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Annual rarity review 2020: Part One Jan-Jun

With the promise of not only a New Year, but indeed a whole new decade, 2020 was certainly welcomed with keen anticipation. I for one had been looking back over the previous 10 years, not only at the rarities that had been enjoyed, but also the progress that had been made in birding. It was hard not to daydream – among all the New Year fireworks – of what the new decade would bring. It didn’t take long to deliver.

Join me in looking back at some of the birding highlights of the first six months, during which there was a new species and a new form for the Western Palearctic, plus a First-for-Britain-and-Ireland, a long-awaited repeat occurrence of a favourite vagrant, and many other memorable birds. So, for a few minutes, if you can, please cast Covid-19 to the back of your mind and indulge me in part 1 of my illustrated review of the year.

 

Affairs got off to a running start on New Year’s Day, with news breaking of a male Desert Wheatear which had been found on 31 Dec at Eccles-on-Sea (Norfolk) and ended up staying a week. Meanwhile, an Eastern Yellow Wagtail had also stayed overnight into 2020, at South Slob, Co.Wexford, with its identification already nicely tied up. Cornwall bit back with a brief adult Ross’s Gull off Portscatho, and a female Bufflehead on Stithians Reservoir. However, there were two escaped female Buffleheads at large in Britain, causing no end of false alarms, so any excitement about the Stithians bird had to be contained until both the troublemakers were accounted for in their usual spots. It was an all-too-brief thrill though, because on the 2nd Jan the Stithians Bufflehead resurfaced some 30 miles to the northeast, on the Camel Estuary, before disappearing for good.

A first-winter Brown Shrike which turned up north of Cork on 7th January, staying a night, goes down as one of the most outrageous garden rarities of 2020. It builds on a limited but curious history of the species in Ireland, whose only previous occurrence – in Co.Kerry from November to December 1999 – was an adult female of the ‘Philippine’ form lucionensis, the sole record of this comparatively short-distance migrant taxon in Britain and Ireland.

The Lesser White-fronted Goose which had been making infuriatingly erratic appearances in north Norfolk at the end of 2019 gave itself up on the afternoon of 9th January in the quite unexpected location of Walpole St.Andrew. Frustratingly but not surprisingly, it then vanished into the ether once more (until it turned up at Burnham Market on 2nd February).

American Herring Gull claims so often lead nowhere but there was no arguing with photographs showing a textbook first-winter at West Bexington (Dorset) on 25th and 26th January. Even larophobes had to admit they were seriously gripped off! Indeed, while a ‘smiths’ has always been a seriously good bird, the drought of records, let alone twitchable birds, in recent years, has elevated the species to an almost mythical status in Britain. In Ireland, of course, they are still well clear of hen’s tooth status, and another first-winter graced Tralee (Co.Kerry) from 15-17th January.

The overwintering ‘Eastern Stonechat sp’ at Ashton’s Flash near Northwich (Cheshire) had its precise, suspected, identity firmed up by DNA analysis on 20th January, long before it departed, allowing many the rare chance to twitch a sure-fire maurus. The bird was Hollesley Marshes (Suffolk) was also confirmed as maurus, but a while after it was last seen on 5th January. Another bird from 2019 regaining stardom was the Semipalmated Sandpiper at Pennington Marshes (Hampshire) which hadn’t been reported since late November but revealed itself again from 10-12th January, and one more time on 18th.

Being January, new passerines were thin on the ground but did include another male Black-throated Thrush in Lincolnshire (which turned out to be another delightfully long stayer) and a male Two-barred Crossbill in Highland. Four new Long-billed Dowitchers were the pick of the waders, while King Eiders in Shetland and Highland and a Richardson’s Cackling Goose in Aberdeenshire added to the wildfowl haul. In Cornwall, a Pacific Diver floated along the coast between Maenporth and Pendower Beach. A Snowy Owl appeared in Co.Cork and a Bonaparte’s Gull was at Clahane Strand in Co.Clare.

As for other leftovers from 2019, the bright first-winter male Blue-headed Eastern Yellow Wagtail continued to headline in Norfolk, near Sedgeford, while the plainer first-winter at Prestwick Carr (Northumberland) also wrote itself into a second BB rarity issue. Cornwall’s American Buff-bellied Pipit was still in its favourite maize field in Sennen and the hugely popular male Black-throated Thrush at Whipsnade Zoo (Bedfordshire) wasn't going anywhere while its cotoneaster supply held up. North Uist (Western Isles) held onto its white morph Gyr and its flock of four Two-barred Crossbills.

