Weekly birding round-up: 8 - 14 Jun 2021
Oh we do love a first for Britain in these parts... While summer seemed to be getting firmly under way this week, some household names were heading to the English southwest in pursuit of the biggest of prizes. And no, we don’t mean Boris Johnson trying to court favour from Joe Biden in St Ives… Britain’s keenest birders had a brief window of opportunity to catch up with a truly outrageous late spring mega… and that was just for starters.
The new week was barely under way, the ink of on the prior week’s Rarity Round Up still freshly glistening when the next set of headlines began writing themselves… though, at first, the bird in question was flying beneath our collective radar.
News broke early on 8th of a singing Dusky Warbler in the lush depths of Lundy’s Millcombe Valley. Dusky Warblers are no strangers to Devon – though this would have been a first for Lundy - but a bird in song this late in the spring was certainly notable enough to set some antennae twitching. The first photos to emerge from Lundy, and sound-recordings, swiftly re-wrote the script altogether – this brightly marked Phylloscopus was cut from rarer, finer cloth altogether.
Not quite cloth of gold, but pretty darn close – this yellow-toned bird was nothing less than a Sulphur-bellied Warbler. A bird that should be in, at the very nearest point to us, breeding grounds in north-western Afghanistan. In song. In June. In Britain, but – and this is the crucial part of all of this – not on the British mainland. Now, had this been on Shetland, charters might have been taking to the air within the hour. Lundy, on the other hand, is a different kettle of island fish…
Granted it’s sitting in the middle of the Bristol Channel, which seems relatively nearby for many a mainland-based birder. But with only an intermittent scheduled boat service, and no runway for those charters to touch down upon, anyone wanting to see this bird was going to need to charter not a plane, but a boat, and fast. As the old saying goes, you snooze, you lose.
By early evening, the first intrepid seaborne birders had made landfall and, crucially, connected with the bird. By mid-evening, it was getting flighty and, with not a cloud in the sky, the signs were looking ominous to say the least. Optimists, of course, were holding onto hope against hope that, with the bird singing during the day, it might linger and hold some temporary territory. Alas, dawn broke on 9th and, as the day unfolded, it rapidly became clear Britain’s first Sulphur-bellied Warbler had done one overnight. Those quick out of the blocks on 8th had had their fast reactions rewarded.
We’re getting used to occasional, outrageous warblers dropping in – though there’s a sense that the likes of Pale-legged Leaf Warbler are the stuff of mind-bending autumn days. Yet the writing was on the wall… we need only look five years ago when the Western Palearctic’s first – and, until this week, only - Sulphur-bellied Warbler was discovered in Denmark on Christiansø on 30th May 2016.
Another bird, albeit one that wasn’t particularly obliging, should be viewed as some sort of succour – that Danish individual wasn’t a once-in-a-lifetime bird after all, in a Western Palearctic perspective, so we might reasonably hope that in due course there will be another, presumably at this time of year again. And maybe somewhere a little more conducive to taking visitors – East Yorkshire, or Norfolk maybe - though 100% of the Western Palearctic’s records have now been found on islands, if that’s any sort of reliable precedent.
And, in the meantime, there will perhaps be one or two birders returning to their old notebooks and digging out old, late spring records of Dusky Warbler, and wondering anew at just how remarkable those birds may have been…
We dived into Britain’s chequered past where Egyptian Vultures are concerned only the other week when, on 13th May, an adult bird was reported heading west over Willingham by Stow (Lincolnshire). That chequered past involves intermittent birds of unknown (or escaped) origin in the past couple of decades – and a British list that features two presently accepted, albeit very historic records – both immature birds, and both shot – one at Kilve Cliffs (Somerset) in October 1825, and the most recent individual collected in Essex at Peldon on 28th September 1868.
As we said in the Rarity Round Up back in May, any Egyptian Vulture these days would, effectively, have the feel of a first for Britain about it.
Sadly, the Lincolnshire bird of a month ago wasn’t seen again but, as this week drew to a close, all hell was set to break loose down on Scilly. Tentative news broke in the late morning of 14th of a possible adult Egyptian Vulture on St Mary’s, courtesy of a poor quality photograph. Forty minutes later, the bird was relocated on neighbouring Tresco, settled in a handy pine.
There it remained for an hour and a half before taking to the air once more, gaining height and vanishing from view. Game over? Well, no… as shortly afterwards it was back in St Mary’s airspace, the last sighting coming from there around 2:30pm.
