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Weekly birding round-up: 24 - 30 May 2017

Another week gone and another curio thrown up for May 2017 - it really has been a bit of an oddball this year; some would say rather disappointing, others would say that there’s been enough to keep the interest up (it’s May after all) and the surprise remains just a binocular lift away.

The first few days of the week saw a big old dollop of high pressure sat just to the right of us, bringing clear skies and endless hours of sunshine for almost every part of the country - the deep southeast seeing temperatures peak around the 28-29 degree mark as the Bank Holiday weekend drew closer. It felt exceedingly summery; it felt as though we’d skipped three weeks and landed ourselves in mid to late June.

The first pocket of showers skirted the Irish west coast as Saturday dawned and a few storms drifted across the northwest of England, parts of Ireland and Scotland too as the high did battle with a weak area of low pressure - it was enough of a tussle to produce showers and heavy spells of rain in places and by Monday, cooler conditions, with some light northeast winds, were in place as east coast birders from Suffolk to Shetland licked their lips.

 

As the review week drew to a close it appeared as though, despite some entertaining birds throughout the seven days just passed, there wasn’t going to be that special late May moment…

Fortunately that changed during the afternoon of 30th when news broke of a remarkable record from Shetland’s most westerly outpost - birders on Foula had found Britain’s first-ever spring Two-barred Greenish Warbler.

Far-eastern travellers will know just how distinctive this species can be at this time of year, but they can also be pretty subtle affairs too, so it will be exciting to see the images that may be forthcoming of this huge national rarity - in a week with three Greenish Warblers the look of the Shetland bird compared to the others will be fascinating to compare and contrast and tick off the differences.

Two-barred Greenish Warbler stirred listers’ loins all over again earlier this year when the BOU revealed that by handing the British List to the IOC there was an instant elevation to full species status for Phylloscopus plumbeitarsus on January 1st 2018 - great news for those who play by the official rulebook and who saw one of the five previous records.

Britain’s first Two-barred Greenish Warbler was the famous bird, debated at the time, that spent October 22nd-27th 1987 on Gugh. Nine years passed until Britain’s second came along, the stunning first-winter that spent two mid-October days around Holkham Meals. Another two-dayer (Scilly’s second) followed at the end of September 2003, seen around Samson Hill, Bryher and three years later came another much appreciated bird at Filey, seen between October 16th-18th 2006. Ten years would elapse until Britain’s fifth surfaced, a photographed cracker found on Papa Westray on October 9th last year.

Now Shetland has its first and, typically for this remarkable set of islands, it breaks the mould by producing not only a first record for the archipelago but also a first British spring record (assuming it sails through the records committee - which having seen a photo, seems a shoe-in doesn’t it?).

What a beauty…

 

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, the brief sighting of a Crag Martin in Powys would have had those not on the scene in 1999 all of a dither, knickers in knots, tummies in a tizzy…my how times have changed…

…for here is a species that is notorious for the brevity of sightings, even accepted ones, and for a bird that is actually sniffed around once or twice a year, very few come to post.

The warm and sunny 25th was begging for a stellar bird from down south to drift a way t’ward us on all that hot-ish air and the short visit of a Crag Martin at the Lake Vyrnwy RSPB reserve in Powys duly obliged those who knew that an eye-on-the-sky was the place for the big rare to appear.

This appears to have been a fairly brief encounter and if accepted by the BBRC it will become the second Welsh record and just the 12th record for Britain as a whole.

Famously, barely anyone with an interest in extensive listing now “needs” Crag Martin thanks almost entirely to the two most recent records, the three-day April bird of 2013 that was around the East Yorkshire coast, at Flamborough Head and the remarkable nine-day November bird found in Derbyshire, around Chesterfield’s crooked spire in 2015.

Prior to this there was just one other twitchable individual, the one day bird that was in Leicestershire and then West Yorkshire the following day, back in April 1999. Interestingly, there’s just one previous record for May, seen on Orkney in 1999 - for a species with so few records, the spread of those 11 acceptances stretches across seven different months from April to November (just August remains blank out of the months four to eleven on the calendar).

 

Who knows where the Black-browed Albatross that was reported by a single observer from Orcombe Point (Devon) at around tea-time on 26th was from, but chances are we’ve a fair idea.

Seen alongside a handful of Manx Shearwaters, the presumed adult headed east (towards Lyme Bay) but as has been the case with our friend from German waters, it can disappear in a heartbeat.

To date, there’s just one accepted record of Black-browed Albatross in the county, seen off the north coast, at Morte Point on April 25th 1965, but there were two records from last year; an adult was close inshore off Prawle Point on August 16th and one was off Lundy on October 17th. Whether this week’s claim becomes the next depends on the power of the submission to the BBRC.

 

Great Snipe. Two words that still manage to make the heart take an extra beat of many birders’ hearts whenever they appear on the pager and this week’s rather fine and rather surprising discovery in and around the pools at Borth Bog, Glandwr, near Ynyslas (Ceredigion) on the morning of 29th was one of the finds of the spring. Found by four observers, the bird obliged those who travelled across to the western most part of Wales by showing a couple of times during the afternoon and then again the next morning when it flew to nearby Borth Bog.

