Finders in the Field: Blackburnian Warbler, Skellig Michael - a first for Ireland
by Brian Power
Skellig Michael is a rugged island off the south west of Ireland and together with the Little Skellig forms the Skelligs SPA. The SPA is designated, and famous for, its seabird colonies. Skellig Michael itself is also a World Heritage Site, owing to ancient monastic structures and stairways located on both peaks of the island. Access on the island is limited to the main tourist route to the monastery via the South Steps and Christ saddle along with the Lighthouse Road, the latter stages of which which are off limits to the general public. The island’s peaked shape leaves large sections of inaccessible terrain. Tourist access to the island is tightly controlled and limited to a number of licensed boats allowing 180 people a day, and that is of course assuming the weather and sea state allows sailing and landings. Aside from all of this, Skellig an amazing place and although it makes it a difficult place to bird its location and means exciting opportunities.
This story begins in the days preceding the find with various messages from friends advising me of strong westerlies and the potential for American visitors. So, many thanks in particular to Niall and Tom as well as some other ‘birdy folk’ for making me do my homework on some of the potential arrivals. Fortunately, along with the work crew, I had set out on the Sunday as weather for the foreseeable weeks looked rough. My role on Skellig has various aspects, with the main ecological functions being productivity monitoring of various sea birds nesting on the island and biodiversity recording. Being on the island in September is important, particularly for Manx Shearwater and European Storm Petrel monitoring.
Most September mornings for me on Skellig start with an early ascent to the monastery complex on the north peak of the island to commence monitoring of the Manx Shearwaters and European Storm Petrels. These nests are located in both tourist and non-tourist areas of the island so the usual routine is to get these completed before tourist boats arrive on the island, however the high winds and Atlantic storms responsible for potential vagrancy also equate to high swells. This usually means no tourists to the island and indeed no boats off the island.
On the morning of the 20th I set out to complete a round of shearwater monitoring, at this stage of the season the majority of Shearwaters in my monitoring plots having fledged and the remaining nests are found at the upper slopes of the island. This, combined with the knowledge that no tourists would be arriving allowed me to travel at a more leisurely pace and add a migration check into my usual routine. Despite this, the route to the monastery was very quiet with just a single Rock Pipit and Wheatear found.
On arriving at the entrance to the monastery I was greeted by a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling. Not the expected arrival from the west!, but a new bird for the season nonetheless. A stroll around the monastery and look down the various visible gullies yielded a small number of Rock Pipits. I decided to walk the rest of my monitoring route prior to commencing monitoring rather than be caught unawares with bins and camera packed away, a stroll to the summit yielded a single Meadow Pipit and the distant call of a Lapland Bunting. I returned to the storage unit for my monitoring kit and packed away the camera and bins.
Roughly an hour later the monastery complex was quiet and I had one nest left to check on the upper slopes. This Manx chick was now at a fledgable state with no down visible. With that I moved of the campion soil to some solid ground and took a break, debating whether to check the top again or drop my monitoring kit back to the hut and continue back down toward Christ’s Saddle. I decided on the former and two steps later the adrenaline was flowing. A flash of yellow and dark wings with distinct white wing bars, dropped from high above. The only question after “where did it land” was which one”. The imagery I had looked at the previous day left me thinking of a couple of options but on was focused on one - Blackburnian Warbler.
At this point I hadn’t even taken the camera back out after completing monitoring and there was a bit of scramble through the bag, quick check of the settings and then frantic eye movement looking for the bird. Vegetation, other than Campion, on the north peak is limited and within a few seconds the bird reappeared in some Ragwort giving reasonable, though partially obscured views. It then dropped out of sight again and I was left wondering did I get enough detail. At this point it’s worth noting that I did not know Blackburnian Warbler was not on the Irish List.
Seconds later the bird casually walked across some open ground giving some fantastic views and started catching, flies until a Rock Pipit decided to be territorial, with that the bird flew high and shot off south. Most of the scarce migrants encountered this year have been 15-30 second views and gone, this encounter lasted a little over a minute. Chuffed I sat down and did some photo checking. I had some sharp images and plenty of detail. Everything seemed to point clearly to Blackburnian and with that I rattled off a couple of back of the camera photos to Niall and Tom for confirmation. A quick check of Irishbirding.com showed no previous records, leaving an anxious wait for ID verification, fortunately Tom was instantaneous with the reply and confirmation from Niall also soon followed.
With that I put the news out, “Blackburnian Warbler, briefly on Skellig Michael just now, flew off high and south”.
The unfortunate thing about finding anything in such remote places means that it is unlikely anyone else will get to see it and such was the case here with swell and wind bringing an early close to the island.
After I returned to my cabin, having a very delayed breakfast and completing some other chores, I decided to return to the monastery to see if I could refind the bird or indeed happen on anything else that might be lurking. Having reached Christ’s Saddle I happened on the bird again, mid-afternoon, and watched it hunt flies before flying into the monastery complex where it perched on one of the iconic beehives, Luke’s one for you Star Wars fans, and then disappearing down the East Steps. This second viewing allowed me enjoy the bird in a less frenzied manner and really soak in the beauty of the bird and in quite the magical spot.
Again many thanks to Niall Keogh and Tom Kelly for being very sharp at the other end of the phone.
Brian Power
Brian Power
30 September 2023
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