Weekly birding round-up: 19 - 25 Jan 2021
If keeping alphabetical track of the Met Office official, named, storms is anything to go by, we’ve maybe got off lightly for weather thus far in the winter period. Of course, that’s really not a reliable yardstick, as there’s been plenty of notably, locally unpleasant weather that’s had absolutely nothing to do with having an arbitrary name slapped on it.
All of which said, Storm Christoph passed the Met Office muster at the start of the week to be accorded an identity – a wet, windy, floody sort of identity. That, however, was soon replaced with a colder snap and, with it for many, a drop of snow. This was an old school, traditional winter week, then. A relatively quiet one, albeit greatly enlivened by news from autumn 2019…
It was, perhaps, only a matter of time. I dimly remember reading a paper in Birding World authored, in 2013, by Lukasz Lawicki, Andrea Corso and Leander Khil that dangled the tantalising possibility of a Long-legged Buzzard turning up in Britain. In a nutshell, the species was consolidating its position as a European breeding bird, and extending its breeding range northwards from south-east Europe. With an expanding breeding population and range went, hand in hand, an increase in records from west and northwest Europe.
France, Holland, Scandinavia… in the first decade of the 21st century west and northwest Europe were being peppered with records. But one still hadn’t reached us. Of course, the perceived wisdom was, for ages, a Booted Eagle-ish orthodoxy that the English Channel presented an insurmountable barrier for wandering vagrant raptors…
This was, palpably, nonsense. We only had to look to the numbers of raptors that comfortably cross the Mediterranean each year and, closer to home, the precedent set by occasional Short-toed Eagles and annual Rough-legged and Honey Buzzards too for that matter. Yet still, the wait went on…
Long-legged Buzzards were, sort of, on our radar. We intuitively knew one might make it here, but until the first record was safely under our belt, as with every new species for the British list, they lurked on the edge of consciousness when confronted with something in the field that doesn’t quite feel ‘right’.
Reading Tom Gale’s wonderful, modest and honest account of his finding a ‘Common Buzzard’ in the south Mainland of Shetland on 1st September 2019, it would be a very churlish birder indeed who puts themselves in Tom’s shoes and applies the benefit of hindsight unkindly. It’s thanks to his quick reactions with his camera that the bird was as well-documented as it was in the briefest of viewing opportunities. Fortunately, the same bird was observed passing over Fair Isle later that day by Nick Riddiford and Richard Cope, allowing for some comparative notes.
You’ll have to read Tom’s account of what followed for the full ins and outs of the superb forensic examination of the record that’s concluded that the bird is, in fact, “a perfect candidate for a second calendar year Long-legged Buzzard ”, a conclusion we understand is also endorsed by the enthusiastic agreement of Dick ‘Raptors of Europe and the Middle East’ Forsman.
So we’ll wrap this up with Tom’s closing remarks – “given records of Long-legged Buzzard in Northern and Central Europe are increasing, I imagine there could be more to come…”
Here’s hoping!
Shetland was providing much of the limited seabird action in recent days, with intermittent sightings of the two recent White-billed Divers still in South Nesting Bay off the east coast of Mainland on 19th-23rd, and one again off Unst on 19th near to adjacent Balta Isle. Skye (Highland) broke the monopoly with a further bird at Lusa Mouth on 24th.
Back in Shetland, those crewing the venerable Good Shepherd on her run to and from Fair Isle, meanwhile, were rewarded this week with four Little Auks on 19th.
Despite the cold weather, Glossy Ibises continued to feature in the daily news this week. Starting in the recent heartland of Cambridgeshire, two birds remained at Fen Drayton Lakes RSPB on 22nd-24th; the trio were again seen at Earith Bridge on 24th; and two were seen over Godmanchester NR on 24th.
Down in Kent, the settled individual was still present at Dungeness on 22nd; while in Dorset, the recent bird remained at Stanpit Marsh on 21st-25th. The four birds remained this week too in Devon at Fremington Pill on 23rd. On 24th one was seen in Suffolk at Castle Marshes; final English sightings for the week came on 25th from Barsham Marshes (Suffolk) and Bedfont Lakes CP (London).
Ireland broke that English monopoly on 23rd with a bird seen in flight over Cork harbour (Co.Cork).
The merest hint of some long-legged beasty variety came in the form of an unconfirmed report of a Night Heron in Norfolk near Lenwade on 22nd.
Once more, we start our weekly paddle amongst the honkers and quackers on the murky waters of the rarity duckpond with The Goose Formerly Known As Canada and, on Tiree, an interior Todd’s Canada Goose still present on 19th; and a notable flock of eight minima Ridgway’s Cackling Geese at Sker Point (Glamorgan) on 24th-25th.