First things first – where next for this bird? It’s clearly capable of crossing large bodies of water to have made it to Scilly in the first place, so we needn’t assume it’s going to hang around there. But it might, of course. Time alone will tell. And next, what of the bird’s origins?
Egyptian vulture on Scilly!!! ?? #ScillyBirds pic.twitter.com/Z7hAAhEJ7n
— Scott Reid (@stmarys_patch) June 14, 2021
Those historic birds hail from a time when the species was doing rather better than it has for the last 150 years or so – after the mid-19th century the species’ fortunes went into freefall in a European context, legacy of decades of dedicated persecution. Extant populations in Iberia or southern France could, however, supply wandering birds… and there’s certainly something of a pattern developing of northern European wanderers found in spring and early summer that are presumed to owe their origins to those populations.
If ever there was an Egyptian Vulture that looked good enough to make the grade, surely this is it? Unringed, arrived at the right time of year on the basis of other European precedent… it’s all looking good thus far. For those present on Scilly, 14th was a Good Day. Will more good days follow for birders from further afield? At the time of going to press this week on 15th, the bird was back on Tresco, so the signs are looking good.
If 2020 was the summer of Lammergeier, could 2021 be the summer of Egyptian Vulture? Exciting times…
I’m sure I wasn’t alone, during the 1980s, in looking back through old copies of the British Birds Rarity Report and daydreaming about some of the absolute monsters of days gone by. One bird stood out – it hadn’t really even made it to Britain under its own steam, was without precedent, and hadn’t been followed by any subsequent individuals. That bird was Pacific Swift, found in sea area Humber, some 45 miles off the Norfolk coast, on board a Shell gas platform on 19th June 1981. Picked up exhausted, it was taken to Suffolk and released at Beccles, and latterly was seen on 20th around Shadingfield.
Quite apart from thinking how cool it would be to see one of these sickle-winged, white-rumped beasts in British airspace, I always wondered how I’d feel were that bird one that had been brought to land by the hand of man. Would I consider it tickable?
Happily, Fate intervened and I never needed to put my listing morals to that acid test. With utter, blind good luck, on 30th May 1993 I turned up in Cley (Norfolk) to find myself in the middle of a small crowd watching Britain’s second Pacific Swift hawking beside the road. That felt equivalent to a first for Britain, but it was to prove far from the last – since 1993, seven more birds have been found in Britain, with a decidedly east coast bias – the exception being an inland bird, Britain’s third record of the species, over Daventry reservoir (Northamptonshire) on 16th July 1995.
East Yorkshire has proven particularly potent for Pacific Swifts - laying claim to no fewer than five of Britain’s nine birds to date. This week, however, it was Northumberland’s turn to claim a county first – an outrageously showy bird found, initially, at East Chevington NWT and, latterly, over High Hauxley, a couple of miles to the north.
Eyes peeled for the latest celebrity visitor to @HauxleyViilage: today it’s a Pacific Swift pic.twitter.com/q5Vui1YcYq
— AnnaWilliams /TheAmbler ?? (@AnnaAtTheAmbler) June 12, 2021
They may no longer have quite the top shelf ultra-rare cachet they once enjoyed, but there’s no denying the star quality of a Pacific Swift and, for local birders, this one-day bird was to prove an extremely welcome and, at times, showy bird indeed.
The previous week featured a Little Swift, initially seen on 2nd over Porth Hellick on St Mary’s with, presumably, the same bird the following day accounting for a Cornish sighting at St Agnes. The latter sighting made for Cornwall’s fourth record – so what do we call a bird found in the current week, seen for five minutes on 13th, also in Cornwall at St Ives?
That’s hardly a million miles from St Agnes. Could this be one and the same bird as that last seen on 3rd? It’s either Cornwall’s fourth or fifth record of Little Swift, anyway – and turned up just in time for the end of the G7 conference, meaning it may now be possible to wander around St Ives with binoculars and a telephoto lens without attracting the close attention of very serious, intense men with guns.
Starting the week’s seabirds with, once more, White-billed Divers, Scotland once more had a couple on offer lately – one remained off Lewis (Western Isles) on 9th, while the adult summer-plumaged bird was still present in South Nesting Bay (Shetland) on 10th-13th.
Staying in Shetland, the adult Long-tailed Skua was again lurking around Loch of Clumlie on 8th-11th, with perhaps the same bird seen a couple of miles off Sumburgh on 11th also; three meanwhile were seen from Norwick on Unst on 10th; and one passing over the main road at Laxfirth on Mainland on 13th. Elsewhere in Scotland single birds were noted on the Lossie estuary on 8th and from Melvaig (Highland) on 12th.