The most recent Welsh record until now was the equally surprising trapped juvenile in Powys in October 2014, that was the Principality’s 10th record in all; there have been two previous records in Ceredigion, two were shot sometime in around 1894 and another was gunned down in September 1947. Gwynedd and Denbighshire have equal shares of four birds (the latter county’s records come from 1888 and 1911, while the former’s two records are pre-1907 near Betws-y-coed and, more recently, on Bardsey in October 2003. Powys leads with four records, all bar the previously mentioned 2014 youngster were shot in 1876.

Of the 630+ accepted records of Great Snipe 17 have been seen in May, including five in the last nine years - two on Shetland (on consecutive days in 2011), a three-day Holy Island bird in 2008, one in Somerset in 2012 and, most famous of all, the displaying male at Cley for six days in 2011.

 

The old hands at Spurn will have enjoyed many fine last weekend in May days in and around the sizeable recording area - most famously the day that the first-ever twitchable (and, at the time, only the 11th ever) Blyth’s Reed Warbler was found, on May 28th 1984. Exactly 33 years on, birders who gathered at The Warren on May 28th will have gone home having had another day to remember…

First up (post a bleary-eyed false start) at around 9.45am, was the spectacular fly-through, southbound Alpine Swift which drew ooohs and aaaahs from the crowd as it zoomed overhead, making strong southbound progress (two hours later, still going south and departing Lincolnshire, it was seen at Gibraltar Point NNR).

An hour or so later, a first-summer male Red-footed Falcon was logged heading south and less than half an hour later, at around 11.10am, another first-summer male Red-foot made his serene way south. It all went quiet for 35 minutes until a Red-rumped Swallow went south over The Warren and then at 12.40pm, up popped the third Red-footed Falcon of the day, this time a female, but she was also off south but she wasn’t the last, another female was seen doing the southbound thing at 2.30pm - six superb birds within less than five hours; an absolute triumph for this remarkable VizMig location which is now firmly established as being, unquestionably, the best birding site in Britain.

 

The Internet can be a remarkably helpful place to loiter at times and this week’s first bit of big news stemmed from a birder noticing something odd about a female Kestrel that had been photographed on the island of Noss (Shetland) on May 1st.

Braving the oft-dissenting voices that lurk in the darkest recesses of the online birding community, “Recovering Scot” had enough about him to stick it out there and ask the question - was the Noss bird really just be a female Eurasian Kestrel or was the tail (and other features) taking it to an all together different and (of course) much rarer place.

It didn’t take long for positive voices to come back in support of RS’s initial thoughts - the rather diminutive looking bill, the striking lack of any real face pattern, the distinctive pattern of chevrons on the scapulars and coverts, the relatively unmarked look of the tail and the length of the tail itself, coupled with claws that also appeared pale took all those who studied the image to the inevitable Mega conclusion - this was a female Lesser Kestrel.

The bird wasn’t noted again and many on Shetland will be looking at the photos with an air of resignation - as well as still being a desperately rare bird anywhere in the country, it is a huge bird for Shetland, where there’s just one accepted record to date, a photographed male seen on Fair Isle on June 23rd 1987.

There have only been 20 accepted Lesser Kestrels in all here and only three of those have been twitchable; a male at Rainham Marshes from July 31st-August 4th 1974 was well received at the time and everyone else listing after that had to wait until the exciting discovery of a first-summer male Lesser Kestrel was made on St. Mary’s (Scilly) on May 13th 2002, a bird that remained on the island for nine days. The next arrival, eight years later, was also available to all, this time at Minsmere RSPB (Suffolk), spending four days on site in March 2010.

Of the 20 acceptances, nine of them have occurred in the last 43 years (from the Rainham male onwards) and this month’s Shetland bird is the fifth in just 15 years (the other two being photographed birds on North Roanldsay in September 2011 and at Hope’s Nose, in Devon, in October 2013 (which was our one and only juvenile). There are just two previous records of females; one was shot in Aberdeenshire in October 1897 and the other was picked up dead on the Isle of Wight in April 1903.

 

Coming a couple of weeks after the event was the news of what may have been the fourth Slate-coloured Junco of the spring, photographed in a private garden in Dolgellau (Gwynedd) on May 12th but not seen since.

A classic date (a bird predicted for that time in fact), the north Wales bird followed on just three days after the lovely male was seen on Skomer, off the Pembrokeshire coast - once accepted the Gwynedd bird will become only the third record for the Principality and a second for the county (Wales one and only bird until this year was seen on Bardsey in April 1975.

 

He’s still there and probably will be for weeks to come…the male Pied-billed Grebe on station at Loch Feorlin, near Minard (Argyll & Bute) to 27th at least.

 

The week’s only White-billed Divers records came from the waters of Orkney, where a lone bird was seen off Sanday on 24th and a second was at Hoxa Head, South Ronaldsay on 27th.

There was just one Long-tailed Skua to mention, seen over Hobbister, Mainland (Orkney) on 28th.

