Weekly birding round-up: 14 - 20 Sep 2021
The third week of September heralds autumn beginning to move through the gears, with the pace of migration quickening and, with it, birders’ expectations starting to heighten. That’s never truer than when the wind’s coming in off the sea on the east coast on those days that feel rare, and our waking dreams begin to get a little wilder. You just never know what’s around the corner at times like these…
With the best will in the world, the surroundings of the gas terminal at Easington (East Yorkshire) won’t be winning any prizes for natural beauty any time soon. Industrial architecture’s not many peoples’ cup of tea, after all. Birds, especially those wayward, lost ones blown in off the North Sea, can’t afford to be so choosy…
Meaning Easington oozes possibility at this time of year. Of course, we’re all familiar with the vagaries of vagrant birds – a promising site and a hint of easterlies in the air doesn’t always equate to actually finding something decent. The stars need to line up for that to happen.
Easington regular Colin Bushell of all people needs no telling about the promise the area holds and, as an Arsenal supporter, will know a thing or two about dealing with high expectation but, at times, disappointing results. This week, however, he found the back of the net in emphatic fashion on 17th with the discovery, on his morning walk, of an absolutely cracking Isabelline Wheatear on the slope and rocks just outside the terminal. The bird remained there until the evening but was gone by the following morning.
East Yorkshire’s golden run of decent birds continues then, for another week. Yorkshire as a whole has enjoyed half a dozen previous Issies since the first, a two-day bird at Kilnsea on 21st-23rd October 1990 – a period during which the species as a whole has started to become more regular in a British context, with multiple birds being found in some years lately. September birds are, however, somewhat more unusual – October being the prime time for their arrival. Colin’s bird isn’t quite the earliest ever autumn record, but it’s pretty close – one found on Bardsey (Gwynedd) on 10th September 2019 holds the title, with the next earliest being a Fetlar (Shetland) bird on 14th September 2001.
Unscientifically, it would be nice to think this and the previous week’s Green Warbler are early auguries of a good autumn to come…
Great Snipes are funny old things. Misleading birds. Take a quick glance at the stats and you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re dirt-common. The Rare Bird Alert ‘Previous Records’ map looks like an outbreak of measles, so numerous are the red spots right across the country. 520 past records? What’s one doing in the headlines?
Drill down a little, and a different story begins to emerge. Most of those historic records are very historic, with just 169 birds coming after 1950. We’ve had a mere 40 since the turn of the present century, the vast majority of which have been one-day birds, almost half of which have been in Shetland. With a very few exceptions, they tend not to stick around or give themselves up to more than their fortunate finders. In other words, Great Snipes can be hard to catch up with…
This preamble ought to introduce a surprisingly obliging mainland bird, one that showed well for a couple of days this week. Unfortunately, this being a typical Great Snipe record, it doesn’t. Instead, in an excellent find for former British Birds editor Roger Riddington during his Wetland Bird Survey count at Loch of Brow (Shetland) on 15th, we’ve got a bird seen a handful of times before it vanished altogether into the vastness of Shetland’s South Mainland.
A typical record, then. But a timely reminder that even when the bushes aren’t dripping with exhausted passerines, you never know what a walk through a damp field at this time of year might kick up…
We might be proceeding apace through September but, in terms of quality alone, our weekly seabird scores remain notable. When the long-staying Black-browed Albatross at Bempton Cliffs RSPB (East Yorkshire) is going to call it a day for the year remains anyone’s guess but, this week, it was still present there, off and on, for anyone passing through the county, being wholly absent only on 17th.
Proving that we’re not done with Wilson’s Petrels just yet either, one was seen from land at Newquay (Cornwall) on 17th. A Leach’s Petrels was also seen on 17th, from Kilcummin Head (Co.Mayo); and one more was found on 19th off Arranmore (Co.Donegal).
Large shearwaters remained in short supply for another week. In Northumberland, sightings of a Great Shearwater came on 16th from, in the morning, Birling Carrs and, in the afternoon, Longhoughton Steel; another was seen on 19th at Boulmer (Northumberland); and on 20th, two were seen from the ferry between Lochboisdale and Mallaig (Western Isles / Highland), while five were seen from a Scilly pelagic that day also. Meanwhile on 14th sightings of a single Cory’s Shearwater came along the Suffolk coast between Thorpeness and Covehithe, and Great Yarmouth (Norfolk).
Balearic Shearwaters were down, considerably, in numbers compared with prior weeks, with only some 200 birds in all logged in the course of recent days, and a peak count of just 38 birds seen from Pendeen (Cornwall) on 18th.