A Pomarine Skua was seen on St Kilda (Western Isles) on 8th.
A Leach’s Petrel was seen from the ferry off Inishmore (Co.Galway) on 11th.
Finally, a scatter of Balearic Shearwaters hinted at things to come later in the summer – two were logged from The Lizard (Cornwall) on 8th, with single birds seen from Portland (Dorset) on 8th and 9th, and further possible from Cromer (Norfolk) on 9th followed by another sighting there on 10th.
The long-legged beasties this week are headed, once more, by our regular stalwarts, Glossy Ibises - single birds remained on 8th at Lackford Lakes SWT (Suffolk) and Otmoor RSPB (Oxfordshire), and on 8th-12th at Dungeness (Kent). A further single bird was noted at Besthorpe NWT (Nottinghamshire) on 11th; two were seen at Berry Fen (Cambridgeshire) on 11th; and four also that day at Welney WWT (Norfolk). On 13th one remained at Welney WWT; one was seen in Cambridgeshire at Ouse Fen RSPB; and one was again in Lincolnshire at Alkborough Flats NR. On 14th the Lackford Lakes and Otmoor birds were present again, while two were seen in Norfolk at Hickling Broad NWT.
A few settled Purple Herons also continued to be seen regularly throughout the week – birds remained at Fishlake Meadows HIWWT (Hampshire) on 8th-13th; at Dorman’s Pool (Cleveland) still on 8th; on 9th at Walberswick (Suffolk); and on 9th-13th at Brading Marsh RSPB (Isle of Wight). In the north of England a probable was seen heading out to sea at Flamborough (East Yorkshire) on 9th, while one was again reported from Leighton Moss RSPB (Lancashire) on 12th.
A possible Night Heron was seen in flight in the evening of 13th on St Mary’s (Scilly), while the first-summer bird was seen again at Nanjizal (Cornwall) on 13th and, in the evening of 14th, an adult was seen in flight over Great Ryburgh (Norfolk).
A Spotted Crake was heard in song on Islay (Argyll & Bute) on 13th.
Finally, a couple of singing Corncrakes were logged this week – one still in the south mainland of Shetland at Rerwick on 10th-13th, and another in Norfolk near Norwich on 12th-14th.
Interesting quackers took a turn for the generally unremarkable again this week, with the drake Lesser Scaup on Portmore Lough RSPB (Co.Antrim) comfortably the rarest offering.
Just a couple of drake Ring-necked Ducks were seen in recent days – one on the Orkney mainland on Peedie Sea on 9th-11th, and the other in Northumberland on Bothal Pond on 10th-14th.
Last, but as ever by no means least, our honorary waterfowl, the adult male Pied-billed Grebe remained on Loch Feorlin (Argyll & Bute) on 11th.
In the wake of the prior week’s trio of Collared Pratincoles in Kent, it came as no great surprise that they continued to feature in the daily news reports this week too. Two remained at Dungeness (Kent) on 8th, reducing to one bird there on 9th-11th. Potentially one of the lost birds turned up in Suffolk on 12th at Southwold and, latterly, Carlton Marshes SWT; while one was found in North Yorkshire at Wheldrake Ings YWT on 13th-14th.
Birders at Cresswell Pond NWT (Northumberland) on 12th may have had other things on their mind, but there was no ignoring the supporting cast – an American Golden Plover also present, which unlike the Pacific Swift chose to remain there until 14th. Another bird was seen this week at Rosslare Back Strand (Co.Wexford) on 13th.
A Pectoral Sandpiper was present on Westray (Orkney) on 9th-12th.
An unconfirmed report came of two Dotterel on Pendle Hill (Lancashire) on 8th.
A Grey Phalarope dropped into Westport Lake (Staffordshire) on the morning of 8th before heading off north.
A trio of smart female Red-necked Phalaropes were logged this week – the recent bird remained in Northumberland at Grindon Lough on 8th-14th; one was seen at Blacktoft Sands RSPB (East Yorkshire) on 8th; and another was found on South Medwin Pool (Clyde) on 12th.
Apparently firmly settled in for a summer of pestering emmets for sandwiches in Cornwall, the first-winter American Herring Gull remained at Newlyn this week on 11th-12th.
A Laughing Gull was seen heading southwest past Berry Head (Devon) on 9th.