The young drake Steller’s Eider - one of the birds of 2019 - was reported again on Papa Westray (Orkney) on 24th and 25th, though its stream of potential admirers seemed to have run a little dry. The adult drake White-winged Scoter on the Firth of Forth off the Musselburgh area (Lothian) also stayed into the New Year and was added to a good few year lists. Of course, the Black Duck at Strontian (Highland) was there to welcome in the new decade and its 14th year cavorting with the local Mallards, while other lingering wildfowl included Black Scoters in Angus and Northumberland, Lesser Scaup in Cornwall and Co.Mayo and Blue-winged Teal in Devon, as well as a brace of Richardson’s Cackling Geese in Western Isles and another in Argyll.

 

February was typically slow. In fact, the story of the month's most significant bird actually began on 14th December 2019, when a coastguard drill exercise bumped into a small owl in the Kergord plantation (Shetland). A quick shot was taken on a smartphone but forgotten about until 11th February when the image was waved in front of Brydon Thomason, and – we all know what’s coming – it was a Tengmalm’s Owl! Despite the long delay, there was still a distinct possibility that the owl was quietly wintering in the plantation, so news was quickly put out, and the plantation given the once over, sure enough revealing the roosting Tengmalm’s. Trapped and ringed on 14th February, it was aged as a first-winter, ruling out the possibility was it was the well-twitched bird of early 2019, still in or returning to Shetland. It was last seen in the area on 23rd March.

A drake Lesser Scaup turned up on Loch Ryan (Dumfries and Galloway) on 3rd February. There were first-winter American Herring Gulls in both Co.Cork and Co.Sligo, and Bonaparte’s Gulls in Cornwall, Devon, Suffolk and Co.Longford. The ‘AHG’ which graced Dorset the previous month was relocated on the Axe Estuary in Devon on 14th but moved on even sooner this time. A Long-billed Dowitcher commuted between Cheshire and Lancashire, and another turned up in Co.Louth. A female Two-barred Crossbill was in Co.Limerick.

A call in to the remote Loch Feorlin (Argyll) on 7th February confirmed that its incumbent Pied-billed Grebe was still feeling very much at home. Shetland’s regular female Snowy Owl was seen at its favoured spot, Ronas Hill, again on 25th and a new Snowy turned up near Ballyvaughan (Co.Clare) on 4th. Not seen since mid-November 2019, the Eastern Yellow Wagtail in Suffolk at Havergate Island (Suffolk) was reported again on 4th February. The long-lived – never mind long-staying – Forster’s Tern was reported for the first time this decade on 10th February, in Galway Bay.

 

After the tantalising news of a fleeting bird off the coast of Cornwall at the very beginning of the year, an adult Ross’s Gull in Devon in March went down a treat. Perhaps it could even have been the same bird? Starting out on South Huish Marsh on 9th, it was relocated on the estuary in Plymouth three days later, where it performed nicely till late morning on 15th. On 10th March, a first-winter Laughing Gull began a 13-day stopover in Somerset, the first half at Chew Valley Lake before upping sticks to Cheddar Reservoir. The same county also delivered a Kentish Plover from 9-20th March at Burnham-on-Sea, though the bird remained stubbornly distant. Another visited Dawlish Warren (Devon) on 21st March.

One of the most gripping rarities to be discovered in March was the beautiful adult male Lesser Kestrel on St.Mary’s (Scilly) from 15th. It went on to stay just into May but this was of little use for many potential twitchers!

In Devon, Lundy scored a Killdeer on 16th March and turned out to be a one-day-wonder, just like the previous three found in Devon over the years. Dungeness (Kent) lived up to its reputation for Short-toed Treecreeper records, hosting one from 17-20th March.

Other new rarities in March were a Richardson’s Cackling Goose in Highland, Gyr in Orkney, a drake Blue-winged Teal in Anglesey and a Long-billed Dowitcher in Cumbria.

 

April kicked off with that now familiar first-winter American Herring Gull cropping up again. This time it had moved further south-west to Penzance (Cornwall), where it showed well on 2nd and 3rd April. Dungeness somehow managed to surpass itself on the Short-toed Treecreeper front, notching up its second and third birds of the year on 2nd and 14th April. Despite ‘Dunge’ laying claim to more than half the British records of Short-toed Treecreeper, the only previous year when more than one turned up there was 2005, which has two May birds to its name.

Britain’s ninth - and Fair Isle’s fifth - Song Sparrow spent three days on the fabled isle from 9th April. A singing male Sardinian Warbler staked brief claim to Porthleven Beach (Cornwall) on 18-19th April. April’s passerine haul also included an Iberian Chiffchaff in Gwynedd, at least four Eastern Subalpine Warblers and a bright Red-throated Pipit on Scilly.

