Weekly birding round-up: 15 - 21 Jun 2021
With glorious symmetry, in the wake of both an actual first for Britain in the shape of the Lundy Sulphur-bellied Warbler, and a latterday first for Britain in the Scillonian Egyptian Vulture in the prior week, this week it was Ireland’s turn. Or, to pluck a low-hanging fruit from the writing tree, tern… and not only that, for belated news gave the country another first in recent days, albeit what appeared initially to be a less obliging one…
Those of us of a sufficiently grizzled vintage will remember Squeaker, the Least Tern that frequented the tern colony at Rye Harbour (East Sussex) annually between 1983 and 1992. Initially dismissed as ‘just’ an odd, grey-rumped Little Tern, the penny dropped over the course of years that the bird’s odd, distinctive calls – the calls that inspired his affectionate name – were dead ringers for those given by Least Terns in North America. In due course, he was submitted as such to BBRC, who duly accepted the identification, and passed the record to BOURC.
At this point, it took BOURC some years to finally accept Squeaker as a Least Tern - though there’s no criticism implicit in that statement, as they were not unreasonably cautious and wanted to eliminate the possibility that Squeaker might, in fact, prove to be one of the other Old World races of Little Tern - for example, guineae, a breeder in Western and Central Africa.
Recordings of the calls of the latter simply weren’t available to BOURC, so they adopted a sensibly cautious approach, and waited until they were. The full story of their unravelling of Squeaker’s identity, up to the point in 2006 when he was formally accepted as a Least Tern, make for a pleasing bird detective story, as recounted in British Birds a few years later in 2010.
That excellent paper concluded with a clarion rallying call:
“Observers at Little Tern colonies would be well advised to keep an ear out for the possible reoccurrence of this species in the UK and it is likely that this would spark significantly more interest amongst British and European birders than the Sussex bird did during the ten years it returned to visit the Rye Harbour colony. Sharp-eyed observers are also reminded to check the tail coloration of any breeding-plumage Little Terns they encounter. A grey-tailed individual would cause immediate interest.”
Well, quite.
Fast forward to the morning of 19th, and let’s all be grateful for the fast reactions of Niall Keogh, a man who knows what a Little Tern should sound like after working as a warden at an Irish Little Tern colony – when a small tern buzzed past the hide he was sat in at Portrane (Co.Dublin), he knew what he could hear calling wasn’t computing with Little Tern - and, critically, had the presence of mind to grab a recording of the bird as it flew past the hide again, calling away. Squeakily…
What Niall and his dad, Noel, had on their hands was nothing less than Ireland’s first and only the Western Palearctic’s second Least Tern. In no time flat, Irish birders were on the move to Portrane…
And there the Least Tern remained until 21st – and we might reasonably hope it’ll be there for a while longer yet, and return in years to come, in the style of the original Squeaker, as it latterly transpired that the bird had been heard off and on at Portrane over the past couple of weeks and, indeed, last year too. Like Squeaker before it, this subtle bird took a little while to resolve, but now… it’s game on.
For a while, the other big breaking news coming out of Ireland this week had all the hallmarks of the one that got away – belated news of a young male Red-winged Blackbird photographed at a bird table in Castleconnor (Co.Sligo) on 11th June – a bird seen briefly but not subsequently.
This was only the second record for the Western Palearctic, following the first, the female that made a fairly long stay on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 29th April - 14th May 2017. On the basis of that precedent, we might have hoped for better from this latest, fleeting bird in Co.Sligo…
There the story might have ended but, in the afternoon of 21st, news broke of a first-summer male Red-winged Blackbird on The Mullet (Co.Mayo) at Annagh Marsh. Not, it has to be said, a million miles to the west of the original sighting, either this is the same bird or, remarkably, lightning has struck twice in the space of a mere fortnight…
Undeniably, this was a classic example of the unkindness of rare birds, this being found at the start of the working week and not over the weekend. I’m guessing there will be one or two Irish birders feeling a little under the weather in the days to come. Time to roll out the unconvincing poorly voice and phone in to work, perhaps. Birds like this come along once in a lifetime…
As we barrelled towards Midsummer’s Day this week, a couple of White-billed Divers continued to ignore the compulsion to head back to their traditional breeding grounds – Orkney and Shetland holding one apiece of these monochrome marvels in recent days. The Orcadian bird was lingering off Brough of Birsay (Orkney) on 16th-18th, whilst in Shetland one continued to lurk in the vastness of South Nesting Bay on 20th.
Also still present in Shetland, the adult Long-tailed Skua was seen off and on at Loch of Clumlie on 15th-20th; another, much further south, was seen from The Naze (Essex) on 19th.
