Weekly birding round-up: 28 Jan - 3 Feb 2020
Winter continued to grind along this week, with for the most part very little change in proceedings, excepting perhaps a slight warming up in gull action… We’re barely a month into 2020 and it looks like we’ve already got a Western Palearctic first on our hands. Or has it slipped through our fingers?
Well, we concluded last week’s Round Up by saying that the week to come was pure gull territory, and exhorting birders to get themselves to the nearest estuary or landfill to see what they could find. By all accounts that advice was bang on the money, for all nobody found the dainty Ross’s Gull I craved.
Matters got under way, frustratingly, with news of a possible adult Vega Gull at the Studholme Street recycling centre in Liverpool on 29th-30th. News, that is, that emerged blinking into the open, on 31st – at which point there was no sign of said gull.
Vega Gull first appeared on our radars in 2016, when an adult bird was seen on 10th-13th January in Duncannon harbour (Co.Wexford) – our one and only record to date, and an absolutely belting find by Killian Mullarney - his account of the identification process a classic example of the careful, forensic, Holmesian guller’s art.
This came hot on the heels of other Pacific gulls making landfall for the first time on British and Irish soil – both Slaty-backed Gull and Glaucous-winged Gull having been discovered over here by that point in time. Rainham landfill (London) provided our first Slaty-backed Gull in January 2011, and our first Glaucous-winged Gull record came from Gloucestershire in December 2006.
Ah yes. Gloucestershire…
With those Pacific gulls falling like ninepins in the opening years of the new century, there remained one species that had been long-awaited, but still hadn’t turned up - Black-tailed Gull. Watching them for myself swirling around a boat in the Sea of Japan lately, I found my mind wandering irresistibly towards wondering when one would finally be uncovered in Britain or Ireland.
Which brings us neatly back to Gloucestershire this week, and news that broke on 2nd of a second-winter Black-tailed Gull seen for ten minutes on the Severn estuary between Newnham and Broadoak on 1st. Better yet, a short piece of video footage accompanied that news and, if you could ignore the comedy value of two Carrion Crows squabbling over a dead rat in the background, the long-snouted, low-slung bird standing on the water’s edge looked every bit the part of a Western Palearctic first. Gloucestershire had apparently struck again.
Oof.
One fly in this particular ointment, however, was the fact that, like the lost Vega, there was no further sign to be had of the Black-tailed Gull on the day the news actually broke.
And the other fly in the ointment? Well, that would be the suggestion that this bird might in fact be either a Lesser Black-backed Gull or the hybrid lovechild of a coupling of Ring-billed and Lesser Black-backed Gull. And no, me neither – there can’t be many birders out there with much field experience of that particular exotic combination – though it’s worth noting that (we think) it does happen – there’s been a bird ascribed to that particular cocktail mix at Belvide reservoir (Staffordshire) recently.
All of which seems to suggest that, if the Gloucestershire bird isn’t re-found and examined in more than a couple of video shorts, we’ll just have to watch its progress through BOURC’s deliberations with bated breath…
As raised in these quarters a few weeks ago, every few years we get a winter when multiple Black-throated Thrushes are found. So far this winter period we’ve had a couple – the obliging and photographed-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life male that’s spent weeks behind the paywall of Whipsnade Zoo (Bedfordshire), and the brief bird seen in Hamilton (Clyde) back in mid-December.
It always felt likely, with further reports coming in from elsewhere in Europe in recent weeks, that we might be on for another one or two. The trick being, of course, actually having a birder stumble across one. I’d bet good money that there’s a bird out there that’s happily buried in some berry-laden garden or hedgerow, unseen by anyone who cares what it is, that’s going to be overlooked by the birding world all winter long.
Lunch hours, at this time of year, are probably not particularly laden with promise for the working birder, but this week proved otherwise for Josh Forrester. On 30th he stumbled across a male Black-throated Thrush in Grimsby (Lincolnshire) - a first for the county, and a popular one too as it chose to linger in the area until 3rd.
A glance at our previous accepted records for Britain shows an almost unbroken band of past birds down the east coast from Shetland to Kent – notable exceptions being Lincolnshire, Suffolk and Essex. With Lincolnshire now having fallen, birders in those remaining counties have plenty of incentive, were any needed, to get checking out the local berry sources in the days to come.
Speaking of the overwintering Bedfordshire bird, that particular male remained this week until 3rd also – one wonders if, this far into proceedings, and with a price to pay to see it, whether it’s actually going to be looked for that much now…
Pick of another peaceful spell in the seabird doldrums this week was the White-billed Diver seen from South Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 29th, and the usual wintering individual once more in South Nesting Bay (Shetland) on 2nd.
