Weekly birding round-up: 24 Dec 2019 - 1 Jan 2020
Happy New Year everybody. It’s been an intense final week of 2019, a short spell of over indulgence, but now it’s time to get to grips with the leftovers.
A statement that applies equally well to the lingering rarities in our midst as to the remains of the turkey sitting greasily and reproachfully in the heart of the fridge…
While all of us, like petulant children at this time of year, wanted something shiny and new for Christmas – preferably what the neighbouring kids in Holland already had this past week – what we actually got was some more of the same. Which is nothing whatsoever to cop a strop about – after all, many a Christmas week has gone by in British birding history without anything whatsoever to write a thank you letter in our best handwriting for.
However, this past week, on the days Whipsnade Zoo’s doors (Bedfordshire) were open to visitors, the stonking adult male Black-throated Thrush continued to show, sometimes spectacularly well until 1st. The photos that were being posted online showed a sumptuous, mouth-watering bird that, for many, was the cherry on the cake for the closing decade.
Speaking of the inexorable changing of the years and march of time, that brings us nicely onto the subject and fruits of taxonomic progress. Whoever, ten years ago, would have foreseen quite how far we’d have come – former subspecies split out into formally acknowledged species in their own, tickable right… and the remarkable speed with which a shed feather or fresh turd could be analysed and allow certainty where once there would have been only a lingering sense of resigned ambiguity.
I’m not sure what we birders should be more grateful for – the burgeoning possibilities that have appeared on our lists or wait in the wings to shortly join them… or Doc Martin and his team of skilled DNA diviners in Aberdeen who make such speedy sense of the detritus we send them.
I wonder where we’ll be, ten years from now, when we stand on the cusp of 2030?
Back in the here and now, two of the fruits of the flux of the past decade remained available over the Christmas period in, respectively, Northumberland and Norfolk. The monochrome Eastern Yellow Wagtail was still to be seen at Prestwick Carr (Northumberland) on 24th-1st, while the rather more colourful first-winter male Blue-headed tschutschensis Eastern Yellow Wagtail was still on offer in Norfolk at Sedgeford on 24th-1st also.
A further bird was found in Ireland at South Slob (Co.Wexford) on New Year’s Eve, remaining there as the new year began on 1st by which time its identity had been confirmed by sound recording. There’ve been a number of possible and probable birds in Ireland in recent years, and this is only the second individual that’s been confirmed and nailed down - one thing’s for sure, it won’t be the last.
The closing two days of 2019 saw a modest upswing of the staple white-wingers, Iceland and Glaucous Gulls, with a few more of both species being picked out at coastal stations and inland gull roosts. It felt like the annual winter gull account might just be sparking into life…
All that said, there’s a league of difference between either of those species and something much more rarified from the high north – either an Ivory or, my personal favourite, the dove-like elegance of a Ross’s Gull.
January is far and away the peak month for a Ross’s Gull to be found here – of the 100 birds currently accepted for Britain to the end of 2017, 42 records date from the month – and even I’m capable of doing the maths to see that as a percentage.
Still, there’s no accurately predicting the wheres and whens of these Arctic waifs. Who’d have said there’d be an adult bird on New Year’s Day 2020 on the sea just off Portscatho (Cornwall)? The bird flew off with Kittiwakes - there’ll be more than a few birders hoping that it doesn’t prove to be a one day bird, and proves to be located somewhere on the Cornish coast in the weekend to come.
While waaay from rarest bird to find itself up here in the rarified air of the opening headlines, there’s no gainsaying the New Year’s Day quality of finding a first-winter male Desert Wheatear - the last thing you’d expect to stumble across when you sally forth to start the new year, but just the tonic to shake off any hint of a bleary head on the morning after.
So hats off to the finder of the bird on the beach defences at Eccles-on-Sea (Norfolk) on 1st. Top work. And, in one of those curiously neat coincidences that birding throws our way from time to time, it’s at the site of the county’s last bird in December 2017. January birds are precious few and far between, nationally – of our 154 accepted records to the end of 2017, just three owe themselves to the month, making this week’s bird all the more special.