…and there wasn’t a massive amount of action where Pomarine Skuas were concerned either, six birds logged ahead of the weekend including a beautiful dark adult photographed some 30 miles off Esha Ness, Mainland (Shetland) with a couple of pale adults further south, off Dornoch (Highland) with a lone bird at Dawlish Warren (Devon) - all four seen on 25th. One or two followed the next day, seen off the coasts of both West and East Sussex, at Selsey Bill and Seaford Head. The 28th saw a lone bird fly past Saltcoats (Ayrshire) and the day after, another was off Portland Bill (Dorset).

 

Always exciting to hear about and always one of the better birds to liven up a review is Black Stork and this week saw one spend five minutes circling Gibraltar Point NNR (Lincolnshire) at lunchtime on 28th - currently there are six accepted records for the county, up to three of which were seen between May and August 2015. This week’s bird drifted SW from Gib, so will doubtless resurface somewhere soon…

A singing male Little Bittern continued to do his thing deep in the reeds out on the Somerset Levels until at least 26th, being noted in flight occasionally too.

Two different adult Night Herons remained on St. Mary’s (Scilly) until 24th (one at Porth Hellick, one at Carn Friars) with two around the former spot on 29th (an adult and a second-summer). The still obliging adult remained at Dingle Gardens, Shrewsbury (Shropshire) through to 30th when another was reported from Tewkesbury (Gloucestershire). There was a snippet of late Irish news too - an adult Night Heron was near Goleen (Co. Cork) on May 21st.

A warm and sunny Thursday afternoon saw a Purple Heron reported from Holme (Norfolk) but there were no further sightings, despite searching. There was a little snippet of late news from northeast England, where a Purple Heron was reported from Gosforth Park NR on 22nd and it was apparently seen there on 29th and a first-summer flew through Weybourne and Cley on 30th.

A bare minimum 21 Cattle Egrets were recorded in ten English, Welsh and Irish counties this week; a chick was visible in the nest at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB (Cheshire) on 27th while around the regions four singles were in the Midlands, three were in East Anglia, two were in the southwest and a single was in the northeast. A late bird from last week, seen heading off to roost at Marston Vale Millennium CP (Bedfordshire) was a county first. Five Welsh birds remained at Ynyslas (Ceredigion) to 30th and two Irish birds were at Tacumshin (Co. Wexford) to 26th.

Starting the week off nicely was new Glossy Ibis near Nether Blainslie (Borders) on the evening of 24th - the first modern day record for the county and just the second-ever, the first was shot near Kelso in November 1902. It was presumably the same bird that landed on a private site in Angus on 25th, remaining to 29th. An adult was found at Ditchford GPs (Northamptonshire) on 26th, presumably having moved from Earls Barton (seen there at the end of the last review period). In Somerset, at least one bird remained on the Levels for much of the week.

By some margin, the group of 18 Spoonbills at Potter Heigham Marshes (Norfolk) on 28th was the largest gathering of the species this week; once again, some 60 were noted countrywide, typically spread far and wide, with four at Saltholme RSPB (Cleveland) early in the week (when another quartet flew by Overstrand in Norfolk) and a trio of threes in Dorset, Cheshire and Lancashire were all added in to the pot.

Numbers of Great White Egrets reported fell away markedly this week, down form 60+ to around 24 in all across the country. Three were at Sharpham Park (Somerset) on 24th and there two were at Ham Wall RSPB the same day. A further two more were at Dungeness RSPB (Kent) on 26th and two more flew past the point there on 29th; they were the only non-singletons through the last seven days.

In and around the Norfolk Broads lurked a few Common Cranes - seven were at Potter Heigham Marshes on 24th and 12 were at Horsey on the following day. Away from East Anglia, a lone bird was near Cupar (Fife) on 24th. Two more followed on 26th, seen at Frampton Marsh RSPB (Lincolnshire) and two remained (for several days) at Otmoor RSPB (Oxfordshire). The busy skies over south Lincolnshire hosted a single Crane on 28th, seen over Skegness and then Tetney and Frampton and one was again at Idle Valley NR (Nottinghamshire) on 30th.

After weeks of downcast glumness as the vagrancy expectations of White Stork are slowly eroded by the assorted former crocks from eastern Europe spreading their wings and mooching around the country, this week saw a far more cheery showing thanks entirely to the two birds that flew east over the airport on St. Mary’s (Scilly) on 24th - surely these two were the real deal (weather great, time of year perfect, location spot on) and they could become only the third record for the islands in the last 15 years+ (one was seen over St. Mary’s in April 2009 and two were seen off St. Martin’s in September 2004).

A (second?) twosome of Double C action followed on 26th, when Hampshire hosted a fly through pair of White Storks over Locks Heath.

Rounding off this section, the news of a singing Corncrake in Warwickshire, in the grassland around Alevcote Pools from 27th-30th, a new county bird for many locals.

 

Last week’s drake Lesser Scaup remained on the Loch of Skene (Aberdeenshire) until 24th when another Scottish drake Ring-necked Duck was noted on Loch Cul Dromnnan, near Drumrunie (Highland).

There’s little else duck-wise this week; off the top end of Orkney, a drake Surf Scoter flew north past North Ronaldsay on 24th and a female was at Burray on 29th while on the Scottish mainland, both of the recent drake King Eiders remained at Whiteness Head (Highland) and the Ythan Estuary (Aberdeenshire), seen to 24th and 26th respectively.

