Weekly birding round-up: 22 - 28 Aug 2018
With the last week of August commencing with some winds coming in off the Atlantic, hopes would have been naturally high that, with them, time invested in sitting on a westerly vantage point in Ireland would be well-rewarded.
Or, indeed, checking out the local accumulations of shorebirds just about anywhere in Britain and Ireland that waders hang out. And that’s exactly what paid off for those who did just that this week.
It’s the Rarity Round Up writer’s lot to try to have everything tied up, done and dusted, and more or less finished by mid-evening every Tuesday. Hand on heart, this is time to crack open a beer and, as of this week, settle down for the visual diazepam that’s Bake Off.
Butter my biscuits though if Cornwall didn’t go and totally disrupt all of that yesterday evening. Never mind cracking open a bottle of beer, I’d be heading for something much stronger to celebrate what passed west by Porthgwarra in the early evening of 28th – nothing less than a stonking Yelkouan Shearwater.
It’s not quite ten years to the day since Britain’s first was seen passing Berry Head (Devon) by Mike Langman and Mark Darlaston whilst surveying Balearic Shearwaters on 29th July 2008, but it’s not far off. That bird, apart from being a first for Britain, also had the distinction of being the 600th species admitted to the British list at the time of its acceptance in 2016.
As noted in the coverage at the time, Yelkouan Shearwater is a far from straightforward identification and this first record relied upon a submission that included not only photographs but also “sharp birding, detailed field notes, and research".
To date that 2008 record remains Britain and Ireland’s sole accepted record; though there have been subsequent calls for it, nothing’s on the official records… yet. So we’ll see just have to wait and see whether this latest bird duly passes the high bar required for Yelkouan Shearwater.
After a couple of downright obliging and, in the case of the overwintering individual in Dorset earlier this year, exceptionally long-staying recent birds, the jaded statisticians amongst us might suggest that Stilt Sandpiper doesn’t have quite the cachet it once may have had. After all, anyone who really wanted to see one has had ample opportunity of late…
Yet that’s wholly unfair to what is, in the first instance, a damn smart species that oozes character and, moreover, one that in Lincolnshire is something of a distant memory – the county’s two prior accepted records, both from Wisbech sewage farm, date back to the early 1960s, the last being seen fully 53 years ago in August 1965. By any standards, then, it’s been a while.
All of that changed at the start of the week with the discovery of an adult Stilt Sandpiper in the county at – where else? – Frampton Marsh RSPB on 22nd. This monochrome marvel proceeded to do the decent thing, remaining there until 28th to delight not only a new generation of Lincs listers but also birders from further afield – just like the wintering bird, there proved to be no need to get a shift on with this latest offering.
While my predictions at the end of last week’s Rarity Round Up opted for the wrong sandpiper – damn you, Sharp-tailed Sand – I did at least name-check the two seabird species that would set pulses racing where it to hove into view in the coming days: Barolo Shearwater and Fea’s Petrel.
There was a time when the petrel, then known to us all merely as Soft-plumaged Petrel was the stuff of myth and legend while, perhaps optimistically, what was then simply Little Shearwater was seen, if not regularly, then certainly more often than it is nowadays. How times have changed…
Or rather, as I’ve noted in these parts in the last year or two, Barolo Shearwater records post-1991 have all been of a westerly persuasion with confirmed sightings from the east coast of Britain drying up. So once again, if one was going to be found this week the wise money would have been on southwest England or, more likely yet, off the coast of Ireland.
Throw in what appears to be a decline in their global population and this, more than ever before, is a real prize for the dedicated and fortunate sea-watcher. This past week, the blessed were those at Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) on 23rd, as just that prize rewarded their efforts.
There’s something vaguely demeaning about describing something as subtly beautiful as the juvenile surinamensis American Black Tern at Dungeness RSPB (Kent) as an insurance tick – but there, for now, it resides until someone does something taxonomically brave.