Top of the seabird pile this week by some margin was the Pacific Diver found on Christmas Eve at Youghal (Co.Cork). The adult bird at Crookhaven was last seen on 22nd November, and that’s a fair old way along the coast from Youghal. A different individual, then?
A couple of White-billed Divers were logged this week – one in Shetland at the traditional wintering site of South Nesting on Christmas Eve, and the other passing Hemsby (Norfolk) on Christmas Day.
Two Balearic Shearwaters were seen from The Lizard (Cornwall) on 27th.
A handful of Pomarine Skuas were scattered around the south and east coasts again this week – Suffolk sightings came from Southwold on 26th and off Minsmere RSPB on 29th; an adult bird lingered in Tor Bay (Devon) on 27th-28th; on 29th one was noted from Penzance (Cornwall); another Cornish sighting came on 30th at Newlyn, while one was seen that day further east off Portland Bill (Dorset); on 1st one was seen in Cornwall off Marazion. An Irish sighting came from Carnsore Point (Co.Wexford) on 28th, and another on 31st in Rosslare harbour (Co.Wexford).
New Year’s Eve provided the last of 2019’s Little Auks, in the form of a single bird off Bamburgh (Northumberland) and seven seen from Sumburgh (Shetland); on 1st Sumburgh had two more, Northumberland landed another singleton off Goswick, and Unst a final Shetland bird.
The late juvenile Purple Heron reappeared this week at Eagland Hill (Lancashire) on 28th-1st, seeing out the old year and in the new.
Glossy Ibises made up the bulk of the interesting long-legged beasties again, with regular birds augmented by an itchy-footed individual in Sussex – seen on 27th and 31st at Iford Brooks (East Sussex), on 28th at Offham (West Sussex), and on 1st at Southease (East Sussex). The regulars comprised the Fremington Pill (Devon) bird still present on 30th-1st; the Newport Wetlands RSPB (Gwent) bird still on 24th-1st; and the Pilmore (Co.Cork) individual again on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.
Away from Norfolk the bulk of our Common Crane sightings owed themselves to Cambridgeshire – a peak count of 19 birds coming from reliable Eldernell on 27th, with smaller parties noted during the week at Manea, Ferry Meadows CP, Thorney and Wicken Fen NT. On 29th two birds were noted at Lakenheath Fen RSPB (Suffolk); and on 1st five were again at Thorne Moors NNR (South Yorkshire), two were logged at Goole Fields (East Yorkshire), with two more probables seen over West Stobswood Pools (Northumberland).
Honkers and quackers came back to the fore again this week, undoubtedly a reflection of increased observer coverage as the year drew to an end and the festive season released a few normally work-bound birders into the field for a welcome breath of fresh air.
Perhaps the best Christmas present of all came in the form of the Lesser White-fronted Goose reappearing in Norfolk near Titchwell on Christmas Day, but this mobile bird had soon moved on again and wasn’t reported again during the days that followed.
Boxing Day served up a couple of examples of The Goose Formerly Known As Canada, with an interior Todd’s Canada Goose present at Ballintemple (Co.Sligo) and a hutchinsii Richardson’s Cackling Goose seen again on Islay (Argyll & Bute). Two more of the latter were present on North Uist (Western Isles) on 30th-1st, while a further bird was found near Inverness airport at Ardersier (Highland) on 31st, and a further Islay sighting came on New Year’s Day.
Highland provided a flurry of sightings of possible Grey-bellied Brants - one still off and on at Castle Stuart on 27th-31st, and one or two birds at Nairn on 26th-1st. Down in Norfolk, a possible bird was seen at Shernbourne on 29th-30th, with it or another candidate at Anmer on 31st and a further sighting at Fring on 1st.
Black Brants, meanwhile, were seen in Lincolnshire at Donna Nook on 25th-30th and 1st, and at Gibraltar Point NNR on 27th; in Dorset again at East Fleet on 29th and Wyke Regis on 1st; and in East Yorkshire near Skeffling and at Welwick on 1st.
A flurry of Snow Geese provided the nearest thing to a white Christmas on offer this year. Orkney sported a white bird at Loch of Harray on Christmas Eve and Dounby on Christmas Day, and Shapinsay on 29th; while on the Scottish mainland further sightings came from Auldearn (Highland) on 28th, New Cumnock (Ayrshire) still on 29th, and Findhorn Bay (Moray) on New Year’s Eve.