Skuas were also rather modest this week. Of the 60 or so Pomarine Skuas seen nationwide, the largest count by a country mile were the 20 noted from Kilcummin Head (Co.Mayo) on 16th; while a mere 35 Long-tailed Skuas were logged nationally, with no appreciable single site tallies amongst them.
Sightings of a possible White-billed Diver came on the morning of 19th from Cleveland at Hartlepool Headland and, shortly afterwards, Ryhope (Co.Durham).
The week’s long-legged beasties begin, with Flintshire’s first ever Squacco Heron, an excellent and unexpected find at Big Pool Wood NWWT on 15th-20th.
In Oxfordshire, the Purple Heron was still present in Blenheim Park on 16th-20th; while the Essex bird was still to be seen at Bowers Marsh RSPB on 17th; another probable was again reported from Pagham Harbour (West Sussex) on 17th; and one present at Holme (Norfolk) on 19th had been seen in the area for the previous fortnight.
The settled and accommodating Black Stork was still present in Lincolnshire this week at Frampton Marsh RSPB on 14th-15th; and another sighting on 16th over Hatfield Heath (Essex).
As for Glossy Ibises, numbers were once again solid across southern England, with around 20 birds in all noted, including some mobile individuals and small parties amongst them. The largest aggregation noted was three birds present at Widemouth Bay (Cornwall) on 14th, while testament to their wandering ways were a couple of distinctly wayward individual far from the rest of their kind – a bird seen on 18th up on Harris (Western Isles), another on 19th at Kinsale Marsh (Co.Cork), and two on 20th at Lurgangreen (Co.Louth).
A Spotted Crake was trapped and ringed at Abbotsbury Swannery (Dorset) on 14th, with another possible bird noted on Scilly on St Mary’s on 17th.
Lastly, a Corncrake was on Noss (Shetland) on 20th.
Perhaps marking the changing of the seasons, a little more variety cropped up on the rarity duckpond this week, with a couple of Nearctic species we’ve not reported in these columns for a while on offer once more…
First out of the traps has to be the early, juvenile Lesser Scaup found on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 17th.
In Cornwall, the drake Ring-necked Duck remained at Foxhole on 14th-20th still, while another was found at Hornsea Mere (East Yorkshire) on 17th, and a female bird was on Tiree (Argyll & Bute) on 20th.
A Green-winged Teal was found on 18th at Pant Pool (Powys).
A possible Blue-winged Teal was seen heading west past Cley (Norfolk) on 15th.
In Ireland, the drake Black Duck remained on Cross Lough (Co.Mayo) on 15th-16th.
With a few fresh faces amongst that little lot, not to mention a goodly arrival of Nearctic waders this week lending weight to the case for some decent transatlantic passage in recent days, it’s curious to note that a drake Wood Duck was present in Argyll & Bute on the rocks at Kilcreggan on 14th. In its favour, the aforementioned circumstances. Against it, well, it’s a Wood Duck…
No such slurs attach to the lingering drake Black Scoter still present off Kinnaber Links (Angus) on 14th.
A single drake Surf Scoter was still present at Kinnaber on 14th-16th, with two birds noted there on 15th. The drake was once more seen from Musselburgh (Lothian) on 18th-19th.
Finally, in Shetland the second-winter drake King Eider was still to be seen in Wadbister Voe on 15th-20th; and an eclipse drake was discovered on 20th lurking off East Burra.
Best of the week’s waders was, yet again, the continued presence of the White-tailed Lapwing in East Yorkshire at Blacktoft Sands RSPB on 14th-20th – an obliging and popular bird by any standards.
Blacktoft was not, however, the best place to look for rare waders this week – that accolade has to be bestowed upon the incomparable Tacumshin (Co.Wexford), where the Nearctic waders just kept on coming in recent days. The week was, from a national perspective, an extraordinary one for Pectoral Sandpipers, with at least 80 birds found across Britain and Ireland. Tacumshin, however, was firing on all cylinders with numbers there rising from four birds on 16th to five the following day and then, on 18th, to nine birds present on site.
They may have been the most numerous rare fare on offer there, but Tacumshin had more besides – a Buff-breasted Sandpiper on 15th-17th, a Lesser Yellowlegs also present on 17th-18th, and a Baird’s Sandpiper on 20th.