And on the subject of residing, that’s just what the bird in question continued to do at Dunge this week – luring a steady stream of admirers down to the south coast to check it out until 28th.
No week lately seems complete without a controversial quacker of one kind or another rearing its head…
And so to this week’s latest offering, a juvenile Marbled Duck found at Camp Lane Pits near Grimley (Worcestershire) on 26th-28th. Seemingly sporting a full set of wings, that’s a good start. But on the other hand, it’s a duck, and a duck with a fragmented distribution in Europe and the bulk of the global population far away in southwest Asia.
Past British records offer some succour, for those of a favourable disposition – of those that haven’t blotted their copybooks with chopped primaries or unseemly leg ornaments, a fair proportion of our past records have turned up in late summer and early autumn. So the timing of this one doesn’t ring any alarm bells.
But like I say, it’s a duck. And they get a rough ride, not unreasonably, where the adjudicators of such things as lists and provenance are concerned. An escaped, unrecoverable, colour-ringed individual was seen in 2013 and 2014 at various locations from Kent to Cheshire – proving that not only are they out there in captivity, but once they’ve hopped the wire they’re more than capable of moving around.
It’s a familiar refrain though – once a duck gets over the finishing line with just one example that’s deemed to be sufficiently credible as of wild origin, all subsequent bets are off in the absence of anything too incriminating about any birds that follow. I give you Buffleheads and, of course, Hooded Mergansers as cases in point – we all know, or at least suspect, that some of both species now residing in the official tallies were probably not from as far away as the USA… but that’s apparently okay on the basis of innocence until proven guilty – a premise that isn’t consistently applied to wildfowl records.
So until such time that a Marbled Duck passes that initial muster, it’s down to the individual birder’s code as to whether it gets a firm inky tick next to its name on their list…
On the basis of their now becoming a regular annual event at this time of year – and who ever thought we’d say that, back in the day? – this week’s crop of Fea’s-type Petrels don’t quite make it to the giddy heights of our weekly headlines, but they certainly crest the wave of the Seabirds section of proceedings.
Predicting one’s arrival then, last week, was a little bit like shooting fish in a barrel – I was fairly sure we’d get one, given the time of year and the weather forecast for the coming days. What I perhaps didn’t anticipate was just how many sightings would roll in…
We’ll start with a particular treat – a sighting from the North Sea where, in the evening of 25th, one was seen off Whitburn (Co.Durham) in the early evening and, some half hour later, from Culercoats (Northumberland); what was presumably the same bird was reported further north still that evening from Hadston. Two further birds followed the very next day, from more anticipated quarters on the Atlantic edge – on 26th one was seen around the boat of a pelagic trip off Cape Clear (Co.Cork), while another was noted in the early afternoon off Porthgwarra (Cornwall) where, on 28th, it or another bird was seen heading west in the morning.
Wilson’s Petrels, meanwhile, continued to quietly do their thing in the same southwesterly and Irish waters, though numbers were down somewhat on their recent showings – pelagic trips off Scilly accounted for single birds on 22nd and 26th, and duos in between on 23rd and 24th; two were seen from the Scillonian on 24th; and seawatchers stationed at Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) notched up single birds on 23rd and 24th.
Bridges of Ross also accounted for the bulk of the week’s Leach’s Petrels - a singleton on 23rd followed by two there on 24th, nine birds past on 26th and four off there on 27th; with single birds also seen in Co.Mayo off Kilcummin Head on 22nd and Annagh Head on 26th. I’m certain that, amongst all the goodies Bridges of Ross racked up this week, hopes would have been riding high for a dark-rumped petrel too… Another was noted on 27th from Towan Head (Cornwall).
Numbers of large shearwaters fell away this week, with a shadow of the previous week’s volume available – some 30 Cory’s nationally included a peak count of 20 off Bryher (Scilly) on 23rd; and around 350 Great Shearwaters nationwide were dominated by tallies from the Scilly pelagics, where around 80 birds were logged on both the trips out on 22nd and 25th.