A quintet of Black Brants were again logged this week. Up in East Yorkshire, the recent bird was again seen at Kilnsea on 22nd-23rd; in Essex, one was present at Heybridge GPs on 22nd; in Dorset one was seen again on The Fleet from Rodden Hive on 22nd also; and one more bird remained in Devon at Exminster Marshes RSPB on 24th. The balance of the week’s birds was in Ireland where one was present in Dublin (Co.Dublin) on 19th-20th.
Our only American Wigeon this week was the drake still present in Northumerland at Big Waters NR on 19th-25th.
Green-winged Teals, meanwhile, had a mostly Irish and Scottish flavour to them – Irish sightings coming from Cabragh Wetlands (Co.Tipperary) on 19th and South Slob (Co.Wexford) again on 21st; and Scottish individuals being seen on Tiree (Argyll & Bute) still on 19th, off Tain Links (Highland) still on 20th, on Benbecula (Western Isles) still on 20th-22nd, and on North Uist (Western Isles) again on 24th. In England, one was again seen in Dorset at Longham Lakes on 25th.
Ring-necked Ducks, on the other hand, were distributed with greater abandon across the regions. In all, some 25 birds were reported in recent days, and, once more, there were multiple birds to be found at some sites – three remained on Tiree (Argyll & Bute) on 19th-25th; two were again seen at Radley GPs (Oxfordshire) on 21st-24th; two were still in Cornwall at Siblyback Lake on 25th; two were once more on Moylan Lough (Co.Monaghan) on 24th; and two popped up near Wareham (Dorset) on 23rd-24th, a timely reminder that with this species, and particularly in the wake of such a good autumn for transatlantic vagrancy, one could be found almost anywhere in Britain and Ireland presently.
That, or something scarcer still – the Ferruginous Duck was still present in Cambridgeshire at Ouse Washes RSPB on 24th; and the Lesser Scaup remained at Knockaderry reservoir (Co.Waterford) on 21st, while a fresh bird was found at Ardcloony (Co.Clare) on 22nd.
Sticking with Ireland a moment longer, the first-winter drake King Eider remained this week at Castlegregory (Co.Kerry) on 22nd.
Co.Meath provided the sole Irish Surf Scoter sightings of recent days, with one bird off Ben Head on 21st still rising to two birds there on 23rd-24th, and one also on 23rd from Mornington. In Scotland, meanwhile, Lothian’s regular drake was once more seen in the Musselburgh vicinity on 19th-25th, with two birds logged from Eastfield on 24th; and Highland sightings came from Dornoch on 20th and Embo on 22nd-24th again.
We’d have to assume that the female or juvenile drake Bufflehead seen this week in Co.Cork near Kinsale at Nohoval on 23rd is the bird last reported on 2nd-3rd three miles east of Kinsale at Oysterhaven – as the duck flies it’s barely a mile or two away.
Finally, what week would be complete without a Hooded Merganser? They really are the gift that keeps on giving… A drake of unknown origin turned up in London on 16th in Edmonton at Pymmes Park, presumably relating to the same bird that latterly settled in Southgate at Grovelands Park on 19th-24th. In other news, a lost plastic duck was found this week at Port Meadow (Oxfordshire) on 24th…
Rubber duck in the gull roost this evening. First Port Meadow record pic.twitter.com/gCrJWXrJd1
— Thomas Miller (@temiller17) January 24, 2021
Familiar faces make up the slim shorebird pickings this week. Rarest of the lot was the Lesser Yellowlegs still present in Devon at Aveton Gifford on 21st…
…whilst Filey Brigg’s (North Yorkshire) recent magnetism for Grey Phalaropes continued this week with two birds again present there on 20th-22nd. Another was found in Somerset on 25th at Kingston Seymour.
10 Ring-billed Gulls were logged this past week and, once more, Ireland made most of the running for them. Co.Kerry’s recent pair of adult birds remained at Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre on 21st and nearby Blennerville Quays on 23rd; one remained at Bray (Co.Wicklow) on 19th-21st; the recent adult was again seen at Belfast Waterworks (Co.Antrim) on 22nd-24th; a first-winter bird was seen at Ballypierce (Co.Carlow) on 23rd; and a bird present at Clonakilty (Co.Cork) on 23rd had been there for the preceding 54 days too. Two of the remaining birds noted this week were in Scotland – the settled adult still being seen in Strathclyde CP (Clyde) on 21st-25th, and the recent adult again in Lothian at Eastfield on 23rd-25th – and the other two birds were an adult and first-winter at Hayle Estuary RSPB (Cornwall) on 24th, with the adult still present on 25th.