A dozen Buff-breasted Sandpipers were seen nationwide in recent days. In addition to that Tacumshin individual, further Irish sightings were made at Carrahane Strand (Co.Kerry) on 14th; Myroe Levels (Co.Derry), where two birds were present on 16th-19th; and Goleen Marsh (Co.Cork) on 20th. British records came from South Uist (Western Isles) still on 14th-18th, with two present on 19th-20th; St Martin’s (Scilly) still on 14th-15th; North Uist (Western Isles) on 15th; Balnakeil (Highland) on 16th-17th; North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 17th; and Sanday (Orkney), where three birds were seen on 18th.
Ireland did well, overall, for Baird’s Sandpipers this week, with birds found in addition to the settled Clonakilty (Co.Cork) bird, still present on 14th-19th, at Carrahane Strand (Co.Kerry) on 15th; Timoleague and Haulbowline Island (Co.Cork) on 17th; Ballyconneely (Co.Galway) on 18th; Waterville (Co.Kerry) on 19th-20th; and of course Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 20th. Scottish examples were seen in the Western Isles on North Uist on 16th-19th and South Uist on 18th-19th; while one lingered on Bryher (Scilly) on 16th-19th. Bryher also accounted for a White-rumped Sandpiper on 16th.
Just one Semipalmated Sandpiper was found lately – a bird at Boulmer (Northumberland) on 17th; though late on 20th there was a further report of another individual in Cornwall at Gunwalloe Cove.
Northumberland was having a good week, with an adult Pacific Golden Plover seen on Holy Island on 17th-20th; a probable bird was noted over Nosterfield LNR (North Yorkshire) on 17th.
Back in Orkney, an American Golden Plover was seen on Sanday on 16th-20th, and another over North Ronaldsay on 20th.
Some 20 Dotterels were logged nationwide in recent days. Wales was the best place for them, with two seen on Skokholm (Pembrokeshire) still on 14th-15th; three present at Dale Airfield (Pembrokeshire) on 18th-19th; and four found at Garreg Lwyd on 15th.
On 19th, in the Western Isles, sightings of Long-billed Dowitcher came initially from South Uist at Loch Bee and, latterly, North Uist over Grenitote. A further bird was found on 20th at Lough Beg (Co.Derry).
Returning to Lesser Yellowlegs, the week was notable for the arrival of a small fall of them. While the prior week’s late arrival near Shelley (Suffolk) remained in the area on 14th-20th, further new birds were found at Leam Lough (Co.Mayo) on 14th-16th; at Annagh Beach (Co.Mayo), where two were present on 15th; on North Uist (Western Isles) on 17th; at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 17th-20th; and at Kinsalebeg (Co.Waterford) on 18th.
A probable Wilson’s Phalarope was seen on 20th in Aberdeenshire on the Ythan estuary, but frustratingly flew off before the identity could be confirmed once and for all…
Finally, on 19th 20 Grey Phalaropes were seen from Arranmore (Co.Donegal), with singletons noted off Mwnt (Ceredigion) and Kilminning (Fife).
Pick of the week’s gulls were once more the two adult Bonaparte’s Gulls, still present at Oare Marshes KWT (Kent) on 14th-20th, and on Belfast Lough (Co.Down) on 14th-20th.
The adult Ring-billed Gull remained at Blackrock (Co.Louth) on 14th-15th; while the Co.Galway adult remained on Mutton Island on 19th.
Just a handful of Sabine’s Gulls were logged this week – one from Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 14th, another from the ferry between Ullapool and Stornoway (Highland / Western Isles) on 16th, and one off Mwnt (Ceredigion) on 19th. On 20th, final birds were seen from Grimston (East Yorkshire) and Hornsea (East Yorkshire), with two reported from the latter site, while in Ireland two passed Arranmore (Co.Donegal).
White-wingers remained few and far between, unsurprisingly. Glaucous Gulls were seen on the Lossie estuary (Moray) on 14th-17th still; off Ventnor (Isle of Wight) on 16th; in Lerwick (Shetland) on 17th; and in Coleraine (Co.Derry) still on 19th-20th; while an Iceland Gull was noted in Thurso (Highland) on 15th, and another was reported from Beckton (London) on 19th.
Ireland held the best of the week’s good terns – while the adult Forster’s Tern remained at Soldier’s Point (Co.Louth) on 15th-20th, an adult White-winged Black Tern was found on 16th at Sandymount (Co.Dublin); in England, juvenile White-winged Black Terns were found on 20th inland at Belvide reservoir (Staffordshire), and on the coast at Dungeness (Kent).