Onto the quackers, and Scotland continued to have a lot on offer. Last seen I don’t know how long ago, the drake Black Duck emerged into the news again this week, still going strong at Strontian (Highland) on 29th.
A drake American Wigeon remained on Loch Insh (Highland) on 26th-29th.
In Devon the juvenile drake Blue-winged Teal remained at Man Sands on 25th-1st.
Some 11 Green-winged Teals were seen this week, scattered across Britain and Ireland. East Coast NR (Co.Wicklow) held a bird on 28th-31st, with two birds present there on the former date.
Ireland was where it was all at where Lesser Scaups were concerned – two drakes were seen this week, one still on Achill Island (Co.Mayo) on 24th-31st, and another on Lough Neagh (Co.Armagh) on 31st. In Cornwall the female remained on Stithians reservoir on 26th-1st.
Numbers of Ring-necked Ducks remained strong, with some 20 birds in all logged across the region. The Tamar Lakes on Devon/Cornwall border had the cream of the crop, with four birds still present there on 27th-28th, while two were seen at Abberton reservoir (Essex) on 1st.
The drake Ferruginous Duck remained on Seeswood Pool (Warwickshire) on 24th-30th.
The drake Black Scoter remained constant off the Northumberland coast at Goswick on 24th-28th and Cheswick on 1st; the White-winged Scoter was seen again from Fisherrow (Lothian) on 27th.
Fisherrow also supplied regular sightings of the drake Surf Scoter until 1st; three drakes were seen at Gosford Bay (Lothian) on 31st. Off Arran (Argyll & Bute) the female remained on 25th-30th still. A drake was seen from Great Ormes Head (Conwy) on Christmas Day, with it or another off Old Colwyn again on 1st; and a female or first-winter drake off The Lizard (Cornwall) on New Year’s Eve.
Finally, a female Bufflehead was found on 1st on Stithians reservoir. One that, with the benefit of jaded hindsight, I’m parking here in the main body of the round up. The time of year and the location feel good, but… ducks, innit.
The most eye-catching of the week’s waders had to be the Kentish Plover found at Burnham-on-Sea (Somerset) on Boxing Day – pretty much the last thing anyone was expecting late in December.
Two of the recent English first-winter Long-billed Dowitchers remained available this week – at Cresswell Pond NWT (Northumberland) still on 24th-1st, and at Bowling Green Marsh RSPB (Devon) still on 24th-1st. Meanwhile, in Ireland the first-winter bird checked in again at Kilcoole (Co.Wicklow) on 30th-1st, with another seen on 31st-1st at South Slob (Co.Wexford).
Five of this week’s seven Ring-billed Gulls were to be seen in Ireland – the balance being a Scottish bird noted on Christmas Eve on Holy Loch (Argyll & Bute), and one at Marazion Marsh RSPB (Cornwall) briefly on 1st. The Irish contingent comprised adult birds seen at Doorly Park in Sligo (Co.Sligo) on 24th-28th again; at Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre (Co.Kerry) still on 25th-1st; at Bray (Co.Wicklow) on 26th-30th; at Nimmo’s Pier (Co.Galway) on 28th-1st; and at Carrickfergus harbour (Co.Antrim) on 1st.
Numbers of white-winged gulls picked up again this week and, amongst the usual suspects came a couple of sightings of Kumlien’s Gull(s) - both records relating to a third-winter bird, seen at Shawell (Leicestershire) on 28th and Draycote Water (Warwickshire) on 31st.
Of the white-wingers, we had about 35 Iceland Gulls and 40 Glaucous Gulls logged this week. Most of both involved single birds, but peak counts came of four Iceland Gulls on North Uist (Western Isles) on 30th and six Glaucous Gulls on Unst (Shetland) on 30th, both records seeming to reflect a modest increase in tempo for these northern wanderers as the year’s end approached. Maybe January will prove another good one for white-wingers and, with them, perhaps some rarer, finer fare from the Arctic…
Back in Ireland, the adult Forster’s Tern was again seen at Kinvarra (Co.Galway) on 28th.