Balearic Shearwaters, meanwhile, enjoyed a little more of a moment, with some 340 birds in all noted nationwide, up 50% on the previous week’s tally. Sightings coalesced, once more, in the southwest of England where, on 26th, the week’s largest single site count came from Rame Head (Cornwall), with 57 birds noted there during the day.
Numbers of Long-tailed Skuas noted this week rose into double figures, with around 30 birds in all logged nationwide, for the most part off northeast England and western Ireland. Most were single birds, with duos seen from Melmore Head (Co.Donegal) on 23rd, Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) on 24th, and Whitburn CP (Co.Durham) on 25th and five birds from Pettycur harbour (Fife) on 28th.
A shade over 60 Pomarine Skuas were logged this week, with a good scatter of sightings from all around the coastline of Britain and Ireland. Most involved ones or twos, but Brandon Point (Co.Kerry) bucked the trend with half a dozen seen there on 24th.
Welcome now to the pared back long-legged beasties section, as streamlined and svelte as the darting head of a Purple Heron… which leads us nicely onto sightings of just that species, in the form of the settled juvenile still on Studland’s Littlesea (Dorset) on 23rd-27th, augmented by further birds remaining at Rutland Water (Leicestershire) still on 22nd-23rd and How Hill NR (Norfolk) on 22nd-26th. On 28th a possible was seen in flight at Briton Ferry (Glamorgan).
Cattle Egrets are beginning to feature a little more heavily in the news with every passing week once more – away from the Somerset Levels, where at Catcott Lows NR on 27th a peak of 16 birds were once more logged, sightings came in from both regular sites and pastures relatively new. Single birds remained at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB (Cheshire) on 22nd-28th, Fairburn Ings RSPB (West Yorkshire) on 22nd-28th, Breydon Water (Norfolk) on 22nd-28th, and in the Lowestoft area (Suffolk) on 23rd-24th. Elsewhere, on 24th two were at Pagham Harbour LNR (West Sussex) and five were noted at Shapwick Heath NNR (Somerset); and on 25th single birds were noted at Thorney Island (West Sussex), South Efford Marsh (Devon) and Marshside RSPB (Lancashire). The Thorney Island and South Efford Marsh birds remained there on 27th; one was seen on 27th over Cley (Norfolk), and on 28th one was reported from Burton Meadows (Nottinghamshire).
And then, on 28th, what must surely be the biggest flock of them yet seen on British soil were reported from South Huish Marsh – no fewer than 51 birds. A truly staggering tally.
Half a dozen Glossy Ibis included familiar faces once again – birds remained at Abberton reservoir (Essex) on 25th-28th, Croft Pascoe Pool (Cornwall) on 22nd-25th, and Fremington Pill (Devon) on 22nd-23rd; two were again noted in Devon on 25th at Exminster Marshes RSPB, with a singleton on 25th at Barham (Suffolk).
An escaped Black Stork in Kent at Herne Bay on 23rd did consideration of its kind no good whatsoever; which takes us neatly onto the murkiness that are White Storks nowadays – one was seen this week in Hampshire over Langstone harbour and then East Meon on 25th.
Aberdeenshire accounted for most of this week’s Common Cranes, with five birds at Meikle Loch still on 23rd and three noted over Mains of Blyth on 24th. Elsewhere, a single bird was once more logged at Blacktoft Sands RSPB (East Yorkshire) on 22nd, while elsewhere in the county on 26th two were noted at Sutton upon Derwent and one was seen heading southeast over Spurn. On 28th a quartet were noted in Cambridgeshire, in Cambridge near the University Physics Department.