*THAT* moment when you're driving home and see a Long-tailed Skua sat on a fence post right ahead of you through the windscreen - not that you should be looking anywhere else ??. Loch of Clumlie, #Shetland this evening... pic.twitter.com/gELe2kOhPH
— Hugh Harrop Wildlife (@HughHarrop) June 17, 2021
Portland (Dorset) enjoyed a handful of Pomarine Skuas this week, with three seen from there in the course of 17th; and added a Balearic Shearwater to the mix on 16th. Further Poms were seen on 21st at Whitburn CP (Co.Durham) and Seaton Sluice (Northumberland).
As the summer progresses, we know we’ll be in for heaps of Wilson’s Petrels from the ever-reliable Scilly pelagics – and who knows what else… This week, we got a shot across our bows of what’s to come with a Wilson’s logged from the RV Celtic Explorer some 40 miles southwest of Scilly, feeding on a long-dead Long-finned Pilot Whale.
Our summering contingent of Glossy Ibises continued to make most of the running in the notable long-legged beastie stakes, with single birds remaining at Dungeness (Kent) on 15th-20th; Lackford Lakes SWT (Suffolk) still on 16th and again on 21st; Otmoor RSPB (Oxfordshire) still on 17th; and at Welney WWT (Norfolk) again on 15th. Two remained in Norfolk at Hickling Broad NWT on 15th-18th, with one still present on 19th. Cambridgeshire’s popular Berry Fen held three birds on 15th, with two still there the following day, and one at Ouse Fen RSPB on 20th. A singleton was found in Lincolnshire at Bardney on 19th-21st.
Just two Purple Herons were noted in recent days – one in Norfolk at Titchwell RSPB on 16th, and another on 17th at Langford Lowfields RSPB (Nottinghamshire).
Rasping Corncrakes were a welcome sound in Norfolk this week, with one remaining near Norwich on 15th-17th, two heard in song near Drayton on 17th, and one in an area with general access at North Elmham on 19th-20th. It remains a crying shame that a species the old folk in Shetland recall as so commonplace in their youth, it kept them awake at nights, is now lost to the islands as a breeding bird – crofters’ enthusiastic embrace of cutting silage rather than hay as a winter animal feed being the culprit – so the singing individual at Rerwick, still present there on 16th-17th, continues to make the news as a notable bird.
The waters of the rarity duckpond sported a little more variety once again this week, with Ireland supplying some notable dabblers, foremost of which was the young drake Black Duck still present on Cross Lough (Co.Mayo) on 19th…
...augmented by a Green-winged Teal on Rathlin Island (Co.Antrim) on 17th.
England continued to boast a couple of drake Ring-necked Ducks, on Bothal Pond (Northumberland) still on 15th-19th, and at Foxhole (Cornwall) again on 17th-18th.
Scotland, meanwhile, had the drake Lesser Scaup again at St Abb’s Head (Borders) on 20th-21st, and the lairy loveliness that’s the drake King Eider on the Ythan estuary still on 18th-19th – with a further report from the latter site on 21st also.
Wandering Collared Pratincoles continued to pop up here and there this week – starting in Kent, one was again reported from Dungeness on 15th, while a bird was found in Norfolk the following day at Hickling Broad NWT. Further pratincole sp were noted, both in flight heading north, at St Buryan (Cornwall) on 17th, and Portland (Dorset) on 18th. Has there ever been a summer quite like this for their kind?
A trio of American Golden Plovers were seen this week – the first-summer bird again in Northumberland on 15th at Druridge Pools NR; an adult bird in Leicestershire at Rutland Water, also on 15th; and a first-summer on 20th-21st at Hesketh Out Marsh RSPB (Lancashire).
A Lesser Yellowlegs was present at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 15th-19th.
Cornwall’s Marazion Marsh RSPB landed a male Black-winged Stilt on 21st.
Present for a further week, the female Red-necked Phalarope remained in Northumberland at Grindon Lough on 15th-21st; while Grey Phalaropes were logged passing through North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 19th and Boddam (Shetland) on 20th.
While the week’s headlining tern news was emphatically of a diminutive nature, much larger terns were also on the move, with a small arrival of Caspian Terns into England on 19th. In the morning a single bird was seen in Lincolnshire at Barton-upon-Humber GPs followed, in the early afternoon, by two birds noted at Southfield reservoir (East Yorkshire). London too got in on the act on 19th, with a bird seen at Gallions Reach. On 20th, one was seen in Essex at Bowers Marsh RSPB, while in Lincolnshire a bird was present that morning and on into 21st at Baston & Langtoft GPs.
An adult White-winged Black Tern was found on 20th at Trimley Marshes SWT (Suffolk).
The recent first-summer Bonaparte’s Gull remained on Barra (Western Isles) on 15th-17th.