A solitary Balearic Shearwater was seen on 2nd off Chapel Point (Lincolnshire). Four Little Auks were seen from Lossiemouth (Moray) on 1st, with another trio noted between Lerwick and Nesting (Shetland) on 2nd.
And that was about it.
Moving swiftly onto our long-legged beasties, the late juvenile Purple Heron remained at Eagland Hill (Lancashire) on 30th-3rd.
Glossy Ibises, meanwhile, were represented by lingering individuals still present at Newport Wetlands RSPB (Gwent) on 28th-2nd, in Devon at Fremington Pill on 29th-3rd, and in Ireland at Rosslare (Co.Wexford) still on 29th.
Cambridgeshire provided a daily source of our non-Norfolk Common Crane once more this week, with handfuls reported regularly from Eldernell, Thorney and Manea. The biggest count came from Suffolk, where 18 birds were logged on 29th at Lakenheath Fen RSPB. In the north, the adult bird remained at Hartburn (Northumberland) on 30th; and, in Dorset, two more were noted in flight over Deadmoor Common on 2nd.
Starting our weekly waddle with the honkers and quackers with The Goose Formerly Known As Canada, sightings of hutchinsii Richardson’s Cackling Geese came from Caerlaverock WWT (Dumfries & Galloway) on 28th-1st still and, in Aberdeenshire, on 30th at Alford and Loch of Skene, with the latter site accounting for another sighting on 2nd. A probable interior Todd’s Canada Goose was also reported from Alford on 30th, with another possible seen on 2nd in Co.Sligo at Ballintemple.
Lingering Black Brants remained this week around Kilnsea (East Yorkshire) on 28th-3rd, Holkham (Norfolk) on 28th-31st, and again at Donna Nook (Lincolnshire) on 1st.
Another possible Grey-bellied Brant, something of a feature of this winter, was seen this week on 1st-2nd at Marshside RSPB and Banks Marsh NNR (Lancashire).
In a bit of a curate’s goose egg, what’s presumably the same recent Norfolk Lesser White-fronted Goose was found again on 2nd at Burnham Market – in the company of three Red-breasted Geese, one of which was blue-ringed. Hm… The latter trio were noted in flight over Holme on 3rd – this at least telling us they’ve got a full set of wings, if not exactly how far they’ve actually come in the first instance. It’s a start.
Moving onto the quackers, in Devon the juvenile drake Blue-winged Teal remained happily settled at Man Sands on 29th-3rd.
Up in Highland, the drake Black Duck was once more seen at Strontian on 28th.
The American Wigeon remained this week at Culdaff (Co.Donegal), with another seen on 1st-2nd at Fedderate reservoir (Aberdeenshire).
Eleven Green-winged Teals were seen this week – Scottish birds were seen again on Barra (Western Isles) on 29th, on the Eden estuary (Fife) on 30th-2nd, on Islay (Argyll & Bute) again on 2nd-3rd, and on South Uist (Western Isles) again on 3rd; English sightings came with settled individuals at Slimbridge WWT (Gloucestershire) on 28th-1st, Wilcove (Cornwall) still on 29th-2nd, Minsmere RSPB (Suffolk) on 29th-3rd, at Wheldrake Ings YWT (North Yorkshire) on 30th-1st, and Blacktoft Sands RSPB (East Yorkshire) again on 2nd-3rd; and in Ireland, birds remained at Kilcoole (Co.Wicklow) on 28th and Blennerville (Co.Kerry) on 3rd.
A probable Lesser Scaup was seen on 29th at Portmore Lough RSPB (Co.Antrim), while the settled female remained in Cornwall on Stithians reservoir on 1st-3rd and, on 3rd, a drake was found on Loch Ryan (Dumfries & Galloway) – presumably the returning bird first seen there in the winter of 2016/2017.
The female (or hybrid) Ferruginous Duck remained on Ranworth Broad (Norfolk) on 29th, while the regular drake saw in the new month at Blashford Lakes HWT (Hampshire) on 1st.
Numbers of Ring-necked Ducks remained unchanged this week, with 19 birds again logged across the region. Multiple single site records came in the form of two birds still on Lough Atarriff (Co.Cork) on 1st, and the small flock of four birds still settled on the Devon/Cornwall border at Lower Tamar Lake on 29th-31st.
