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Weekly birding round-up: 21 - 27 Sep 2021

As we moved towards the final days of September, there was definitely a feeling in the air that autumn was starting to gather a little more momentum. Envious eyes were cast overseas, to Iceland in particular, where mouth-watering birds gave us a sense of just what might have been… which is not, however, to say that we were hard done by – there were some decent birds uncovered in recent days…

 

Given what was happening in Iceland this week, there was a certain inevitability about a Nearctic passerine being found somewhere in Scotland in recent days. I think we’d have felt short-changed if we’d not got something out of the situation, even if it was just pocket change – though, to be fair to Red-eyed Vireos, while there’ve been around 160 accepted records to date in a British context, from a Scottish perspective they remain a more rarefied prospect, with fewer than 20 on the books.

But we digress.

With apologies to Orkney – which really can deliver the goods on its day – savvy punters would have bet on something being found this week in either the Western Isles or Shetland. Both have September form, after all…

And speaking of form, Will Miles certainly has some on St Kilda (Western Isles), being the finder of our last, and to this day still ultra-gripping and covetable, Blackburnian Warbler there on 12th September 2009. Will’s been out there again in recent days and, on 22nd, found our first American Buff-bellied Pipit of the year. Nice work, and an excellent find – but perhaps not the most covetable of Nearctic passerines…

St Kilda has the distinction of Britain’s first ever American Buff-bellied Pipit to its credit – one caught on 30th September 1910 that, having survived a transatlantic crossing, was destined to spend perpetuity in the National Museums of Scotland collection. Thereafter, until the turn of the century, we had just three more British records – and then, heralded by a wintering bird in Lincolnshire in 2005/6, things went a little off-piste, with a steady stream of records from 2007 onwards that, with the exception of a blank year in 2015, have more often than not involved more than one individual per annum. So maybe we really should have expected one this week – after all, Iceland had three alone, all within an hour of Reykjavik.

But was this it? Was this our Nearctic passerine of the week?

Well, no. Because what Will Miles is to St Kilda, David ‘Super’ Cooper is to Unst (Shetland), and his home patch of Norwick is one of the very best corners of that already brilliant island. David’s rarity-finding form is impeccable, so combined with strong northwesterlies in recent days, and a sheltered nook on Unst… surely that augured well?

Sure enough, it did – on 25th, he found Shetland’s second-ever Rose-breasted Grosbeak at Norwick – a bird that would prove initially flighty and elusive but, in the course of the day, would come to give some really satisfying views for those present in Shetland and able to get onto the island before dusk.

With just 30 accepted British records to the end of 2019, this is a species that’s emphatically the property of Scilly – the balmy archipelago has had fully half of our prior birds found there. A bit like Red-eyed Vireos, they’re harder to come by in Scotland and, were it not for the obliging spring bird that spent a couple of days in a Burra garden five years ago, Shetland would have still been waiting for its first until this week.

While the St Kilda American Buff-bellied Pipit proved an obliging beast – at least, for those actually on St Kilda – remaining there until 26th, the Shetland Rose-breasted Grosbeak was a different matter altogether, having done a bunk overnight on 25th. The first Nearctic passerine of 2021 in Shetland – but will it be the last? The baton may be handed to Scilly or southwest Ireland in the week to come…

 

While things were coming up rosy for birders in Shetland over the weekend, it would be fair to say that some birders on the British mainland were seeing red – or not, as the case may be. While the Misson stint debate will probably continue over a pint or two for a while to come, there were no identification headaches surrounding the Red-breasted Goose found in Lincolnshire at Wrangle Flats on 21st. The only real bone of contention was the suggestion that it might be wearing a ring of shame on its left leg. As we know all too well with honkers and quackers, that’s rarely a good thing. Right up there with tatty, clipped wings, unfeasibly long stays in unlikely locations, unfeasible tameness and, in the case of Wood Ducks, simply being a Wood Duck in the first place.

Happily, that rumoured ring turned out to be nothing more sinister than a wet feather stuck to the bird’s leg. With Dark-bellied Brent Geese having returned to The Wash for the winter, a suitable and convincing carrier species is in place, and there’s little not to like about this bird.

Lincolnshire’s last accepted record dates back 15 years ago, when two adults were found at Saltfleet on 13th October 2006, so this week’s bird, remaining on Wrangle Flats until 25th, will have been popular with a new generation of county birders and, perhaps, some birders from further afield keen to add a what feels like a pukka Red-breasted Goose to their roster.