White-winged gulls continued to be a very subdued lot altogether – though a handful of each were hanging on in there. We may get a blank week for one or the other in due course, but that time isn’t quite yet…
Glaucous Gulls were seen at Clogher Head (Co.Louth) on 15th; Westray (Orkney) on 16th; in the Western Isles on South Uist on 17th, Barra still on 18th-19th, and North Uist on 20th; at Lendalfoot (Ayrshire) on 18th; and on the Lossie estuary (Moray) on 19th. On 21st two were seen at Balormie (Moray), while one was in Sango Bay (Highland).
The Lossie estuary also provided the best of the week’s Iceland Gulls, with two birds seen there on 19th. Elsewhere, birds were noted in recent days in Scilly on St Mary’s still on 15th-20th and Tresco on 15th again; at Rerwick (Shetland) on 16th; at Lurgangreen (Co.Louth) on 17th; and on South Uist (Western Isles) on 18th.
The star of the previous week’s biggest news (literally if not figuratively also), the Egyptian Vulture on Scilly, sparked mild chaos in the archipelago as the current week began, with a string of reports on 15th that began with the bird viewed distantly from St Mary’s, in heat haze, perched in a tree on Tresco, and went on to encompass a couple of reports of the bird seen in flight. Rumours swirled in the ether that the bird had done a bunk – but were dispelled by Scott Reid’s forensic cool head. That said, there was no further sign of it after 15th… where, if anywhere, will it be seen again?
https://twitter.com/stmarys_patch/status/1405414381031145476?s=20Staying on Scilly a moment, a first-summer male Red-footed Falcon put a cherry on the islands’ June cake, being seen on St Mary’s on 16th-19th.
Up in Aberdeenshire, a Black Kite wa reported from Ballater on 16th.
Further north still, a Snowy Owl was found on Unst at Crussa Field on 18th-19th.
While there was certainly a sense that spring migration was petering out this week, there were still a handful of quality new passerines found in recent days, not to mention some lingering quality…
Starting with the warblers, one of the most popular birds of the late spring, the showy singing River Warbler in Somerset at Ham Wall RSPB, continued to do his thing there this week until 18th but, thereafter, appeared to have moved on.
Much better staying power continued to be displayed by the male Iberian Chiffchaff in Suffolk, present for many weeks now at Foxhall Heath, and still there this week on 16th-20th. Another possible bird, a first-summer female, was trapped and ringed on Portland (Dorset) on 15th; and elsewhere in the county a probable male was heard in song at Rempstone Heath back on 8th.
Settled Great Reed Warblers were still present this week at East Chevington NWT (Northumberland) on 15th-18th and Besthorpe NWT (Nottinghamshire) on 15th-20th; Nottinghamshire landed a remarkable second bird of the year at Misson on 20th-21st. If inland Nottinghamshire can rack up two birds, one wonders if others are lurking out there, unseen and unheard, in places where birders rarely go. Surely a target this coming week for determined local patch-workers…
Staffordshire, meanwhile, scored a singing Blyth’s Reed Warbler at Middleton Lakes RSPB on 18th-21st.
Half a dozen Marsh Warblers were logged this week – in Shetland, one was present on Unst on 15th-19th, with two birds there on 19th; one on Fair Isle on 15th was followed by two there the following day; and one more was heard on Whalsay on 16th. The singing bird remained in Norfolk at Kelling Quags on 15th-20th. A final bird was found in Lincolnshire on 16th-17th at Saltfleetby.
Back on Unst, the recent Icterine Warbler remained at Norwick on 16th-17th; while a singing bird was found on the Scottish mainland at Innerleithen (Borders) on 19th-20th.
More notable still, and another fine inland bird, a Melodious Warbler was discovered in song in Worcestershire at Lickey Hills on 19th.
Moving onto more colourful fare… a Hoopoe, present for several days beforehand, remained in Ceredigion at Ystumtuen on 17th, while another was found in Cornwall on 18th at Kuggar. A further unconfirmed report came of a bird on 19th at Harwood Vale (North Yorkshire).
The week began on 15th with northerly Bee-eaters (sadly not of the Blue-cheeked kind) on Fair Isle (Shetland) and Papa Westray (Orkney); further single birds were found on 16th at Patrington (East Yorkshire) and St Bees Head (Cumbria); while in Norfolk, five birds were logged at Kelling Heath on 16th, and two at Great Yarmouth on 17th. On 21st nine birds were seen at Great Yarmouth, while one was heard flying over Wimblington (Cambridgeshire).
Four or five Golden Orioles added further lustre to recent days – on 15th, birds were found at West Wittering (West Sussex) and on Fair Isle (Shetland); on 18th, Mainland Shetland got a bird at Vidlin; on 19th one was back in West Sussex at Cissbury Ring, and one was reported from Soberton (Hampshire).
A Red-backed Shrike lingered in Shetland on Unst at Norwick on 15th-16th, and a female on Fair Isle on 21st; and another female was reported from North Cave Wetlands YWT (East Yorkshire) on 16th.