Scotland remained the locus for rare seaducks for another week, with the White-winged Scoter still off Fisherrow and Musselburgh (Lothian) on 29th-3rd, and sharing those waters with the regular drake Surf Scoter; and the Black Scoter still in Lunan Bay (Angus) on 28th. Another Surf Scoter was seen in Orkney off Quanterness on 2nd again.
Completing the Scottish set, the drake King Eider was still hanging out with his commoner brethren distantly off Uyeasound on Unst (Shetland) on 28th-2nd.
And finally, the week’s most bizarre piece of duck-doings came to light on 29th when staff in the Kiko Milano cosmetics store in Ipswich (Suffolk) reported a rogue pigeon on the loose on their shop floor. The feral pigeon in question turned out to be none other than the yellow-ringed escapee drake Hooded Merganser that’s been tootling around the Ipswich area for months now – an example of a species of which the Ipswich Star sagely noted, in a follow-up article, “short of stowing away on a boat to Felixstowe it's doubtful whether the Hooded Merganser would have made it across from North America"…
Quite what this plastic ducky thought it would find in Kiko Milano is anyone’s guess, but we can presumably brace ourselves for a female Bufflehead in a Boots store sometime soon.
The preceding week’s remarkable haul of seven Long-billed Dowitchers in Britain and Ireland set the bar high, and sad to say we didn’t do half as well this week. Regular English birds were, once more, seen at Marshside Marsh RSPB (Lancashire) on 28th-3rd and in Devon at Bowling Green Marsh RSPB on 30th again; and in Ireland, one remained at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 29th-2nd.
Ireland also added a fresh Lesser Yellowlegs to the week’s tally, at Lough Beg (Co.Derry) on 28th-30th, while the first-winter remained at Nosterfield LNR (North Yorkshire) on 28th-3rd.
A probable American Golden Plover was also seen at Nosterfield LNR this week, on 29th, but didn’t give itself up for a definitive call. Either a juvenile American or possibly a Pacific Golden Plover was found on 3rd in Co.Kerry at Ballylongford.
We conclude the section with a couple of Grey Phalaropes - one seen on 29th off Hilbre (Cheshire), and the other lingering for a couple of days at Flamborough (East Yorkshire) on 31st-3rd.
For once, the week’s rarest gulls weren’t in Ireland, but those that were tended to be rather more obliging than the rarest bin bag botherers in Liverpool and on the Severn estuary.
Pick of the bunch, Ireland’s wintering adult Bonaparte’s Gull remained at Kilmore Quay (Co.Wexford) on 28th-3rd.
Ireland’s dominance of Ring-billed Gulls continued, with records this week coming from Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre (Co.Kerry) on 28th-2nd; Bray (Co.Wicklow) on 30th-31st; Sligo (Co.Sligo) on 30th-2nd; Kinsale Marsh (Co.Cork) on 30th; Belfast (Co.Antrim) on 1st and Carrickfergus harbour again on 2nd; and in Wexford harbour (Co.Wexford) on 1st. Britain’s sole representatives remained the adult birds on the Hayle estuary (Cornwall) on 29th-2nd, at Llys-y-Fran reservoir (Pembrokeshire) on 2nd, and up in Scotland in Strathclyde CP (Clyde) on 28th-29th.
As we thought, another candidate American Herring Gull was found this week – a second-winter bird seen on Skye (Highland) on 30th and again on 1st-3rd.
It was something of a game of two halves this week where white-wingers were concerned – appreciably better numbers of Iceland Gulls being logged nationwide, with some 50 birds noted; but more modest numbers of Glaucous Gulls, with 40 or so birds seen, and none of the previous week’s largesse.
That slight uptick in Iceland Gulls was accompanied by a small flurry of Kumlien’s Gulls. Birds were seen at Shawell (Leicestershire) on 28th; in Cornwall on the Hayle estuary on 28th, St Ives on 31st and 2nd, St Gothian Sands LNR on 1st, and Helston on 3rd; in Northumberland at Blyth on 29th; and on Draycote Water (Warwickshire) on 31st-1st.
Predictably, our interesting raptors continued to mostly consist of wintering juvenile Rough-legged Buzzards this week. These frosty delights remained at Wells (Norfolk) on 28th-3rd; at Thorne (South Yorkshire) on 28th-2nd; in Kent at Chetney Marshes on 28th-1st; and in Suffolk at Bawdsey Marshes still on 29th-2nd. A probable additional bird was reported on 29th at Royston (Hertfordshire).