 

The week’s best new shorebird was the exquisite fully summer adult American Golden Plover that was located along the Gann Estuary (Pembrokeshire) on 27th, remaining there until 30th.

After four days of either no news or negative news, the delightful Cumbrian Spotted Sandpiper was seen again at Buttermere on 26th-30th.

Most of the Black-winged Stilt business is (rightly) flying below the mainstream radar this week as several breeding pairs (half a dozen plus) are being monitored at sites around the country; one stray we can mention properly was the bird on Lakenheath Fen RSPB (Suffolk) on 25th.

New on the morning of 26th was the male Kentish Plover that was reported from the east side of Pagham Harbour (West Sussex) while the female Red-necked Phalarope stayed put on Grindon Lough (Northumberland) through until 30th and was one of a tiny handful of migrants this week, others were on Shetland, near Exnaboe on 26th and at Frampton Marsh RSPB (Lincolnshire) on 30th.

Numbers of Temminck’s Stints slowed at some pace this week (if that makes sense) the only birds noted being one at Lough Beg (Co. Derry) on 26th, the second in the county within the space of some nine months, but the first two in eight years. The Derry stint followed on from two Pectoral Sandpipers at the same site the previous day, one of which remained to 28th.

The only other Temminck’s Stints were found at Frampton Marsh RSPB (Lincolnshire) and Monks House (Northumberland) on 27th, Culkein (Highland) and on the Hayle Estuary (Cornwall) on 28th-30th - the three most recent records of the species (2017, 2015 and 2011) have all been at Ryan’s Field - with the final bird this week appearing at Druridge Pools NR (Northumberland) on 29th.

Thinning out rapidly now are northbound Dotterels, just three logged ahead of the weekend, two were seen near Exnaboe, Mainland (Shetland) on 25th-26th and one was at Kildale (North Yorkshire) on 26th.

 

The week concluded with a Gull-billed Tern making itself known at Steart WWT (Somerset) on 30th; only the fourth for the county, all of which have come in the last two decades - the first was a first-winter at Dunster in October 1997, the second was at Steart in July 2004 and the third was found at Shapwick Heath in April 2011.

The first-summer White-winged Black Tern was left high and dry at Staines Reservoir (Surrey) but the accompanying two adults that appeared at the end of last week’s review period, the youngster remained on site until 24th. The warmth in the air produced a second for the week, courtesy of the adult found at Rutland Water (Leicestershire) on 26th.

There’s just one lingering first-summer Bonaparte’s Gull to mention this week, seen again at Cross Ness (London) on 24th. Ring-billed Gull is down to two birds this week as they fall by the wayside, almsot in slow-motion; the 1st summer could still be seen in fields near Ynyslas (Cerdigion) to 30th and the same-aged bird was again at the southern end of the Shetland Mainland, near Quendale on 26th.

Most white-winged gulls have given up the ghost but there were still a few of both species still around this week; 13 Iceland Gulls were recorded in nine British and Irish counties, with four on the Outer Hebrides and four in Ireland (including two in Kerry). Glaucous Gulls managed just seven birds, seen in five B & I counties, three of them noted in Highland.

 

An adult White-tailed Eagle must have been a (literal) huge surprise over Criccieth (Gwynedd) on 26th (it must be lurching towards a modern-day (at least) county first, while the same day brought news of the Norfolk bird appearing on the edge of Broadland, at Ridlington, the adult remained on Yell (Shetland) while eight immatures were seen over Loch Stiapavat, Lewis (Outer Hebrides) as well. Norfolk’s youngster must have roosted within sight of the north coast as it was seen to head north from Holt CP at around 9am on 29th - though the first anyone knew was at around 6pm that evening. Presumably it escaped under the big grey shroud that sat across the coastal strip, but it does seem amazing that it wasn’t seen again, especially given the number of birders around.

Red-footed Falcons were in fairly short supply, despite the hottish conditions and southeast winds; first of the week was the bird reported at Stoke Ferry (Norfolk) on 24th and it was followed by a first-summer male on St. Mary’s (Scilly) and males at Gibraltar Point NNR (Lincolnshire) and Skibbereen (Co. Cork), all on 25th (the Scilly male in place to 26th). There may also have been a double arrival of Red-foots along the River Deben in Suffolk the same day, one of which, an adult male was still present to the morning of 27th.

Next was the female that moved from Long Nab, Burniston to the Wykeham Forest (North Yorkshire) on 27th and the males seen at Durlston CP (Dorset) and Hornsea Mere (East Yorkshire) the same day. Also in East Yorkshire on 27th was a female Red-foot at Spurn and then Kilnsea, perhaps she may have been the same bird that was seen (and already noted) through the Numpties on 28th.

Elsewhere on 28th, a female Red-footed Falcon was at Ham Wall RSPB (Somerset) and a male was reported between Cley and Salthouse (Norfolk) and an ex-Spurn male made it to Gibraltar Point around lunchtime. New on 29th was the male seen at Windmill Farm NR, Lizard (Cornwall). The last arrivals of the week were males at Sheringham (Norfolk), Dunwich Heath NT (Suffolk) and St. Martin’s (Scilly) on 30th.