Barra (Western Isles) meanwhile gave us a first-summer Bonaparte’s Gull on 13th-14th.
A Sabine’s Gull seen off Scilly on 10th was a timely reminder that Scilly pelagics are under way… what treasures will they uncover this summer?
The Western Isles held onto half of the week’s Glaucous Gulls, in the form of two seen on South Uist on 12th and one more on North Uist on 11th. The balance of our birds this week were noted at Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 9th, Hollesley (Suffolk) on 11th, and Kilnsea Wetlands (East Yorkshire) on 12th.
Iceland Gulls were in even shorter supply – one remained on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 10th-14th still, perhaps accounting also for the sightings on 13th from Tresco and Samson; and further birds were seen on 11th at Thurso (Highland) and Dingle (Co.Kerry).
A Caspian Tern was seen heading past Worth Marsh (Kent) on 8th.
Compared with the prior week’s largesse, this week’s raptors were a subdued lot. We start with two female Red-footed Falcons - one lingering still at Hickling Broad NWT (Norfolk) on 8th, and another again on 13th in Kent at Worth Marsh. Kent supplied a male on 14th at Bough Beech reservoir.
A couple of Black Kites were found on 9th – one at Allhallows (Kent), and the other on St Martin’s (Scilly). A probable bird at Wykeham Forest (North Yorkshire) on 11th was followed by a confirmed bird there on 12th. Another was seen in Kent circling Cliftonville on 14th, with one that day in Cornwall near Newquay and another in Suffolk near Ipswich. A final possible bird was seen at Exceat (East Sussex) on 12th.
Kent provided us with our only Montagu’s Harrier, noted at Conyer on 11th.
Once again, we need to kick off the passerines in Shetland where Fair Isle’s second Calandra Lark of the year remained on the island on 10th-11th, taking this particular bird’s stay up to a remarkable fortnight.
Moving onto the warblers, the popular and showy singing River Warbler remained in Somerset at Ham Wall RSPB on 8th-14th.
Disappointed Sulphur-bellied Warbler twitchers on Lundy (Devon) on 9th had some small consolation (okay, I know it was no consolation whatsoever) in the form of a Subalpine Warbler sp there.
On the Calf of Man (Isle of Man), the Western Subalpine Warbler was again retrapped on 11th.
A trio of Great Reed Warblers remained available this week – on Shetland, one was haunting the iris beds at Quendale on 8th-9th; and singing birds remained at Besthorpe NWT (Nottinghamshire) on 8th-14th and East Chevington NWT (Northumberland) on 8th-14th. Another singing bird was reported on 14th in Hull (East Yorkshire).
Just a handful of Blyth’s Reed Warblers were logged in recent days – out on St Kilda (Western Isles) on 11th, at Heathfield Woods (Highland) on 13th-14th, and on 14th near Dunbar (Lothian).
Marsh Warblers, on the other hand, were still fairly numerous, with a dozen birds noted nationwide, of which three birds on Fair Isle (Shetland) on 8th-9th were the highest single site tally.
A Savi’s Warbler was singing recently at Lakenheath Fen RSPB (Suffolk).
Three Icterine Warblers were recorded this past week – one still in Kergord (Shetland) on 10th-12th, another at Skerne Wetlands YWT (East Yorkshire) on 11th, and one on Unst (Shetland) on 14th.
An elusive probable Melodious Warbler was in the Obs garden on Portland (Dorset) on 13th.
Red-backed Shrikes more or less scraped into double figures again this week – birds were logged on 8th at Bolt Head (Devon), Patrington (East Yorkshire) and on Unst (Shetland); on 9th at Morton Bagot (Warwickshire); on 9th-12th on Fair Isle (Shetland); on 10th at Spey Bay (Moray), with another probable bird that day at South Gare (Cleveland); on 11th in Shetland on Fetlar and at Boddam on Mainland; and on 13th at Spurn (East Yorkshire). On 14th a male was found in Norfolk at West Runton.
Fetlar also held onto a Woodchat Shrike still on 8th, with another lingering on Portland (Dorset) on 8th-12th. Further birds were noted at South Gare (Cleveland) on 10th, Corrimony RSPB (Highland) on 9th-11th, Ardmore Point (Argyll & Bute) on 12th, and St Abb’s Head (Borders) on 13th.
Rarest of all the shrike offerings was another Lesser Grey Shrike, this time an adult male at Sandiacre (Derbyshire) on 10th.
