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RBA Annual Birding Roundup 2022: Part 1

 

As ever the new year began with staked-out wintering rarities remaining from the previous year, and in Britain in 2022 there was a truly bumper line-up including, in approximate order of popularity, the outstanding male Belted Kingfisher in Lancashire at Roach Bridge until 19th April (after which date access was denied to the site), the White-tailed Lapwing in Lincolnshire at East Halton Skitter and then later Frampton Marsh until 9th April, Pacific Diver in Glamorgan at Eglwys Nunydd Reservoir until 27th February, the returning adult male White-winged Scoter in Lothian at Musselburgh Lagoons until 3rd April, American Buff-bellied Pipit in Devon at Prawle Point until 5th February, Hume’s Warbler in Kent at St Margaret’s at Cliffe until 17th April, Red-flanked Bluetail in County Durham at Middleton-in-Teesdale until 28th February, the newly tickable Ross’s Goose in Scotland with mobile flocks of Pink-footed Geese in Clyde, then Fife, Aberdeenshire, and finally Highland where it was last seen flying north on 27th March, adult male Black Scoters both in Moray until 9th January and Northumberland until 19th April, the age-old Pied-billed Grebe in Argyll at Loch Feorlin until at least 24th October, the German-ringed Kentish Plover in Somerset at Burnham-on-Sea until 20th March, Spotted Sandpiper on the Isles of Scilly on St Mary's until 5th January, and three Penduline Tits together at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset until 29th March.

In Ireland major rarities remaining from 2021 were American Coots both in County Kerry at Cromane until 17th March and County Wexford until 3rd April, the returning Pacific Diver in County Cork at Crookhaven until 19th March, the juvenile Northern Harrier in County Offaly at Lough Boora Parklands until 23rd March, the male Black Scoter reappeared again at Rossbeigh, County Kerry from 5th March until 1st April, Semipalmated Plover in County Cork at Crookhaven until 3rd April, Black Duck in County Mayo at Cross Lough until 22nd November, and the now ancient Forster’s Tern in County Galway intermittently until the year end; although, as it typically does, it visited Dundalk, County Louth to undertake its complete pre-basic moult between 1st August and 16th October.

By the second day of the year the first major discovery had been made when a male Baikal Teal revealed itself via a photobomb in Somerset at Greylake and went on to show there daily until 14th March during which time a second individual had been located in East Yorkshire; at Hornsea Mere on 9th January and then later at Tophill Low and Swine Moor until 5th April.

A Hooded Merganser in Essex at Tollesbury Wick on 2nd January further befuddled anyone trying to interpret the dataset of this species vis-à-vis true vagrants versus escapes. Other rare wildfowl present during the winter were five Red-breasted Geese comprising one in Argyll with Greenland Barnacle Geese and four accompanying Dark-bellied Brent Geese along the English east coast between Lincolnshire and Essex (including two together in the latter county that split and one relocated to Cley, Norfolk between 3rd February and 16th May), 10 Richardson's Cackling Geese including three on the Western Isles on North Uist, and all with Greenland Barnacle Geese except for the popular bird in Lancashire where it was still with Pink-footed Geese by the Ribble Estuary on 26th January, six Ferruginous Ducks included, most notably, a male in County Tyrone at Ballysaggart Lough on 17th-27th February, a total of 28 Lesser Scaups identified by the 18th April included four together in Argyll on Islay and three together both in Clyde and on the Western Isles, and the most notable of which was a male in Essex at Abberton Reservoir on 2nd-14th April, and a total of seven King Eiders including up to three males together on the Shetland Isles in Bluemull Sound and a first-winter male in Cleveland at Marske-by-the-Sea on 30th April-5th May.

Early January brought a ternary of causalities with a Brown Booby taken into care on the beach at Hove, East Sussex on 2nd, and then on 4th an Allen's Gallinule found dead on Inishmore, County Galway, and a Black-throated Thrush dead in Lincoln, Lincolnshire.