The now traditional late spring push of Red Kites yielded some great numbers on 25th, interestingly this time not confined to the very tip of Cornwall. At least 25 birds were counted over Margate (Kent) and along the east and south coast of Devon, morning counts of 33 and 43 were taken at Seaton and Exmouth. In Cornwall, 29 Reds were over Connor Downs through until mid-afternoon, 25 were seen near Camborne and in the far west of the county, at least 50 were noted in two and a half afternoon hours at Sancreed, with 57 at Polgigga in almost the same time frame.

Another dozen Red Kites were seen at Crowlas and the Cornish field also attracted two Black Kites as part of a super movement through the day. Another was reported the next day at St. Buryan, where at least another 19 Red Kites were seen and in north Cornwall, a potential fourth Black Kite was at Camelford, also on 27th.

Further reports of Black Kite included singles in Hampshire on 24th and 26th (at Havant and Yateley respectively) and also at Loch of Strathbeg RSPB (Aberdeenshire) on 25th, North Foreland and Minnis Bay (Kent) on 27th and Sutton Heath (Suffolk), Brading Marshes RSPB (Isle of Wight) and Malpas (Cornwall) all on 28th. Next day, another was seen heading south at Westfield (East Sussex) and another was reported at Lydd (Kent).

The presumed continental push of Kites had first been noted on 24th when as well as 30 northbound Reds at Sandwich Bay (Kent) came the first Honey Buzzard of the week. Also on the same day were singles at Abbot’s Cliff (also in Kent), Shoreham-by-Sea (West Sussex) and across Mainland Shetland, seen at Lunna and Boddam. Kent’s third of the week was seen over Whitstable on 25th with the first of two Orkney birds seen on Sanday the same day with the second, a female, seen over North Ronaldsay on 26th. Another Kentish bird was over Upnor Castle on 26th while 27th saw singles recorded over Boyton Marshes RSPB (Suffolk) and Woodbury Salterton (Devon).

Sunday Honey Buzzards started with on doing the same “off-out” routine at West Runton (Norfolk) as one did a few days ago and a second bird was reported there later the same morning. Also in Norfolk, the third for the day was seen over Kelling Heath (perhaps being the same bird that was seen at Boddam) while in Derbyshire, also on 28th, a male was seen heading over Ogston Reservoir, with further records on the day coming from Papa Westray (Orkney), Tetney (Lincolnshire), Polegate (West Sussex) and Middleton (Suffolk) too. They kept coming on 29th, singles reported from Sculthorpe Moor NR (Norfolk) and Leith Hill (Surrey) as one of the best spring’s for the species in recent years continued a pace.

Passage Montagu’s Harrier records have been dismal this spring, so thank goodness for the bird noted at Foreness Point (Kent) on 27th and the two that followed on the same day, at Wykeham Forest and reported too from Strumpshaw Fen RSPB (Norfolk). Thank goodness too for the seen-daily adult female that remained at Blacktoft Sands RSPB (East Yorkshire) through until 27th at least.

 

One of the big prizes on the mainland this week was the fly through Pallid Swift (in the company of two Commons) across the Numpties, at Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 26th - if accepted this will become the ninth record for the county (and the 11th overall for the whole of Yorkshire).

This will be the fifth for the Spurn recording area, four now on the Peninsula and one at Kilnsea, all coming since 2004. There’s been one previous spring record at Spurn, seen and photographed on May 31st 2014. Flamborough Head has hosted the other four East Yorkshire records, none of which have been seen in spring.

There are just shy of 100 accepted records of this once huge rarity on the books and despite the first British record being a well-watched May bird (at Stodmarsh in 1978) there have been just eight accepted records for the month since, one in 1983 (in Hampshire), two in 1998 (on Scilly and in Kent), one in 2001 (in North Yorkshire), two in 2009 (in Cornwall and on Scilly), one in 2014 (at Spurn) and also last year (a recently accepted Norfolk record from Blakeney).

The Numpties watchers at Spurn already had their collective eye in on the fly throughs - the day before the Pallid headed south, they’d seen two more Red-rumped Swallows both off in the same direction (one of which had been on wires near the Warren earlier the same morning). Also on 24th was the bird at Gott, Tiree (Argyll & Bute), the first in the county for three years. New for a sunny Saturday was the bird at Bawdsey (Suffolk) and also on Bryher (Scilly) which presumably then moved to Tresco later the same day (where it remained to 29th before perhaps then moving to St. Mary’s the same day). Also on 27th a new arrival was found on Lundy (Devon) while the second Alpine Swift of the week was seen at Dungeness RSPB (Kent) on 30th.

The summertime sunshine pushed a couple of flocks of Bee-eaters our way; a group of eight were seen over Washington WWT (Co. Durham) on 25th and six flew from a garden at Willop (Kent) on the morning of 26th with a single reported at Islip (Northamptonshire) later the same day. The morning of 27th saw two single Bee-eaters appear before 9am; one spent a short time over Dungeness NNR (Kent) and another was seen in Norfolk, heading east over Cley Marshes before appearing to the east over Sheringham Bird Observatory and the nearby golf course. Later the same day, three more were reported from Ewelme (Oxfordshire) and the second octet of the week was at Birling Gap (East Sussex) on 29th.