Finally, Spotted Crakes remained very much to the fore for another week, with some settled birds proving reliable – one stayed at Lackford Lakes SWT (Suffolk) on 22nd-27th, with two birds noted there on 22nd; one was still at Low Newton-by-the-Sea (Northumberland) on 22nd; a bird remained at Gibraltar Point NNR (Lincolnshire) on 22nd-27th; and one stayed at Grove Ferry NNR (Kent) on 22nd-28th. On 22nd a bird was seen at Mortimer West End (Hampshire); another in the southwest was at Budleigh Salterton (Devon) on 22nd-28th; and on 25th-26th one was at Rodley NR (West Yorkshire). On 27th-28th one was found in Buckinghamshire at Willen Lake, with another seen in Berkshire at Jubilee River NR on those dates also. On 28th one was again seen at Potter Heigham (Norfolk).
Of passing interest – though not necessarily compelling all local birders to bother looking for it, even when they’ve been in the mighty town of Lerwick this week – the female Hooded Merganser was seen intermittently this week on Pullars Loch and the adjacent larger freshwater body at Clickimin on 22nd-28th.
Other quackers of note this week were fairly thin on the ground once more. The drake Black Duck remained in Highland at Strontian on 22nd-23rd, along with at least one of his hybrid, dubious Antigone lovechildren, product of his liaison(s) with the local lady Mallards.
Off to the west coast, the drake Surf Scoter was once more seen in the Sound of Taransay off Harris (Western Isles) on 24th-26th.
In Essex, on 27th, some of the previous week’s confusion was cleared up by the simultaneous presence of both the adult drake Ferruginous Duck again at Abberton reservoir and the hybrid Ferruginous x Tufted Duck, with the pure bird at least still present on 28th. A further possible was seen on 27th in Hertfordshire at Cooper’s Green GP.
To Ireland finally, where an eclipse drake American Wigeon was found at Lough Beg (Co.Derry) on 25th.
Away from Lincolnshire’s star shorebird this week at Frampton Marsh RSPB (and its supporting cast of an adult Long-billed Dowitcher present there too on 24th and again on 28th), Scilly continued to dominate the news in the early days with both the Solitary Sandpiper and Spotted Sandpiper found in the preceding week remaining present on Tresco and St Mary’s until, respectively, 25th and 24th.
The other biggish ticket item from the proceeding week, the juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper at Minsmere RSPB (Suffolk) also hung around a while longer, being last seen there this week on 23rd.
Meanwhile, in Shetland, the adult White-rumped Sandpiper remained at Pool of Virkie until 24th.
Just the one Pectoral Sandpiper was seen recently, at Lough Swilly (Co.Donegal) on 24th.
North Ronaldsay (Orkney) scored a Buff-breasted Sandpiper in the afternoon of 28th.
A Temminck’s Stint was found on 28th at Spurn (East Yorkshire).
A brace of good goldies were served up this week, in the form of an adult American Golden Plover at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 25th and the adult Pacific Golden Plover once more at Findhorn Bay (Moray) on 22nd.
Ever rarer these days, a Kentish Plover was found, fittingly, in Kent at Pegwell Bay on 26th.
Three widely spread Dotterels were logged on 25th – at Loch of Skaill (Orkney), Danby Moor (North Yorkshire), and down in Cornwall at Morvah. The Orcadian bird remained there on 27th, with one seen over Polgigga (Cornwall) that day also.
Sightings of Grey Phalaropes rose strongly this week, with 16 birds logged nationwide, and Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) featuring strongly with at least half of all birds seen being reported from this location as the days wore on. Red-necked Phalarope, meanwhile, were represented by individuals seen at Bridges of Ross on 23rd, Frampton Marsh RSPB (Lincolnshire) still on 23rd-24th, at Scatness (Shetland) on 25th-26th, and at Havergate Island RSPB (Suffolk) on 28th.
Both recent adult Bonaparte’s Gulls remained in situ for another week, at Hilbre Island (Cheshire) and Oare Marshes KWT (Kent).
An adult Ring-billed Gull was in Doorly Park (Co.Sligo) on 27th.