Ireland took the cream of the waders, with a Collared Pratincole near Macroom (Co.Cork) for three days mid-April, and a Semipalmated Sandpiper at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 9th. April also provided Devon with a new Long-billed Dowitcher.

Observers stationed at Weybourne Camp and Sheringham on the morning of 22nd April earned the rare thrill of a spring fly-through Pallid Harrier, a juvenile. At least as electrifying must have been the sight of a Caspian Tern making its way south-west over Tingley (West Yorkshire) on 28th.

‘Elvis’ the famous adult drake King Eider returned to the Ythan Estuary (Aberdeenshire) on 29th and new females turned up in Highland and Western Isles. The origin of a female Bufflehead near Folkestone (Kent) on 20th April was unclear. Two Bonaparte’s Gulls were newly discovered in Hampshire and far inland at Belvide Reservoir (Staffordshire).

 

May arrived with a Squacco Heron seen in flight over Rainton Meadows (Co.Durham) on 1st. It turned out be a great month for the species, with further sightings in East Yorkshire, Dorset, Cornwall and Norfolk. Little Bitterns showed up almost in tandem. Among five individuals were an obliging female in Plymstock (Devon) from 14-15th May and a snazzy male on the Isle of Man from 9-13th.

Black Storks were watched cruising over Ambaston (Derbyshire), while yet another Black-throated Thrush was uncovered near Beal (Northumberland). As expected – given the date – it clearly had no intention of staying for weeks like two of the other recent birds.

Shetland did not disappoint, offering up a singing male White-crowned Sparrow on Fetlar on 15th May and a Black-and-white Warbler at Cunningsburgh on Mainland on 28th. Scilly answered back with a Solitary Sandpiper fuelled up at Porth Hellick Pool, St.Mary‘s, on 18th May.

Just last year, Brown Booby was the outlandish seabird of the moment, thrilling the birding community and inducing twitchers from all over the country to Cornwall for the first British records. On 9th May this year, when news came through of one hitching a ride on a trawler four miles off the Isle of Wight, it was largely only Channel coast birders whose ears were seriously pricked. Alas it never disembarked within sight of land-based observers.

While Brown Booby felt like it was already somehow on its way to becoming ‘old hat’, another seabird sent out the shockwaves as it flew over Scapa Flow (Orkney) on 25th May. Or rather it did once photographs were posted online for identification a short while later. It was no surprise the observer was stumped, it was a White-chinned Petrel, a large Southern Ocean Procellariforme which had never been proven in the whole Western Palearctic before. As the photographs, sharp and clear enough to be desperately gripping - but not denying the bird a sense of a little mystery - rode the currents of the birding web, there was a resigned feeling that this was one everybody would have to enjoy vicariously.

A Little Swift made a brief appearance over Potteric Carr (South Yorkshire) on 24th May. The legendary net rides of the Nanjizal Valley (Cornwall) pulled a Scops Owl out of the nets on 28th. Most tantalising was a flyover Calandra Lark at Greatham Creek (Cleveland) on 31st.

Flamborough Head (East Yorkshire) hosted a female Brown Shrike on 13-14th May. A Terek Sandpiper was discovered at Alkborough Flats (Lincolnshire) on 18th, before news emerged of one on the River Esk in Musselburgh (Lothian) on 25th. The second Collared Pratincole of the year delighted observers at Pilning Wetland (Gloucestershire) from 21-25th; this was followed by a sighting at Tramore Backstrand (Co.Waterford) two days later. A Broad-billed Sandpiper on the Warwickshire/Staffordshire border at Middleton Lakes was a fantastic inland record on 22nd May. There was a report of an adult Franklin’s Gull at Hickling Broad (Norfolk) on 28th.

Hampshire boasted records of both Caspian and Whiskered Terns in May, with others of these species turning up in Kent and Suffolk, respectively. A glut of Bee-eater sightings and acoustic encounters included a flock of 13 near Rhiw (Gwynedd) on 9th, before they moved to Devon on 15th. The only other non-passerines the month delivered were a Long-billed Dowitcher in Co.Antrim and a Bonaparte’s Gull in Western Isles.

Great Reed Warblers proclaimed themselves in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cornwall in May, while four Iberian Chiffchaffs were found singing. Eastern and Western Subalpine Warblers had two records each. The Northern Isles shared Lesser Grey Shrikes evenly, with one in Shetland and another in Orkney. Tawny Pipits were found in Cornwall and Kent, while a Red-throated Pipit appeared in Norfolk and Rustic Buntings were discovered on Fair Isle and Lundy (Devon).