A further Brown Booby was rescued from Perranporth, Cornwall on 18th February whilst other Cornish rarities around this time that escaped the attentions of all but their finders were a Pacific Diver at Charlestown on 4th January and a Ross's Gull at Trevone on 9th February, whist in adjacent Devon there was an improbable belated report of an adult male Pine Grosbeak apparently photographed at Woolacombe on 15th March.

For many the highlight of the early year was a showy American Robin in East Sussex at Eastbourne on 8th-27th February, the first of this species to be widely twitched in Britain since 2010, whilst other attractive rarities included a Long-billed Dowitcher in Lancashire at Fluke Hall on 7th January-16th March, a Hume's Warbler in East Sussex on 14th January-18th April making an eclectic double as it was present in the same time and space as the American Robin, an adult Ross's Gull in Aberdeenshire at Fraserburgh on 6th-27th February, and a Spotted Sandpiper in Glamorgan accompanying the Pacific Diver at Eglwys Nunydd Reservoir on 6th-17th February. Other rarities occurring in multiples in the early year included three Snowy Owls, all in Scotland and all inaccessible, four Bonaparte’s Gulls, four Lesser Yellowlegs including an adult in Suffolk between 16th January and 8th May, and six wintering Dusky Warblers.

Otherwise in Ireland the list of wintering rarities burgeoned with a new American Coot in County Kerry at Lough Gill on 14th-29th January making three of this species present simultaneously in the country, a Double-crested Cormorant in County Leitrim at Doon Lough on 4th February-16th April and again from 15th September until the year end was a third-calendar year bird and perhaps the same individual as that present last winter in County Kerry, a first-winter Ross's Gull put in the longest of stays in County Galway at Mutton Island from 19th February-1st May with opposingly the shortest of stays by an adult in County Dublin at Dublin Port on 1st March, and Azorean Yellow-legged Gulls in both County Carlow and County Mayo.

Most significantly of all the Egyptian Vulture - first seen in England in Lincolnshire on 13th May 2021 and present in Ireland since 14th July 2021 - reappeared in County Roscommon at Ardmullen between 26th February-6th May and was reported yet again in the vicinity on 9th October. Quite why an adult Egyptian Vulture, a trans-Saharan migrant, would overwinter in Ireland has yet to be satisfactorily theorised.

 

Spring sprung on 12th March when an Eastern Stonechat species began a five day stay in Norfolk at Holme Dunes and was followed by other reorienting Asian passerines: a Desert Wheatear in West Sussex at Goring-by-Sea on 20th March, Red-flanked Bluetails discovered in both Norfolk and County Wexford on 26th March, a Hume's Warbler in Norfolk at Hunstanton on 2nd April, Dusky Warbler off the Isle of Man on the Calf of Man on 26th April, and in East Yorkshire a Northern Brown Shrike at Spurn on 14th May, and then - rarest of them all - a Masked Wagtail at nearby Easington on 18th May; only the second record of this subspecies for Britain.

From North America, three Blue-winged Teals arrived from 28th March including a popular female in Cambridgeshire at Berry Fen on 28th March-29th April, a Black Duck was on Unst, Shetland Isles on 2nd-5th April, a male Hooded Merganser in Essex at Abberton Reservoir on 11th May, a Baird's Sandpiper in Highland at Balnakeil on 15th May, two White-rumped Sandpipers including one inland at Rutland Water, Leicestershire on 22nd May, five Spotted Sandpipers including the first in Norfolk for 28 years at Titchwell on 8th-11th June, eight Lesser Yellowlegs, and a total of at least 15 Bonaparte's Gulls.

The adult Black-browed Albatross returned again to Bempton Cliffs, East Yorkshire on 30th March and remained there until 3rd August, whilst the over-wintering White-tailed Lapwing relocated to Snettisham, Norfolk on 9th-10th April, with it or another in the same county at Hickling Broad on 23rd-24th May before touring England visiting Lincolnshire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, and finally Sandwell Valley in the West Midlands on 1st June.