In the wake of the prior week’s juvenile Pallid Harrier on the Isle of Wight, it was encouraging for our prospects of more in the coming days that further birds were found this week – one as far west as Toe Head (Co.Cork) on 17th, and another to the north, at Kilminning (Fife) on 19th. While their transition from former British mega to anticipated annual arrival is complete, in an Irish context Pallid Harrier still retains some star quality, with fewer than 10 accepted birds to date. That said, these have all come since the first, a second calendar year male found on 22nd-23rd April 2011 at Ballyvergan (Co.Cork), so perhaps they are set fair to be annual arrivals there after all.
A probable juvenile Red-footed Falcon was seen over Whitburn (Co.Durham) on 19th.
Both recent Snowy Owls were again logged this week – the female bird still present out on St Kilda (Western Isles) on 14th, and the male bird still up on Ben Macdui (Aberdeenshire) on 18th-19th.
We’ll kick off the passerines with the warblers this week, with the first handful of perennially popular Yellow-browed Warblers to make landfall this autumn – one down in Norfolk at Sheringham on 14th followed, on 16th in Shetland, by birds found on Fair Isle and Unst. More of them, undoubtedly, in the post for the coming few weeks…
The prior week’s star turn, the Green Warbler at Buckton (East Yorkshire), just squeaked into the current week, remaining there on 14th.
A Greenish Warbler was found on Shetland at Sumburgh on 18th-20th.
Shetland also held onto the two recent Arctic Warblers at nearby Quendale on 14th, with one bird lingering to 15th.
On Scilly, the recent Western Bonelli’s Warbler was still present on St Mary’s on 14th.
Marsh Warblers remained on Unst (Shetland) on 14th and Sanday (Orkney) on 14th-15th. Fair Isle (Shetland) landed a Blyth’s Reed Warbler on 14th-16th, and another on Foula on 18th-20th.
On 16th the Calf of Man Bird Observatory scored the Isle of Man’s first record of Paddyfield Warbler.
A Booted Warbler was found on Fetlar (Shetland) on 17th.
An Aquatic Warbler was reported from Ham Wall RSPB (Somerset) on 16th.
Cape Clear (Co.Cork) hosted an Icterine Warbler on 17th, with another in Co.Cork on 19th-20th at Barrys Head. Fair Isle (Shetland), meanwhile, held onto a Melodious Warbler on 14th-16th, with further examples of the latter seen this week on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 16th-20th, and The Lizard (Cornwall) on 18th.
Some 20 Barred Warblers were logged nationwide this week, with a predictably northern and eastern pattern to their arrival.
Half a dozen Hoopoes were seen in recent days starting, in Shetland, with one still present at Tingwall on 14th; followed on 15th by birds at Spurn (East Yorkshire) and Seaford Head (East Sussex); on 15th-20th at Sker Point (Glamorgan); on 17th-18th on Bressay (Shetland); and on 18th near Gweek (Cornwall).
A Bee-eater was reported from Ponteland Park (Northumberland) on 18th.
Numbers of Wrynecks were down this week, though that’s not to say that a lot weren’t seen – around 50 birds were noted around the country over the course of the week, many of which were newly found individuals.
On St Mary’s (Scilly), the recent badius Woodchat Shrike remained present on 14th-17th while the Fair Isle Woodchat Shrike remained there on 14th-20th. Half a dozen or so Red-backed Shrikes represented a fall on the prior week’s numbers – birds being seen lately on St Mary’s (Scilly) and Yell (Shetland) on 14th; at Howth Head (Co.Dublin) on 14th-15th; at Sancreed (Cornwall) on 14th-20th; on 18th at Druridge Pools NR (Northumberland) and Mizen Head (Co.Cork); and on 19th-20th at Spurn (East Yorkshire). One more was reported on 18th from Dore (South Yorkshire).
A Short-toed Lark was found at Climping (West Sussex) on 16th.
Further east on 16th, a Red-rumped Swallow was found in Kent at Bockhill Farm.
A small arrival of Bluethroats came in the first half of the week – birds being found at Blacktoft Sands RSPB (East Yorkshire) on 14th-20th; on Fair Isle (Shetland) on 15th (with another sighting on 18th, and one trapped and ringed there on 20th); and at Marcross (Glamorgan) on 16th.
Red-breasted Flycatchers had a more defined, northerly distribution – birds were seen in Shetland at Spiggie on 16th, Quendale on 18th-19th, Dalsetter on 18th, and in Wester Quarff and Fair Isle on 20th; an Orcadian bird was present on Papa Westray on 18th; and Spurn (East Yorkshire) got a bird on 18th too. On 20th, a final bird was found in Orkney on North Ronaldsay.