Shetland’s third Rustic Bunting within just a few days was the fine male found at Shirva, Fair Isle on 26th (and which was still present on 27th). Also on Fair Isle, a summer attired Red-throated Pipit was found at the Meadow Burn on 25th, the second there within a week and the island’s run of good birds continued on 30th when a male Subalpine Warbler sp., was trapped and ringed at Chalet.

Almost as soon as the invisible ink on last week’s round-up had dried online, then up popped one of the first predictions to be found in the increasingly waggy tail of the chapter and verse presented to you each week. Step forward please Blyth’s Reed Warbler…

The year’s first record of this non-BBRC bird…three years on, I still find it hard to believe; I get it, I understand why, but as an increasingly old man, to see this once-mythic species removed from the famed list is still ever-so-slightly mindboggling…came from the Joss bay area of Kent’s North Foreland on 24th.

Prior to removal from the list of all things rare (rare and still easy to misidentify) there had been only two other accepted records of Blyth’s Reed Warbler in the county, both singing males, both at Dungeness, both at the back end of May (31/05/99 & 28/05/14) with what should be the county’s first being a retrapped bird, originally banded in Sweden on September 23rd 1999 and caught at Dungeness on November 2nd that year but it was apparently not submitted.

Just one other has been seen subsequently and that was a singing male (identified from recordings) that was at…North Foreland on May 28th last year. Coincidence or one-in-the-same bird, back again?

The week’s second Blyth’s Reed was the elusive singing male that was found at Bawdsey (Suffolk) on 27th, showing infrequently and heading off overnight. Just the fifth county record, this will become the first spring bird in Suffolk if accepted by the county records committee.

In Norfolk, a Great Reed Warbler was seen for a short time from Cley’s famous old East Bank during the morning of 27th - potentially the 17th county record (following on from the singing male in Thetford earlier this month) and the fifth for the site, the most recent coming on a similarly sunny, muggy late May day in 2012.

Given the conditions, there wasn’t too much of a surprise to hear of the arrival of a Greenish Warbler, a singing male, on Great Saltee Island (Co. Wexford) on 28th - the first in the county since one was on the same island in August 2013. No surprise either in the news of a Greenish Warbler along Blakeney Point (Norfolk) on 29th - the only surprise being that it was the only migrant of note along the north coast on a murky day that seemed perfect for scarce arrivals. Also on the same day, a productive spell for the Calf of Man Bird Observatory continued when they trapped the week’s third Greenish.

Suffolk was the proud owner of two Savi’s Warblers this week (and, as it turns out, the past two weeks as well) - Minsmere’s male was still in situ to 30th while “new” was the songster that was at Lakenheath Fen RSPB, apparently he’d been around since around May 11th or so (and wasn’t that far from the still present - to 30th - in-song male Marsh Warbler).

Norfolk’s Savi’s wasn’t giving up the ghost just yet, he was on site to 30th.

A new Melodious Warbler was trapped and ringed in the Nanjizal valley (Cornwall) early on the morning of 26th while later the same day, at midnight (or thereabouts) a singing male Icterine Warbler was heard near Loch Insh (Highland). Another Icterine followed at Winterton (Norfolk) on 29th and the same date saw a new Marsh Warbler arrive on the Isle of Wight, at St. Catherine’s Point with a third singer heard at Newton Pool (Northumberland) on 30th.

The week’s first Common Rosefinch was found on the edge of Aberdeen, at Nigg Bay on 27th and three were in gardens at Sumburgh, Mainland (Shetland) the same day. A new first-summer male (or two) was on the Isle of May (Fife) on 28th-30th. Back on Shetland, two Rosefinches were on Out Skerries on 29th and an “orange” male was on Unst the same day while the Short-toed Lark found last week on Fetlar was still at Loch of Funzie up until at least 28th.

Three male Red-backed Shrikes made themselves known (in what has been another poor spring for the species) - the first was at Sands of Forvie NNR (Aberdeenshire) on 25th and two came along on 27th, at Coldingham (Borders) and near Beddmanarch Bay (Anglesey) - the first on the island since a May male in 2012. Another fine find was the male at Horton, near Chipping Sodbury (Gloucestershire) on 29th - the first in the county since May 2010 - and another male arrived at Denge Wood (Kent) the same day. Two females on 29th were found at Prawle Point (Devon) and on Sanday (Orkney) with another on Out Skerries (Shetland) and the week ended with a female on Bardsey Island (Gwynedd) on 30th.

A busyish first day of the long weekend saw three new Red-breasted Flycatchers discovered on 27th; a female was in the Old Fall hedge, Flamborough Head (East Yorkshire) and two were on Shetland, a singing first-summer male was at Skaw, Unst and a female-type was trapped on Fair Isle (where it remained to 29th). New on 30th was the bird at Lopness, Sanday (Orkney) on 30th.

