's numbers growing in Yorkshire

This year, between 110 and 130 pairs are estimated to have fledged between 350 and 500, not a record-breaking year perhaps because of the harsh winter, but still a decent result.

In autumn, the adults and young form flocks flying over the reeds making their characteristic pinging calls, and this has been going on since mid-September at Blacktoft.

The majority will drop back into the reeds again but some disperse moving as far as 100 miles and calling in at any available patch of Phragmites reedbed for a few days, so it is always worth checking these how ever small.

This process also goes on among bearded tit colonies across the North Sea and there have been reports of some arriving on the east coast with recent sightings at North Landing, Flamborough and Spurn Point.

Until this year, bearded tit colonies in Yorkshire were confined to Blacktoft Sands and a handful of other sites around the Humber estuary.

But a male was seen this summer during a breeding survey at the RSPB's Fairburn Ings reserve, near Castleford,and, subsequently, female and juvenile birds were observed. They are still present on a part of the reserve not open to the public.

Bearded tits, like bitterns, prefer newly established reedbeds such as the ones at Fairburn Ings.

There is an abundance of such reedbeds on inland sites that have been restored after open-cast mining and otherindustrial uses.

Bearded tits, once established, can produce up to four broods a year and, as a result, numbers can grow rapidly.

Nationally, numbers have built up owing to a run of mild winters and, in 2007, theEnglish and Welshpopulation was estimated at at least 611 pairs at 40 sites, mostly in eastern England.

In Scotland, there is a large colony on the Tay estuary with at least 250 pairs present in 2004.

There was some concern that last winter's heavy snow might haveprevented bearded tits feeding on reedhead seeds, leading to widespread starvation, but they seem to have coped well.

Flamborough had its second record of a brown shrike on Sunday when a first winter bird was seen from the North Marsh hide in the afternoon until dusk.

It was not relocated in the strong winds the following day.

A grey phalarope was seen at Filey at the weekend,while a red-necked phalarope was on both Canal and Clubley's Scrapes at Spurn on Tuesday.

Other birds seen at Spurn included four black redstarts, a little and snow buntings and 17 mealy redpolls.

Forty snow buntings were at Beacon Ponds and 35 Lapland buntings at Grimston.

Three Lapland buntings were seen inland at Orgreave lagoons, South Yorkshire.

A female king eider was seen off Flamborough while great northern divers, long-tailed ducks, velvet scoters, pomarine skuas,and little auks were seen from a number of Yorkshire coast viewpoints.

Pallas's warblers were seen at South Landing, Flamborough and Kew Villa, Spurn.

Two purple herons flew in off the sea at Mappleton.

Waxwings continue to be seen in good numbers all across the region.