A possible Citrine Wagtail was reported from Northwick Warth (Gloucestershire) on 14th; a Blue-headed Wagtail was found on 15th at Brough Airfield Marsh (East Yorkshire).
A Red-throated Pipit was found on 18th at Worth Marsh (Kent); Fair Isle (Shetland) got a Richard’s Pipit on 19th; while on 19th mobile Tawny Pipits were found both at Beachy Head (East Sussex) and on Bryher (Scilly).
Rose-coloured Starlings crept into double figures again this week, helped in no small part by three birds found on Bryher (Scilly) on 16th. Further individuals were seen on 14th-15th at Kingston Seymour (Somerset); on 14th-18th in Sligo (Co.Sligo); on 15th-20th at Land’s End (Cornwall); and on 16th-20th at Llandudno Junction (Conwy). One was found in Shetland at Aith on 17th-20th, while on 19th further birds were found in Northumberland at Hazlerigg and Highland at Balnakeil, the former bird remaining the following day. One remained on 15th on Great Skellig (Co.Kerry).
Some 30 Common Rosefinches were logged in recent days, with a tally of five on Unst (Shetland) on 16th the highest count of the week, though other small parties were noted elsewhere in Shetland and Orkney. Single birds had made it further south and west, with sightings on Scilly, Lundy (Devon) and Portland (Dorset) amongst others.
Ortolan Buntings however remained the almost exclusive preserve of the southwest – birds were found this week on Scilly on Tresco still on 14th and St Agnes on 14th-15th; The Lizard (Cornwall) on 14th; over Portland (Dorset) on 16th; at Hartland (Devon) on 18th; and on 20th on Lundy (Devon). The exception to the rule was a bird found on 20th at Sammy’s Point (East Yorkshire).
Finally, on Foula (Shetland) a Rustic Bunting was found on 20th.
Whinchat x Redstart Hybrid, Shetland by Hugh Harrop from Shetland Wildlife on Vimeo.
Overseas this week, things continued to warm up on the Azores where, in addition to the lingering Yellow Warbler on Corvo still on 14th and Cape May Warbler still on Faial on 14th-15th, a Grey Catbird was found on Corvo on 14th.
Alder or Willow Flycatcher photographed at Garður yesterday, photo by Eyjólfur Vilbergsson pic.twitter.com/bSfhIlZbZw
— Tarsiger (@TarsigerTeam) September 21, 2021
Further Nearctic passerine action was forthcoming from Iceland where, on 15th-18th, an American Buff-bellied Pipit was seen at Garður and, on 18th-20th, Iceland’s fifth Yellow Warbler graced Þorlákshöfn. A final roll of the weekly dice came with the discovery of an Empidonax, thought to be probably an Alder Flycatcher, also at Garður on 20th.
Yellow Warbler, Dendroica petechia photographed at Þorlákshöfn, 3rd day, photo by Simmi - 5th record for Iceland and 26th for WP pic.twitter.com/TJKuPFyetl
— Tarsiger (@TarsigerTeam) September 19, 2021
While our prediction of a Fair Isle Lanceolated Warbler failed to materialise this week, one was found in Denmark on Christiansø on 14th. Right bird, wrong island…
A couple of Pygmy Cormorants were logged again this week – one still in France at Barrage de Lavours on 14th; and the other in Germany at Mechtersheimer Tongruben on 14th also.
Finally, on 19th, in Spain the country’s second ever Short-billed Dowitcher was found at Embalse de Aguilar, and a House Bunting was trapped and ringed on Gibralter.
Hard to believe we’re already staring down the barrel of the final week of September. Things will shortly be getting very real indeed where rare birds are concerned. Or, at least, we sincerely hope so…
The coming week looks like being a game of two halves – with westerlies perhaps delivering to Scotland in particular in the early half of the week, and the possibility of south easterlies as the weekend draws to an end.
Ever the optimist, my eyes are drawn to a list of Nearctic warblers as colourful as the sweets in an old newsagent’s window, all of which have historically got form in the coming week. Nobody would be complaining if we landed the tasty likes of a Magnolia Warbler or a Northern Parula… They’re both on the move. The latter especially so.
2nd highest ever count this morning of Northern Parula at Cape May! Nice supporting cast too ?? pic.twitter.com/Fuqqz8bHKV
— DaveHawkins (@DaveHawkins99) September 19, 2021
Jon Dunn
21 Sept 2021
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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