An absolutely storming blue-spotted male Bluethroat was exceptional find on Skokholm (Pembrokeshire) on 27th; trapped and ringed, it was the first record of the species in the county for seven years (when a male was on Skomer, on May 21st 2010) and threw up a number of questions as to exactly where it came from…

Wholly blue-throated male Bluethroats are crinklingly rare in the UK; off the top of my head, I can only think of a late March male in the reedbed at Cley, some 20 years ago, which was assigned to the blue-throated variant of White-spotted Bluethroat L.s.cyanecula “wolfi” , understandable given the date and the existence of such a variant for the white-spotted form.

Sitting at the desk on a warm Saturday afternoon, looking at the in-hand shots of the Skokholm bird, its blue throat and extensive looking red breast band is arguably a fit (especially given the date, westerly location and sultry blast of weather) for a bird of the form luristanica (which has also been known as L.s.magna until fairly recently) as much it is another “wolfi” - the range for the form is stated in “Robins and Chats” (Clement and Rose) as being found in Eastern Turkey and the Caucasus through N and SW Iran; they are large for Bluethroats, so measurements will be interesting to know more about…

…there are other options, including the often blue-throated males from Spain (L.s.azuricollis) but the overall picture is clouded by the complexity of a sizeable amount of individual variation. As fascinating as it is to try and pinpoint the bird’s origins, one thing’s for sure, Skokholm’s boy was a beauty!

The week’s first Red-spotted Bluethroat was the female found at Sumburgh Head, Mainland (Shetland) on 26th with two following the next day, found on North Ronaldsay and Sanday (Orkney).

A Woodchat Shrike was new on Lundy Island (Devon) on 25th and a second for the week was found right at the top of the Scottish mainland, at Mey (Highland) on 28th. Elsewhere in Scotland came the surprise appearance of two Rose-coloured Starlings suggested as being a female and first-summer male, coming to feeders in Hunter’s Quay (Argyll & Bute).

Little to report on the Golden Oriole front this week; two female or first-summer males flew west at Overstrand (Norfolk) on 25th and another in the county was seen briefly at Winterton Dunes NNR on 27th. A singing male, a rare thing these days, was at Pegwell Bay (Kent) on 28th and another adult male was reported from Alkborough Flats (Lincolnshire) the same day. May 29th offered up one for Surrey, at Leith Hill and a singing male was near Watermill, St. Mary’s (Scilly). Just one solitary Hoopoe was reported this week at Northwich (Cheshire) on 25th, ditto Wryneck, the week’s only offering found near Bridport (Dorset) on 29th.

Very few Serins made the news this week; on 25th one was seen at Landguard NR (Suffolk) and the second in the last seven days was at Dungeness NNR (Kent) on 27th.

Wrapping things up, the Great Grey Shrike that was reported as still being present around the Soussons Plantation, near Warren House Inn, Dartmoor (Devon) on 25th-28th.

 

Sweden’s fine run of very rare national birds continued this week when the third Turkestan Shrike for the country was found at Utlängan, Blekinge on 30th.

After touring and tracking roughly north through the Netherlands, Germany and, last week, southwestern Denmark, there wasn’t a huge surprise to hear news that the immature Lammergeier had continued onwards to make a national debut in Sweden on 22nd-23rd, seen at Jönköping (in the southern half of the country, due east of Gothenburg).

Not doing anything too unexpected this week was the adult Black-browed Albatross which was on Sylt, Schelswig-Holstein, Germany during the middle of the day on 24th - doubtless contemplating the next move over the North Sea, which may only have meant a little fly around before appearing back on the favoured island site on 27th-30th.

In the Netherlands, a young Lammergeier was seen on the coast heading north over Texel, Noord-Holland on 27th (it was so clear, it would have been able to see Norfolk and Lincolnshire from any great height) - answers on a postcard as to which Beardie this actually is…but one thing we do know is the precise origins of this bird; seen on the ground, it exhibited a coded metal ring and was known to be a 1st summer bird that had been released in to the Austrian Alps last year. Even our liberal friends over the North Sea may struggle to justify a Category A type scenario on this one…but they’d have been happy to see it again on 30th, still in Noord-Holland, noted at Schrool and then Alkmaar.

Much more tickable was the Dutch Sociable Plover that spent 28th-29th at Zuidlaardermeergebied, Oostpolder while across the border in Belgium, a massive flock of 96 Eurasian Griffon Vultures were near Burg-Reuland on 28th.

French birders must have been pretty amazed at the discovery, well up in the north of the country not too far to the northeast of Paris, of an Audouin’s Gull on the first day of the new review period. The bird was present at Charny, Seine-et-Marne and this was the very site that (presumably) the same sharp-eyes picked up the Western P’s second Vega Gull last November. Extraordinary stuff and, like the recent smithsonianus in Suffolk, it just shows what is out there in some “unfashionable” locations.

It seems as though the end of round-up predictions have gone all continental this week; a Trumpeter Finch was the big bet at the end of last week’s review and the small west coast island of Île d’Yeu, Vendée was the place that one alighted, seen there on 25th. Another French island bird remained through much of this week, the Cream-coloured Courser on Corsica, at Punto Spano, to 28th.

In eastern Europe, a male Amur Falcon was found in a colony of Red-footed Falcons at Plopul, near Tulcea on 27th-29th - a first record for the country - while Polish birders found the 2nd Black-shouldered Kite for their home nation on 30th, seen at Zamosc, Lubelskie.