The first Mediterranean rarity of the spring was an Iberian Chiffchaff on the Wirral at Hoylake on 11th April with a further four individuals located by 9th May, one of which stayed to hybridise with a Chiffchaff in Regent's Park, London. European compatriots followed throughout the season with two each of Black Stork and Tawny Pipit, three of Black-headed Bunting, Collared Pratincole, Squacco Heron, Spanish Wagtail, Citrine Wagtail, and Ferruginous Duck, five of Gull-billed Tern and Great Reed Warbler, six Little Bitterns including a territorial male at Ladywalk, Warwickshire on at least 19th-20th June, 10 Kentish Plovers, 14 Red-footed Falcons, and 21 Subalpine Warblers including four identified as Eastern, six as Western, and three Moltoni's; the latter in Pembrokeshire on Skokholm on 17th-29th May, and on Shetland on Unst 5th June and in song on Yell on 24th-27th June.

However, the highlights from the south were a Crag Martin on the Isles of Scilly on Tresco and then Bryher on 14th-21st April with a Black-eared Wheatear species briefly on adjacent St Mary's on 2nd May, an Ashy-headed Wagtail in West Sussex at Pagham Harbour on 10th May, a Blue Rock Thrush in Essex at The Naze on 12th May, a Pallid Swift migrating over Boulmer, Northumberland on 18th May, an (the?) Egyptian Vulture briefly in Cornwall at Devoran on 22nd May with a Roller at nearby Praze-an-Beeble on 23rd-30th May, the Short-toed Eagle back again in Highland at Loch Grudie on 24th May-8th June (near where it had been suppressed last year), an elusive Little Swift in London at Catford on 26th-27th May, a Lesser Grey Shrike in Norfolk at Norwich on 27th-28th May, a male Black-headed Wagtail in Ceredigion at Cors Caron on 28th May, and a Sardinian Warbler in song in Kent at South Foreland on 28th-30th May. However, the best of all was a pale morph second-summer female Eleonora's Falcon that showed to all-comers at Worth Marsh, Kent on 26th May-4th June; a long-awaited British tick for so many.

Birds bound for Fennoscandia and eastern Europe arrived from 13th April with seasonal totals of two Broad-billed Sandpipers, three Greenish Warblers, four of Pallid Harrier and Blyth's Reed Warbler, eight Rustic Buntings, and on Shetland an elusive River Warbler on Out Skerries on 17th May, a Red-throated Pipit on Fair Isle on 8th May with a Collared Flycatcher there on 20th May and a Thrush Nightingale on 20th May, with a Broad-billed Sandpiper in south mainland between 8th June and 9th July. A further Thrush Nightingale was on Bardsey, Gwynedd on 2nd June amd the only Marsh Sandpiper of the year returned to the inaccessible Rockcliffe Marsh, Cumbria for a second summer.

American sparrows are now expected in spring but a White-crowned Sparrow in Devon at Ivybridge in mid June, White-throated Sparrows on Great Saltee, County Wexford on 20th May and at Porthcawl, Glamorgan on 25th June, and three Slate-coloured Juncos during May: in Argyll on Islay on 7th, in Pembrokeshire at St Ishmael's on 22nd, and at Port Isaac, Cornwall on 25th, represented a good showing.

Miscellanea at this time included a Pacific Golden Plover in Suffolk at Carlton Marshes on 3rd-26th April, the first twitchable Greater Sand Plover for Ireland in County Waterford at Tramore Strand on 2nd-5th May, a White-throated Needletail at sea off northern Scotland on 4th June where it was picked-up on a vessel and later released, Snowy Owls on both the Orkney Isles and Western Isles, and four Hornemann's Arctic Redpolls on the northern isles.