Sightings of Sabine’s Gull began well on 22nd with a trio from the Scilly pelagic, and an adult seen off Skegness (Lincolnshire); on 23rd single birds were noted from Hornsea (East Yorkshire) and Melmore Head (Co.Donegal), with three that day off Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) – the latter site racking up a further single bird on 24th and a duo on 26th; two were seen from Strumble Head (Pembrokeshire) on 25th; and on 26th singles were logged from Lossiemouth (Moray) and a pelagic off Baltimore (Co.Cork), with four birds noted off Annagh Head (Co.Mayo). On 27th four were noted from Strumble Head, with a single bird noted from Aberdaron (Gwynedd) and two off Pendeen (Cornwall) that day also. By 28th one had penetrated as far east as Dungeness (Kent).
Two Glaucous Gulls were seen this week, both in the Western Isles on 22nd – the juvenile once more on South Uist, and the second-summer once again up on North Uist at Balranald RSPB.
The adult Forster’s Tern was seen once more this week at Soldier’s Point (Co.Louth).
A late arrival in the news on 27th came in the form of a Red-footed Falcon briefly on North Ronaldsay (Orkney). That’s a fairly atypical record all round – Orkney not enjoying huge numbers of previous records of this species, and late August being far from the peak month for arrivals of the species in the UK as a whole.
Otherwise we had more quiet times on the raptor front again this week, headed up by a Black Kite over The Lizard (Cornwall) on 22nd.
Other than this, however, we’ve just got a spread of Honey Buzzards to get through before we’re onto what will, in the coming weeks, be the main event – the passerines. So… in the Wykeham Forest (North Yorkshire) two birds remained on 22nd-24th at least; and latterly sightings of single birds came from Maer Lake (Cornwall) on 22nd and Arnold (Nottinghamshire) on 23rd; on 24th from Wintersett reservoir (West Yorkshire) and Mancetter (Warwickshire); and on 25th from Fairburn Ings (West Yorkshire), St Leonards (Dorset) and Cantley (Norfolk), the latter being one of the scarcer dark morph birds.
And like a kid before Christmas, I’m starting to feel the fizz of excitement when it comes to this section of our weekly proceedings. Next week we’re heading into the sharp, pointy bit of the year, as once September’s under way I always feel we’re in the realm of when the exciting stuff starts to happen. But already this week, things began to liven up a little…
In Dorset, an Aquatic Warbler was an all-too-brief sighting at Lytchett Fields RSPB on 22nd.
The previous week’s Melodious Warbler at Beachy Head (East Sussex) remained there on 22nd-25th, with another found this week at St Catherine’s Point (Isle of Wight) on 24th, and a probable seen in Winterborne St Martin (Dorset) on 27th.
The Icterine Warbler in Norfolk at Winterton Dunes also saw in the new week, remaining there on 22nd; and joined in the news by further birds at East Hills (Norfolk) and a probable at Mancetter (Warwickshire).
A whiff of easterlies was all it took for Shetland to start to stir this week. Barred Warblers were in the vanguard, with two birds on Fair Isle on 22nd-24th joined there by a third individual on 23rd and, on 27th-28th, a fresh peak of four birds present. Subsequent sightings came from Norwick on Unst where two on 23rd left a single bird still present by 26th; but it was 27th when the first appreciable surge of the autumn pressed home – birds were seen in the islands at Burravoe on Yell; at Funzie on Fetlar; three birds were seen on Unst; one was present on Mainland at Pool of Virkie; and down on Orkney, one was seen on North Ronaldsay. On 28th one was found in Essex at The Naze.
An Arctic Warbler was on the Shetland mainland at Hestingott on 27th.
A Marsh Warbler was on Fair Isle on 27th also.