We’d almost passed an entire year without a Gyr in Britain – the last sighting had come from Unst (Shetland) in the late winter period, a grey morph bird seen fleetingly on 15th Feburary. Another bird almost slipped through our fingers this week just gone - initially reported as a Snowy Owl on Boxing Day, it proved to be a white morph Gyr once photos were seen.
More amenable were a decent scatter of generally fairly settled Rough-legged Buzzards this week – birds remained at Wells (Norfolk) until 1st; at Bawdsey (Suffolk) until 1st; Funton Creek (Kent) until 1st; near Thorne (South Yorkshire) until 1st; Sleddale (Cleveland / North Yorkshire) until 31st; while further sightings came from Buckton (East Yorkshire) on Christmas Day and Commondale (North Yorkshire) on 29th. On 1st another Norfolk sighting came from Burnham Overy Staithe.
On Orkney, the male Snowy Owl was again seen on Eday on 31st.
By this stage in a winter round-up, we might expect ourselves to be comfortably onto the home straight. If this was the remainder of the day after Christmas lunch, we’d be settling into the sofa and closing our eyes for just a few minutes.
But no. 2019 had a thing or two to say about that – the year that just wouldn’t lie down and call it a day threw in a few more surprises in the past week.
Starting in Cornwall, what should pop up in the fields at Sennen but the American Buff-bellied Pipit again on 25th-28th, and then once more on 1st?
On Scilly, meanwhile, yet another unexpected final flourish – an Olive-backed Pipit on St Mary’s on 25th-27th. Both of which pipits seem to be a convincing argument for going birding on Christmas Day…
Less rare fare came in the form of a Richard’s Pipit seen intermittently at Halstow Marshes (Kent) on 26th-1st; another was found on 1st at Cemlyn Bay NWWT (Anglesey).
Christmas Eve marked the finding of another eastern stonechat sp, this time up in Cheshire at Ashton’s Flash, remaining there until 1st; while the probable Siberian Stonechat was still to be seen at Suffolk’s Hollesley Marshes RSPB on 27th-1st.
Back on St Mary’s (Scilly), the Dusky Warbler was again seen there on 29th.
Yellow-browed Warblers remained in London at Rotherhithe on 24th-1st, at Filey Dams NR (North Yorkshire) on 24th-1st, and Ham Wall RSPB (Somerset) on 24th-1st. Another sighting came again from Helston (Cornwall) on Boxing Day; and a fresh bird was found at Shifnal sewage works (Shropshire) on 29th-1st. On 1st another sewage works came good, with two birds found at Gwennap sewage works (Cornwall), and further birds were found in Dorset at Stour Valley LNR and in Staffordshire near Catholme.
A Hoopoe was found on 1st in Hampshire at Hounsdown, flying over the A35.
Plenty of Waxwings continued to be seen over the festive period – somewhere in the region of 1,000 birds though, as ever, that’s with the caveat that there will inevitably be some duplication with these mobile berry-munchers. Peak count came in the form of a flock of 100 birds in Edinburgh (Lothian) once more on Boxing Day.
Great Grey Shrikes continued to provide good winter birding value all over England and Wales, with just the one Scottish bird still at Backwater reservoir (Angus) on Christmas Day. English birds remained at Brogborough Hill (Bedfordshire) until 1st; Hatfield Moors NNR (South Yorkshire) until 1st; Langdale Forest (North Yorkshire) until 31st; Crabtree Hill (Gloucestershire) until 1st; Lilbourne (Northamptonshire) until 1st; in Wareham Forest (Dorset) until 31st; in Woolmer Forest (Hampshire) still on 1st; and a final English bird was found on Exmoor at Room Hill (Somerset) on 29th. Welsh birds were seen at Plumstone Mountain (Pembrokeshire) on Christmas Day; at Llangorse Common (Powys) on Boxing Day; at Old Colwyn (Conwy) on 28th; at Llyn Brenig (Denbighshire) still on 29th-30th; and at Afan Forest Park (Glamorgan) on New Year’s Eve still.
There was an unconfirmed report of a Penduline Tit in Somerset on 1st at Shapwick Heath NNR.