White-wingers were still being seen this week in fair numbers, only slightly down on the preceding recording period. Some 40 Glaucous Gulls were seen nationwide, with the highest single site tallies both coming on 22nd, from North Ronaldsay (Orkney) and South Uist (Western Isle), both of which islands hosted four birds apiece; with four also seen on neighbouring North Uist on 24th; and four on Lewis on 25th.
As for Iceland Gulls, around 70 birds were seen nationally, with Scrabster harbour (Highland) again claiming the highest single site count, with five birds seen there on 21st. Quartets were noted from Thurso (Highland) on 19th, Keady (Co.Armagh) on 20th, and Lerwick (Shetland) on 21st.
The recent second-winter Kumlien’s Gull was once more seen in Cambridgeshire this week at Foxton on 21st.
Just two Rough-legged Buzzards were reported this week - one north of Grantown-on-Spey (Highland) at Dava on 20th; and the other on 25th at Cley NWT (Norfolk).
Gardens were, emphatically, the place to be looking for scarce winter passerines again this week, with several house lists in Britain and Ireland augmented by Yellow-browed Warblers. The recently found bird remained in a Portsmouth (Hampshire) garden on 19th, but was joined in the news by one in a Little Clacton (Essex) garden on 21st-24th, being trapped and ringed there for good measure on 22nd; and an additional individual much further to the west in a garden at Cloyne (Co.Cork) on 23rd. Another western bird turned up at Porthleven (Cornwall) on 22nd, while the recent Molesey Heath (Surrey) individual remained there on 19th-25th. South Yorkshire provided sightings from an Askern garden again on 24th and in a garden at Lindholme on 22nd. A final bird was seen on 23rd in Newton Abbot (Devon).
Dusky Warblers remained this week at Minster Marshes (Kent) on 22nd, Ainsdale NNR (Merseyside) on 23rd-24th, and Astbury Mere (Cheshire) on 24th. These were augmented by a new bird, found near Cirencester at Siddington (Gloucestershire) on 24th.
Both recent first-winter Eastern Yellow Wagtails were still available lately in Suffolk at Carlton Marshes SWT on 22nd-24th, and at Prestwick Carr (Northumberland) on 23rd-25th.
While other wintering individuals are, undoubtedly, quietly doing their thing, a couple of Great Grey Shrikes were reported this week - in Hampshire still at Milkham Inclosure on 22nd, and in Cornwall at Wadebridge on 23rd.
Waxwing sightings came, for the most part, from familiar places of late – the best of which was the flock of 10 birds again seen in Elgin (Moray) on 23rd-24th. Three birds remained at Boat of Garten (Highland) on 19th-23rd, while two more were seen in Highland at Nethy Bridge on 23rd-24th. 11 were noted in flight over Kirkcaldy (Fife) on 24th. One remained in Hull (East Yorkshire) on 19th.
Both of our settled Rose-coloured Starlings remained present at, respectively, Amlwch (Anglesey) on 19th-25th and on Portland (Dorset) on 21st-25th.
Short video of Rosy Starling this morning pic.twitter.com/3sCJGC0n5K
— Mark (@EastonBirder) January 24, 2021
In Shetland, both of the recent Black-bellied Dippers were again seen in the sheltered burns of Voe on Mainland on 23rd, with one still present on 24th.
An exilipes Coue’s Arctic Redpoll provided a brief touch of frost to Ferry Meadows CP (Cambridgshire) on 22nd, but wasn’t seen there subsequently.
Finally, Surrey’s wintering trio of scarce buntings continued to delight at Thursley Common NNR this week, where the Rustic Bunting and the pair of Little Buntings were both to be seen on 19th-25th. Another Little Bunting was discovered at an undisclosed site in Co.Waterford on 21st, providing considerable inspiration to anyone working a local patch anywhere in Britain or Ireland – at this point in the winter, even a ‘game belt’ planted by farmers for the ecological nightmare that’s Pheasants can be good for something, and that something might just be an interesting bunting.
We banged the drum in these quarters a few weeks back for a couple of eagerly anticipated Western Palearctic vagrants that were on the move in North America in good numbers – namely Evening Grosbeaks and Red-breasted Nuthatches. While the former species hasn’t turned up subsequently, one of the latter was found this week in Iceland on 23rd at Sólbrekka – Iceland’s second record, and the Western Palearctic’s third in the wake of the memorable Holkham Pines (Norfolk) wintering bird in 1989/90. Iceland additionally provided a White-winged Scoter off Njarovik on 24th.