 

Mid-summer rarities included a potential first Irish Eastern Black-eared Wheatear in County Clare at Liscannor and a Black-browed Albatross on the Shetland Isles at sea off Unst both on 16th June, a Pacific Swift on the Shetland Isles at Sumburgh Head on 19th June then on Noss on 21st June, a popular male Turkestan Shrike in East Yorkshire that undertook a complete pre-basic moult at Bempton Cliffs between 27th June and 27th August, a Black Duck suppressed in Hampshire at Needs Ore Point on 29th May-19th June, a Laughing Gull on the Isles of Scilly on 10th July until 14th August, a Squacco Heron enjoyed by many in West Sussex at Pagham Harbour on 29th July-19th August, a Franklin's Gull in Highland on the Isle of Skye at Harrapool on 31st July, a male Black Scoter again in Aberdeenshire at Blackdog from 31st July until 28th August, Black Stork in South Yorkshire at Moorends on 14th August, two each of Black-headed Wagtail, Red-footed Falcon, and Lesser Scaup, three King Eiders, seven Bonaparte's Gulls, and eight Ferruginous Ducks, the latter including five juveniles in the English Midlands from 23rd July.

Potential rare breeders at this time included four Baillon's Crakes with two together in East Yorkshire on 21st June-29th July and two in Somerset at West Sedgemoor, Snowy Owls on the Shetland Isles and Western Isles, and five Savi's Warblers in song.

Rare terns were represented by the returning American Black Tern back in Northumberland at the Long Nanny ternery from 13th May until 29th August, the Least Tern again in County Dublin at the Little Tern colony at Portrane from 28th May until 3rd August, Elegant Tern in County Wexford at Lady's Island Lake then on the County Galway/County Clare border between 4th July and 8th August, an adult Whiskered Tern in Hampshire at Fishlake Meadows between 31st July and 7th August, three Gull-billed Terns, and a record showing of Caspian Terns across sixteen counties and including two together in both Cleveland and Nottinghamshire.

The highlight of the period was the first Kelp Gull for Britain in Cambridgeshire at Grafham Water on 2nd-10th August. A second-summer individual of the African subspecies vetula Cape Gull it was found and identified on 7^th August but was later shown to be have been photographed on the 2^nd. Although elusive at times it showed exceptionally well to large crowd as it fed on dead fish on the shoreline. Other mega rarities during August were a male Harlequin Duck on the Shetland Isles at Norwick, Unst on 5th-11^th and later at St Kilda, Western Isles on 23rd-24th August, and a first-summer dark morph Eleonora's Falcon in Norfolk that lingered between Horsey and Hickling Broad on 26th August-1st September provided a second chance for those who missed the bird in Kent during the spring.

Late summer means rare waders and 2022 produced a Baird's Sandpiper in Lincolnshire at Alkborough Flats on 21st June followed by a Stilt Sandpiper at the same location on 15th July-3rd August, a Least Sandpiper in Cornwall at Drift Reservoir on 27th July-3rd August, a Greater Yellowlegs in County Kildare at Maynooth 29th-31st July, a Terek Sandpiper reported briefly in Aberdeenshire at Loch of Strathbeg on 31st July, a Semipalmated Sandpiper in County Wicklow at Blessington Reservoir on 1st-2nd August, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in County Cork at Clogheen Marsh on 17th-19th August and on the Isle of Man at Langness on 29th August, Greater Sand Plovers in Aberdeenshire at St Combs on 20th-21st August and Cleveland at Redcar 25th August-1st September, a Lesser Sand Plover briefly in Kent at Cliffe Pools on 1st September, three each of both Pacific Golden Plover and Kentish Plover, five Lesser Yellowlegs, and a total of 18 adult White-rumped Sandpipers located by the 2nd September.

As summer turned to autumn attention turned to seabirds with at least 11 Desertas/Fea's Petrel logged between 3rd July and 17th October, a Scopoli's Shearwater at sea off Baltimore, County Cork on 13th August (another first Irish), Barolo Shearwaters passing County Wexford on 20th August, County Clare (2) on 5th October, and The Lizard on 22nd October, Black-browed Albatrosses passing County Kerry on 24th August, Cornwall on 12th September, and Devon on 18th September, and Band-rumped Petrel species identified in Cornwall at The Lizard 5th September, 22nd October, and 2nd November, and Porthgwarra (also) on 22nd October.

 

Chris Batty
January 2023

Many thanks to everyone who contributed photos and videos throughout 2022

 

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