 

A Phylloscopus warbler processed in the hand on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 2nd June as a Greenish Warbler experienced a switch in consensus to Green Warbler when photographs were shared online the following day, revealing undeniably bright plumage tones. Thankfully, material was collected for DNA analysis, which later sealed the much rarer identification. A second Green Warbler was discovered on Fair Isle on 16th, followed by a Calandra Lark there on 22nd.

Amongst the busy Sandwich Tern colony at Lady’s Island Lake (Co.Wexford), a bird with an orange bill shone out on 12th June. Not matching anything more obvious, it was soon suspected of being a Cayenne Tern, the subspecies of Cabot’s Tern which takes over in the southern Caribbean. It seemed an incredible suggestion at first but the longer the bird stayed, the more convincing it seemed and eventually good enough photographs were taken to reveal clinching details of the bird’s wing pattern. As it was observed being mounted by a Sandwich Tern, there was every reason to suspect it might stay through the breeding season, laying eggs and maybe raising hybrid young, but it was gone after just shy of two weeks.

Memories of 2005 were evoked when Anglesey hosted a Sooty Tern at Cemlyn Bay on 14th June. Unlike 2005, this bird did not come back after it flew out to sea at lunchtime, but it wasn’t the last we’d see of Sooty Tern this year.

The next day, persistent searching for a glimpsed ‘subalpine warbler sp’ on Holy Island (Northumberland) paid off big time come the evening, when the skulker in question revealed itself again and its true identity as an Asian Desert Warbler! The bird, which even burst into song here and there, stayed five days, which was enough to unblock this charismatic little sandy warbler which was last properly available to British birders in East Yorkshire 20 years ago.

June 2020 will be remembered for its seabirds, that’s for sure. On 22nd, another first for the Western Palearctic was picked up on Tramore beach (Co.Waterford). Moribund beyond hope, the shearwater soon died in care but its identification still needed addressing as it didn’t fit with anything expected. Then the penny dropped that it was a Short-tailed Shearwater, a species which breeds exclusively off Australia. Suddenly those past seawatching claims had a bit more weight behind them, and even more so when it turned out not to be the first proven Western Palearctic sighting after all: photographs later came to light of the WP’s real first off the coast of Brittany in 2015.

A female Moltoni’s Warbler at Lerwick (Shetland) on 17th June was a good call. 24th June certainly delivered the goods, with a singing Western Bonelli’s Warbler at Reculver (Kent), a White-throated Sparrow blessing a garden near Lampeter (Ceredigion) and a report of a Baillon’s Crake heard at Fowlmere RSPB (Cambridgeshire) on 24th.

Tyninghame Bay (Lothian) hosted an accommodating Greater Sand Plover from 27th June to 7th July. Scotland really has done well for this species in recent years, with more than half of this century’s records.

June delivered some quality warblers to Shetland, with River Warbler, two Booted Warblers and a Paddyfield Warbler making a respectable haul. It also had two new Lesser Grey Shrikes and a Thrush Nightingale. A Black-headed Bunting visited a garden in Highland and other notable passerines included four Great Reed Warblers and three Rustic Buntings.

Waders backing up the sand plover included Broad-billed Sandpipers in Aberdeenshire and Norfolk, a Kentish Plover in Hampshire and a Pacific Golden Plover in Co.Clare. The month also brought Black Storks to Cumbria and Devon and a King Eider in Moray.

Kent had Whiskered and Gull-billed Terns, while Co.Cork and Co.Galway also drew in the latter species. Caspian Tern sightings came from Cleveland, Norfolk and Somerset.

The faithful Bonaparte’s Gull returned to Oare Marshes (Kent) for yet another moulting season and a first-summer was notable for Surrey, at Walton-on-Thames on 16th and 17th; others were found in Argyll, Pembrokeshire and Western Isles. A first-summer Laughing Gull was a fantastic Staffordshire record, at Belvide Reservoir from 28th June to 1st July, and much appreciated by local birders.

The first Fea’s/Desertas Petrel of the year was seen from a boat at sea off Co.Cork on 14th June, further gearing us up for a fruitful seabird season ahead.

With a juvenile Lammergeier touring the near-Continent, the odds on it crossing the Channel seemed good, and that’s exactly what it did! For only the second time ever, a young Lammergeier was seen over Britain. On 26th June it was initially seen heading north over Balsall Common, Northants, and then near Hatton, Derbyshire. That was, as we now know, only the beginning.. The Lammergeier’s extraordinary stay, along with so many other great birds in the second half of 2020, including a phenomenal autumn, will come in the second instalment.

Join me next week for the highlights of July-December 2020

 

David Campbell
29 December 2020

Many thanks to all contributors for your photos, videos and news throughout the year.

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