Our other point of passing interest was the probable White-tailed Eagle, of unknown origin, seen on 3rd in Surrey over Newdigate.
We’ll kick off the passerines with, if not the rarest bird logged this week, then certainly the winner hands down for unseasonable exoticism – a Hoopoe found in Hampshire at Badminston GPs on 1st-3rd.
Moving onto rarer fare, once again it was all about the pipits and wagtails. In Cornwall, the wintering American Buff-bellied Pipit remained in the fields at Sennen (Cornwall) on 1st-2nd.
Our two recent Richard’s Pipits remained available in Somerset at Steart WWT on 29th and in Kent at Halstow Marshes on 28th-1st; another was reported from Slimbridge WWT (Gloucestershire) on 1st.
The gorgeous first-winter male tschutschensis Blue-headed Eastern Yellow Wagtail continued to delight a steady stream of admirers in Norfolk at Sedgeford on 28th-3rd, with our other wintering first-winter bird still up in Northumberland at Prestwick Carr on 28th-2nd also.
Over in Cheshire, the maurus Siberian Stonechat remained at Ashton’s Flash on 28th-3rd.
London’s recent Yellow-browed Warbler was reported again from Rotherhithe on 1st, with another London report coming from Beddington on 3rd, and the Shifnal (Shropshire) bird once again on 2nd; and further birds were noted this week at Westbury sewage works (Wiltshire) on 29th-3rd and in Hampshire at Blashford Lakes HWT on 30th.
For the second consecutive week a Penduline Tit was found this week – a male bird found initially at Lodmoor RSPB (Dorset) on 28th and it, or another individual, then seen at nearby Radipole Lake RSPB on 1st-2nd.
Numbers of Waxwings reported took something of a tumble this week, with a shade under 400 birds in all noted. Peak flocks were 75 birds seen in Stirling (Forth) on 2nd, closely followed by 62 birds logged in Aberdeenshire at Banchory on 29th.
A fair few wintering Great Grey Shrikes were still on offer this week, with the bulk of those seen once again being in England – at Brogborough Hill (Bedfordshire) still on 28th-31st; in Gloucestershire at Sapperton on 28th-3rd and Crabtree Hill on 29th-2nd; in Hampshire at Clumber Inclosure on 28th and Holm Hill on 29th-1st; at Morden Bog (Dorset) on 28th-1st; in Cannock Chase (Staffordshire) on 29th-3rd; and at Hatfield Moors NNR (Staffordshire) on 31st. The non-English birds were seen in Afan Forest Park (Glamorgan) still on 28th and at Backwater reservoir (Angus) still on 31st.
Last, but as always not least, a wintering Little Bunting was found in West Sussex in Ashdown Forest on 28th-30th.
Spain continued to boss the overseas news this week with all sorts of colourful goodies on offer – pick of which had to be the Allen’s Gallinule found on 31st-2nd in Andalucia at Sanlucar de Barrmeda. The Lesser Flamingo also remained available in Andalucia at Salinas de Bonanza on 31st-3rd. The Sociable Lapwing also remained this week at La Aldea de Obispo on 1st; and, on 3rd, the Brown Shrike was still present at O Meson do Vento, and the American Buff-bellied Pipit was hanging on at Praia de Langosteira.
Out on the Canaries, the Abyssinian Roller remained on Gran Canaria on 28th-3rd.
Moving back closer to home, in Holland a meena Rufous Turtle Dove was found out in Friesland at Sneek on 30th-3rd.
In Belgium, the Pygmy Cormorant was still present in Parc Domaine du Val Duchesse on 28th-1st, while the Dusky Thrush remained at Turnhout on 28th-31st.
The French Pygmy Cormorant remained this week at Graviere Lobit-Maniron on 31st still.
Sweden’s recent duo of rare wagtails were also still present for another week – the Eastern Yellow Wagtail remaining at Gislovslage on 28th-2nd, and the personata Masked Wagtail also lingering at Falkenberg on 28th.
Up in Iceland the White-winged Scoter remained at Njarovik on 29th.
Finally, out in Kuwait the Purple Sunbird remained settled at Fnaitees on 29th.
Well, what can we say for the week to come? I’d love to confidently predict the re-finding of the Gloucestershire Black-tailed Gull and, while we remain in the heart of the rare gull season, let’s continue to shoot for the stars…
…and think large Pacific gulls – specifically, Glaucous-winged and Slaty-backed. Worst case scenario is you might find a white-winger or a Caspian Gull amongst the usual suspects but, in a dream world…
Jon Dunn
4 February 2020
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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