A juvenile Rose-coloured Starling was seen in Cambridgeshire at St Ives on Boxing Day; while, last but not least, a Little Bunting was trapped and ringed at Wrentham (Suffolk) on New Year’s Eve.
Holland continued the recent Christmas magic this week, with the Little Whimbrel remaining at Kroon until 1st, and joined there briefly by a Little Bustard on 24th-25th. The Little Whimbrel was last seen flying off strongly to the north on 1st…
Belgium held onto the recent Wallcreeper at Anseremme on 24th-1st, whilst the Pygmy Cormorant was still present in Parc Domaine du Val Duchesse on 24th-1st also – and then, on 1st, another Belgian mega… a Dusky Thrush at Turnhout, the 7th record for the country.
Dusky Thrush, Turdus eunomus photographed at De Liereman, Turnhout, province of Antwerp - 7th record for Belgium pic.twitter.com/Cy5wXCUEoQ
— Tarsiger (@TarsigerTeam) January 1, 2020
French birders meanwhile had to make do with their 10th King Eider at Douarnenez on 1st.
1st-winter male King Eider, Somateria spectabilis photographed at Douarnenez by Hugo Touzé - 10th record for France pic.twitter.com/AbmsyZLijE
— Tarsiger (@TarsigerTeam) January 1, 2020
In Sweden the Masked Wagtail at Getteron remained there until 31st, while the Oriental Turtle Dove was still at Kristinehamn on 24th-1st.
Its Xmas Eve in Sweden, the big one for us. We've decided not to do presents anymore BUT I couldn't resist one for myself; a cheeky second nibble at the Masked Wagtail this morning, after yesterday's rushed visit! Merry Yuletide one and all!!! ?????????? #GodJul pic.twitter.com/9eoBShLmgk
— Magnus Andersson (@magnusphotog) December 24, 2019
In the Channel Islands the American Royal Tern was still present on Guernsey on 28th-30th.
In Italy, the Brown Shrike remained at Osoppo on 29th; while the Brown Shrike in Spain remained in Galicia at O Meson do Vento on 1st.
More significantly, Spain landed an American Buff-bellied Pipit at Fisteira on 31st, the second national record.
Buff-bellied Pipit, Anthus rubescens photographed at Langosteira beach, Fisteira, Galicia by Pablo Pita yesterday - 2nd record for Spain pic.twitter.com/G434ma6UZE
— Tarsiger (@TarsigerTeam) December 31, 2019
Portugal got in on the recent surge in Eastern Yellow Wagtails with two birds found at Vila Franca de Xira on 24th.
Heading further afield, on the Canary Islands the adult Dwarf Bittern remained on Fuerteventura on 30th, while the first-winter Laughing Gull was still to be seen on Gran Canaria on 30th also.
Out on the Azores, the Pied-billed Grebe remained on Sao Miguel on 29th.
And, in one final flourish of colour for 2019, the Purple Sunbird was still in Kuwait at Fnaitees on 28th.
And that brings us, brimming with new year’s resolutions, to the closing bits of the first Rarity Round Up to drop into your inboxes in 2020. Next week’s Round Up will be the first full week of the year and, as ever, I’ll have a long, speculative punt at what the coming days might bring us…
Unsurprisingly, given the dead-of-winteriness, history doesn’t give much cause for wild optimism in the first week of January.
Anyone casting their eyes over the local geese could, in their wildest dreams, hope for a Red-breasted Goose - there are eight historic records for the coming week, not a bad bag by any standards. Nine historic records of Lesser White-fronted Goose may not augur a second bird this winter, but might at least be a favourable omen for someone to relocate the elusive Norfolk bird for their 2020 yearlist.
Eyes scouring fields could do worse than alighting upon a Little Bustard - the coming week has been a good one for them in the past, and the recent bird in Holland serves as a timely reminder that one could easily be bound our way.
Failing all of which, I leave you to the beat of a familiar drum in these parts – get yourselves down to the salubrious surroundings of your local sewage farm and check out the bushes. At worst you might find a Chiffchaff scrotting around there, maybe a tristis bird at that; but there’s an outside chance of a wintering Yellow-browed or a Dusky Warbler to get your 2020 local birding account off to a flyer. Good luck!
Jon Dunn
2 January 2020
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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