Italian birders were presumably fairly shocked to see what had originally been identified as a dark Western Reef Heron change in to the county’s first-ever record of Black Heron - found at Porto Cesareo, Apulia on 24th, this is huge Western Palearctic record (#7 so far), the most recent records have come only from Cape Verde Islands. This week’s Italian bird was in place to 30th.

Dropping down in the Iberian Peninsula, a Yellow-billed Stork was found at Barragem romano de Álamo - a species far more frequently seen in the Middle East, so perhaps best listed as “OUO”…

Closest to home the American Royal Tern reappeared on Guernsey at L’Ancresse Common on 26th having not been reported/seen since 15th.

…and talking of the Middle East, Israel’s 10th Pink-backed Pelican was found at Yeurham Lake on 30th.

 

That’s that then. May is done and dusted bar all bar one final day. Now more than ever, we’re at the beginning of the end for the business end of spring when, as each day passes, the rarities can get rarer and rarer. And rarer.

The Orcadian Blackbird aside, Spring 2017 has been fits and starts at best, and although the variety of species has been there, the numbers have (largely) been on the modest side (if you’re being generous). That said, it really is all about being relative - as has often been mentioned here over the past five years or so, if you travelled back in time and were told you could see (or at least here of…) a migrating Blue Rock Thrush, an overshooting Rock Thrush, a spring Hermit Thrush, the country’s first Red-winged Blackbird, a shouty singing male Specatacled Warbler, a fly-by Black-browed Albatross, a spring Baltimore Oriole, a tough-to-call female Lesser Kestrel and a Crag Martin - well, you’d never have believed a word of it…

…yes, it is all relative…and, on paper at least, this past few weeks has been pretty darn fine. But it doesn’t quite feel like that.

The next two, perhaps three weeks will see the seasons change and late spring drift in to the heady days of early summer. Traditionally, this is the time that the really big rarities come…

May’s final day has offered many a fine farewell gift as she drifts in to June with every tick of the clock. Dorset’s magnificent Short-toed Eagle from three years ago claims top prize but its been a fine day for finding Black Stork, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Red-throated Pipit, Great Reed Warbler and, one of last week’s hot tips, Black-headed Bunting.

June 1st? That has a stunning track record with some quite exceptional rarities strewn across the history books - some of which are high on a few “most wanted” lists…best of the lot, Suffolk’s first-summer male White-crowned Black Wheatear from 1982 (35 years passed, not a whiff of another, that’s blocker with a capital “B”).

Further back in time, there’s the Cadgwith Blue-cheeked Bee-eater of 1989 (we’re so due another one of these) while Lundy’s male Rüppell’s Warbler of 1979 stands out from the crowd, as does Bardsey’s male Rock Bunting. More contemporary birds include as Shetland Moltoni’s Warbler (in 2009) and the famous South Stack Black Lark of 2003. All that before even getting near the middling rares…(and that almost includes the Yorkshire Audouin’s Gull of 2005…).

Diversity is where June 2nd is at - four species of Nearctic passerine have appeared; Seaforth’s outrageous male Blackpoll Warbler of 2000, Skokholm’s twitched Swainson’s Thrush and the male Cedar Waxwing both from 2015 while our first Hermit Thrush was on Fair Isle in 1975.

Staying in the west, that one and only Fox Sparrow still catches the eye for June 3rd - 1961 and Copeland Island make it one heck of a record. All three pratincole species recorded here have been found on this date, a much-admired on-territory Marmora’s Warbler appeared in Wales in 2010 and there’s another Caspian Plover too - the two-day Skelberry bird on Mainland Shetland in 1996.

Not that anyone cares now, but June 4th has provided us with the first two British Blue Rock Thrush (in 1985 and 1987) and with a Rock Thrush on the same date (in 1986). Two Trumpeter Finch records also catch the eye ditto the Hebridean Moltoni’s Warbler of 2015.

June 5th? It’s all about rare warblers again - Fair Isle’s Eastern Olivaceous (from 1995) is the one you’re drawn to, but there’s also River, Paddyfield, Booted and Blyth’s Reed in the mix too.

The last day to look ahead to is the 6th of the month and, a little like June 1st, there’s quality of the highest order dripping from every pore. Two national firsts have been logged on 06/06; Fair Isle’s Citril Finch from 2008 and the Scilly Tree Swallow of 1990 shine like monster rare beacons. There are also two stunning “first twitchable” records (for almost everyone) to remember too - the outrageous White-tailed Plover at Caerlaverock in 2007 and the Hartlepool White-throated Robin from 2011.

The weather appears to be getting a little wishy-washy again in the week ahead, so it is nigh-on impossible to think of what to pick out as ones to watch for - Lesser Grey Shrike is the inevitable draw, along with perhaps a Black-winged Pratincole, despite the indifferent forecast that’s on the cards. The first Roller wouldn’t go amiss either (it was something of a surprise that one didn’t surface as the sun shone in the week just gone).

Lashings of quality from start to finish then, breathless stuff. Let’s just hope there’s something coming our way, wending a way through Europe towards us to brighten up the next seven days.

 

Mark Golley

31 May 2017

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