Finland also enjoyed a national second record this week in the pleasing form of a magnificent Slaty-backed Gull at Kuusankoski on 23rd-25th.
Sweden’s recent good run of form continued this week with the Baikal Teal still present at Uppsala on 19th; the meena Western Rufous Turtle Dove still at Tavleliden on 20th; the Stejneger’s Scoter still off Bastad on 24th; the Eastern Yellow Wagtail still at Trelleborg on 24th; and a Black-throated Thrush on 20th-24th at Sjorrod.
Denmark, meanwhile, was all about the rare scoters, boasting a drake Stejneger’s Scoter at Rorvig on Zealand on 19th-24th, and a drake Black Scoter still at Tisvilde Hegn on 19th-24th also.
Norway added some Scandinavian variety in the form of a Franklin’s Gull on 23rd at Skudeneshavn, while two Pine Buntings remained at Ganddal on 24th.
Returning to the Baikal Teal theme for a moment, the recent drake was still to be seen this week in Belgium at Sint-Agatha-Rode on 21st.
In Holland, the settled Brunnich’s Guillemot remained on Zealand at Vrouwenpolder on 19th-25th.
Germany retained its settled Pygmy Cormorant at Dubbelausee on 20th-23rd, while another was found this week in France in Vauvert at Marias de Buisson Gros on 21st-22nd.
The recent Siberian Accentor remained in a garden site in Poland at Pniewo on 19th-21st.
France also held onto a Wallcreeper at Sainte-Anne-sur-Vilaine on 19th.
If the thought of a long overdue Wallcreeper, Evening Grosbeak or Red-breasted Nuthatch weren’t mouth-watering enough for British birders, the recent irruption of Allen’s Gallinules in the Canary Islands ought to do the daydreaming trick – birds were found this week on Lanzarote on 22nd, Gran Canaria on 22nd-23rd, and Fuerteventura on 23rd.
On Cape Verde, a White-tailed Tropicbird was seen on Brava on 25th.
Finally, out in the Azores a Double-crested Cormorant was seen on Praia on 24th.
The coming week boasts the annual Big Garden Birdwatch on 29th-31st – increasing in popularity with every passing year and, this year, I’m hoping someone will be sending someone at the RSPB a photo of the big, colourful finch with the massive bill that’s been hanging out in their garden for the past few weeks. Failing that, surely a few more Yellow-browed Warblers will come to light, or maybe a dandy male Pine Bunting scrotting away at the fallen seed beneath a bird-table…
A couple of snippets of raptor news may help while away a cup of tea and a biscuit. The Ken Hill Estate in Norfolk is looking into the possibility of releasing White-tailed Eagles in west Norfolk to establish them as a breeding species in East Anglia. There’s more detail here and a link to a public consultation that’s running until 14th February. A good chance to get your views heard on this sort of thing…
Further raptor news this week concerns Natural England’s controversial Hen Harrier brood meddling activities which, if ever there was a hollow panacea to distract from the actual issue that’s afflicting the species – illegal persecution – then this is it. On 27th-28th this week the Court of Appeal will hear evidence from Dr Mark Avery and the RSPB to judge whether the decision of Justice Lang to dismiss judicial reviews on the subject of brood meddling back in 2019 was, in fact, correct or a misjudgement.
This may all sound like dry legal stuff, but it matters. Hen Harriers - and other raptors subject to illegal persecution, for that matter – need the law to be clear and unambiguous where their conservation is concerned, and not clouded and obfuscated by the dubious activities of the likes of Natural England.
You’ll find coverage of this week’s appeal on Mark Avery’s blog. If you don’t already regularly read his blog, you really should give it a try – not least for updates on this latest unfolding chapter in the inglorious story of England’s Hen Harriers, but also for a wide-ranging and always interesting variety of other conservation news, not limited solely to birds, though they do feature highly, as you’d expect from the highly-respected former Conservation Director for the RSPB.
The coming week looks set to be, well, changeable where the weather’s concerned. Looking at the charts we’re due for wind from pretty much every point of the compass in the days to come… but there are a couple of windows of northerlies that give cause for a little blind optimism where a tasty gull might be concerned.
The last week of January is traditionally a strong one for Arctic wanderers. Historically, think four Ivory Gulls and 11 Ross’s Gulls. Both are exquisite, and either would be a terrific find for some lucky soul on their local patch…
Jon Dunn
26 January 2021
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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