Wrynecks continued to crop up this week, with another pleasing scatter of inland as well as coastal records. One remained at Dungeness (Kent) from the previous week until 27th; further sightings came from Beer Head (Devon) on 22nd-24th; Bradworthy (Devon) and Pimperne (Dorset) on 24th; Abingdon (Oxfordshire) on 25th, and Seaford Head (East Sussex) on 25th-26th; and Nafford (Worcestershire) on 26th. On 28th one was found on Trondra (Shetland), with others seen that day in Glamorgan at Maesteg, and on St Martin’s (Scilly).
A Hoopoe was seen at Falmer (East Sussex) on 23rd.
The first-winter Citrine Wagtail remained on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 22nd-25th at Lower Moors; a further possible bird was reported from Dawlish Warren NNR (Devon) on 23rd.
A Red-backed Shrike was trapped and ringed at Dungeness (Kent) on 26th. On 27th one was found in Hampshire at Hook-with-Warsash; on 28th one was in London at Wanstead Flats.
In East Yorkshire the Pied Crow remained available for those interested at Flamborough on 22nd-23rd.
The adult Rose-coloured Starling on Tiree (Argyll & Bute) remained there a while yet this week, still present on 22nd-25th, with another adult seen on Anglesey at Valley on 24th. Juveniles were found on 27th-28th on Unst (Shetland) and in Devon at Beesands.
Common Rosefinches this week were seen in Shetland on Unst on 26th, and on 27th at Sumburgh and on Fair Isle. On 28th one was found on Yell, with another on Whalsay that afternoon.
An Ortolan Bunting was trapped and ringed in a garden in Suffolk at Hollesley on 22nd; further birds were seen and heard this week on 23rd at Abbotsbury (Dorset) and Bempton Cliffs RSPB (East Yorkshire), and on 24th at Sand Point (Somerset) and Beachy Head (East Sussex). On 27th one was in Cornwall on The Lizard, one flew over Lytchett Bay (Dorset), and a possible was over Primrose Hill (London). The week ended with another trapped and ringed, this time in East Sussex at Charleston reedbed.
There was absolutely no doubt, whatsoever, as to what the week’s star overseas bird was – the laurels went, unquestionably, to the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker finally tracked down on Iceland at Apavatn on 25th-28th. As alluded to last week, that’s one that’s assumed mythical proportions for British birders…
Closer to home, the Long-legged Buzzard remained in Holland at Megchelen on 22nd; while at Fochteloo a Black-shouldered Kite was present from 21st-24th.
A couple of blasts from the past – or at least, earlier this year – resurfaced again this week in the news – a reprise appearance for the Dwarf Bittern still present on the Canary Islands on Fuerteventura on 22nd, and an American Royal Tern once again on Guernsey (Channel Islands) on 24th.
In Denmark, the adult Pacific Diver was still off Skagen on 23rd-26th.
In Portugal a Ruppell’s Vulture was seen from Corte do Pinto on 22nd.
And last of all, we end as we began, with a stellar seabird – a Swinhoe’s Petrel seen off Graciosa in the Azores on 28th.
Flushed with some modest success on the seabird prediction front this past week, I’m needing to keep the needle in the predictive groove for another week.
Now we’re heading into September, it’s tempting to start to cast covetous eyes at past records of interesting passerines – while Arctic and Greenish Warblers are the stand-out and likely candidates for the coming week (and if I finally add one to the garden list you won’t be hearing the end of it next week), with a waft of helpful easterlies an early Booted Warbler probably isn’t a bad call either.
Then again, it’s still prime time for shorebirds on the move, and one species that’s been absent from the news for a few weeks is coming up to the very best month of all for past records – that is, of course, Lesser Yellowlegs, a wader that favours September above all other months for its British and Irish occurrences. Of just over 500 accepted British and Irish records, nearly 200 of them come from the coming month – and moreover, they’re found inland as well as at the coast. They’re far from the rarest of birds, but they’re all lovely, and who’d say no to finding one for themselves? One then for the local patch-workers to keep an eye open for in the days to come…
Jon Dunn
29 August 2018
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