We did well again this week for Bee-eaters, with at least 35 birds logged over the course of recent days. Notable counts involved 10 birds near Dover (Kent) on 8th, eight at Fishlake Meadows HIWWT (Hampshire) on 9th, and seven on 14th at Prawle Point (Devon).
Nine Golden Orioles were logged this week – on 8th in Shetland at Brae and on Out Skerries; on 10th in Cornwall at Lanhydrock; on 11th at Lledrod (Ceredigion), West Runton (Norfolk) and Dungeness (Kent); on 12th at Lower Woods GWT (Gloucestershire) and Fordham (Cambridgeshire); and on 13th at Glapthorn Cow Pastures (Northamptonshire).
A Hoopoe lingered on The Lizard (Cornwall) on 8th-12th, with additional birds this week found at Burtonwood (Cheshire) and Frinton-on-Sea (Essex) on 10th.
Two Red-rumped Swallows were found on Shetland’s Mainland at Vidlin on 9th-10th, and presumably accounted for the duo found on 11th a little way northwest at Brae. Another bird was seen in Northumberland at Budle Bay on 13th.
The Rose-coloured Starling influx showed little sign of abating, with a shade over 130 birds logged in recent days – of which most were singles, but a handful of duos were seen, and a peak single site count of three birds present at Carrickfinn (Co.Donegal) on 8th.
A probable male iberiae Spanish Wagtail was lingering at Smerwick Harbour (Co.Kerry) on 8th-12th. Two Grey-headed Wagtails were present on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 8th.
A Red-breasted Flycatcher was trapped and ringed on Portland (Dorset) on 13th.
Shetland claimed two of the week’s Common Rosefinches, on Unst on 8th and Out Skerries on 10th; the remaining birds were one trapped and ringed at the week’s star location, Lundy (Devon) on 10th, one on Portland (Dorset) on 13th, and another at The Naze (Essex) on 13th also.
An Ortolan Bunting was reported from Wallasea Island RSPB (Essex) on 13th.
Finally, an unexpected bonus dropped in briefly for River Warbler twitchers at Somerset’s Ham Wall RSPB on 8th – a male Rustic Bunting that spent just a few minutes on view before moving on, never to be seen again.
The week’s overseas news starts, once more, in Norway, where an Oriental Pratincole was present on 9th-13th still at Orrevatnet; and a male Little Crake in song at Sorgenfrigropa on 13th. The recent White-throated Sparrow remained at sea aboard the Edda Flora on 9th also.
In Finland, White’s Thrushes were present at Suomussalmi on 12th and in song at Pietarsaari on 13th.
That Sibe theme was enhanced on 13th with a singing Lanceolated Warbler in Sweden at Pulsujarvi.
An Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler was found in Faroe on 8th-9th, with the drake Black Duck also present there still on Sandoy on 8th.
Iceland landed the nation’s fourth ever Black-and-white Warbler, in song at Syðra-Lágafell on 10th-12th.
In Holland, a brief Crag Martin was seen at Dishoek on 10th; while the singing Scops Owl remained at Delft on 8th-13th.
Italy was adding to the week’s general theme of rare swifts with a White-rumped Swift at Orbetello on 10th, while even more incongruous had to be the Brunnich’s Guillemot found 12 miles off Genoa on 9th. Unsurprisingly for a species renowned for turning up dead on arrival in northern Europe, this far-flung southern bird was a national first. Italy’s seaborne division was far from finished with us for, on 12th, an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross was found at sea off Varazze.
Spain enjoyed a Western Reef Egret at Oliva de Plasencia on 12th-13th, and an Amur Falcon at Pucol on 13th.
We wrap things up in Israel where, on 10th-13th, a Tawny Eagle was seen at the Bet El sewage works – the seventh record for the country.
The third week of June sees us beginning to enter the Sargasso Sea-like midsummer doldrums – the urgency and verve of spring migration is fading, while autumn migration remains just over the horizon for now. None of which is to say that June can’t deliver an eye-watering mega – we only need look to events of the past week for proof positive of that.
Still, we probably need to play the odds a little when pondering what’s likely(ish) to turn up at this point in the year. Given half a chance, birds of a south-eastern persuasion continue to filter through in mid to late June. Beating a now familiar drum, Black-headed Buntings feature strongly, historically, in the coming week – as do Red-footed Falcons and Lesser Grey Shrikes.
All of which have already checked in for 2021. Let’s take a punt on something the year’s missing – a smart Roller. June is the peak month for them in Britain, and the coming week is historically a good one for them, with 16 past records.
Jon Dunn
15th June 2021
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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