The Rose-coloured Starling irruption of the past fortnight continued to tick over nicely this week, with around 60 new birds logged lately – though, of course, with such mobile birds, some of these may already have been seen elsewhere in the preceding fortnight. Nonetheless, wherever one turns up, it’s always a welcome sight.
A male Bluethroat was found on 19th-21st at Slimbridge WWT (Gloucestershire).
This, however, was wholly eclipsed by the adult male Red-flanked Bluetail found somewhere near Blakeney (Norfolk) on 21st – birders will remember the unprecedented arrival of them into the UK as a whole last autumn, and north Norfolk in particular. Was this bird a genuinely new arrival or one that had simply been lurking deep in the woodwork ever since?
A memory of the spring just gone, a single Blue-headed Wagtail was seen this week, at Hesketh Out Marsh RSPB (Lancashire) on 19th.
Common Rosefinches also were receding, for the most part, in the rear view mirror of the late spring – just two singing birds were logged this week, on Skye (Highland) on 15th and at Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 15th-16th.
A Serin was seen heading over South Foreland (Kent) on 16th.
Basking in the glory of the island’s recent addition to the British list, Lundy (Devon) quietly got on with things this week, with an Ortolan Bunting present on there on 17th.
Our week draws to a close with a probable Black-headed Bunting, a male, seen by a non-birder, at Deeping St James (Lincolnshire) on 15th.
Nobody needs me to tell them that Scilly has, even by the islands’ admittedly very high standards, enjoyed a particularly rich purple patch of late but, this week, it just kept on getting better and better with the arrival of the immature male wandering Walrus in the harbour of St Mary’s on 17th-20th, fresh from a jaunt across the Bay of Biscay to northern Spain and back again.
‘Immature’ may be biologically accurate, but it also diminishes the sheer scale of the animal in question – seen out of the water, as it was when hauled out on St Martin’s in the afternoon of 20th, the scale of a Walrus is revealed to be epic.
Can’t quite believe what a treat we had yesterday - Wally the walrus hauled up and took some downtime here on St Martin’s, Scilly! He looked pretty relaxed :) #wallythewalrus #scilly pic.twitter.com/RP0cwAvPAp
— St Martin’s Ecologist (@GranthamEcology) June 21, 2021
That and when it was rocking the boat(s) of St Mary’s. There are going to be some interesting insurance claims coming from this latest stop on Wally’s epic journey… For now, he remained on St Martin’s on 21st.
In a week where the Western Palearctic’s second ever Least Tern was identified in Ireland, it seems fitting we should kick off the overseas sightings with the happy news that Elegant Terns have hatched young in western France at Polder de Sebastopol where, on 19th, three adult birds and two young were noted.
The week’s biggest WP news was, however, slightly belated – the revelation being that a Yellow-billed Shrike had been found and photographed on Tenerife (Canary Islands) on 23rd May, a first record for the species in the Western Palearctic - if accepted.
Hot on the heels of the prior week’s British record in Northumberland, sightings of Pacific Swift came this week on 17th in Holland at Oosterwolde and, in Germany, at Greifswalder Oie. Two Syrian Woodpeckers were reported from Germany’s Schriesheim on 16th, and a Black Vulture in Holland on 19th near Amsterdam and latterly at Breukelen.
Heading north into Scandinavia, a Black-winged Pratincole was found on 16th in Denmark at Torup Holme; a Greater Sand Plover in Finland on 17th at Kaarine; and a Black-browed Albatross on 16th in Norway at Heroy.
Finally, in Iceland, the country’s first White-throated Needletail was a fabulous find for visiting birder Derk Ehlert at the immense liminal cliffs of Látrabjarg on 20th; and the singing Black-and-white Warbler remained at Syðra-Lágafell on 18th-20th.
It’s hard to know how to pitch the final week of June where crude and wishful thinking is concerned. On the one hand, we could play it safe – the coming week is a solid one for wandering terns, and either Caspian or White-winged Black are a distinct possibility somewhere in the days to come – and both could turn up either at the coastal fringes or well inland – so are something of a local patch-worker’s dream come true should either materialise.
And then again… I have just three potent words for you: White. Throated. Needletail.
There’ve been just seven records of this, the ultimate master of the skies, in Britain since 1950, and two of them have come from the last week of June, both of which were in the Western Isles in the past decade – one on Harris on 24th-26th June 2013, and the other on Barra on 22nd June 2017.
Sadly, the former bird entered birding folklore for being picked up dead after colliding with the blade of a wind-turbine. With one seen this week in Iceland, there’s a timely reminder that now really is the prime time for another British or Irish record. Fingers crossed one is found, preferably somewhere accessible, and ideally not doomed to an untimely end.
Jon Dunn
22 June 2021
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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