 

It remains to be seen whether it makes it into October, but our long-staying adult Black-browed Albatross was showing no signs of departing for the year just yet this week, being seen intermittently at Bempton Cliffs RSPB (East Yorkshire) again in recent days – present again on 23rd-24th before, on the latter date, heading out to sea in the afternoon. It glanced past sight of land again on 27th, being seen from Spurn (East Yorkshire), but was this au revoir for 2021? Maybe not – it was reported again in the dying embers of the week, along the cliffs at Flamborough (East Yorkshire) late on 27th.

The year’s sea-watching clearly isn’t quite over, with rewards still out there for the determined – on 22nd a Fea’s / Desertas Petrel was logged passing Annagh Head (Co.Mayo).

The pace was quickening for Leach’s Petrels, meanwhile, with some 35 birds noted in Britain and Ireland lately. Irish birders were enjoying the lion’s share of them, with a peak count of five birds seen from Arranmore (Co.Donegal) on 23rd.

Having been fairly quiet for a few weeks now, our weekly tally of 60 Great Shearwaters was a notable change of tone – 50 of these were logged at sea, three miles southwest of Bishop Rock (Scilly) on 22nd.

A weekly national tally of some 500 Balearic Shearwaters was up on the prior week’s showing – the best of these being 142 birds seen from Portland (Dorset) on 24th.

Pomarine Skuas were the more numerous of the two scarcer species this week, with almost twice as many seen as their daintier Long-tailed cousins. Of the 55 of the former species noted, peak counts of a dozen birds came on 23rd from both Strathy Point (Highland) and Arranmore (Co.Donegal). Where Long-tailed Skuas were concerned, the numbers were more modest altogether – 30 birds were seen in Britain and Ireland in recent days, with the best of these being trios noted on 25th from Flamborough (East Yorkshire) and North Ronaldsay (Orkney).

 

The best of the week’s long-legged beasties was still Flintshire’s first ever Squacco Heron, hanging around the area of Big Pool Wood NWWT on 21st-26th still.

In Oxfordshire, the Purple Heron was still present in Blenheim Park on 23rd-24th; the Pagham Harbour (West Sussex) individual was again seen on 24th-26th; and one was reported once more from Worth Marsh (Kent) on 21st.

Numbers of Glossy Ibises remained impressive, with around 30 birds scattered around Britain, and Ireland too – two birds were present at Seabank (Co.Louth) on 21st-22nd. The highest count in Britain, meanwhile, came once more from Cambridgeshire where, on 24th, five were seen in flight at Bluntisham heading towards Berry Fen; on 26th, five were noted at Ouse Fen RSPB; and, on 27th, five were at Barleycraft Lake. Given half a chance, they do like to hang out with their own kind… or, in the case of the lone individual in Northumberland on 25th seen heading south past Boulmer with some Cormorants, with some black birds only approximately the same size as them…

Spotted Crakes this week were seen lurking at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB (Cheshire) on 22nd; on 23rd-25th, at Frampton Marsh RSPB (Lincolnshire); on 26th-27th at South Huish Marsh (Devon); and on 27th still on Tresco (Scilly).

 

Birders in Norfolk need no telling that geese are on the move this week – skeins of Pink-footed Geese are coming into the county even as we speak. If autumn has a soundtrack, it’s this.

Birders in Shetland too have had a taste of long-distance goose migration – 11 Pale-bellied Brent Geese at Boddam on 24th had made a long sea-crossing from somewhere – maybe, given the recent northwesterlies, from Greenland or further northwest still.

So it’s that time of year once more and, sure enough, we got our first example for a good few months of The Goose Formerly Known as Canada - an interior Todd’s Canada Goose on South Uist (Western Isles) on 25th-27th.

In Highland, sightings of possible Grey-bellied Brant came on 26th at Munlochy Bay and, on 27th, at Udale Bay RSPB.

Moving on to the quackers, a fair arrival of Ring-necked Ducks checked in – single birds were found on Benbecula (Western Isles) on 23rd-24th; Lewis (Western Isles) on 24th-26th, with five birds present on there in the evening of 27th; Achill Island (Co.Mayo) on 24th; Orkney Mainland on 25th; and Cardiff Bay Wetlands NR (Glamorgan) on 26th-27th. Lingering individuals remained at Foxhole (Cornwall) on 23rd still, and on Tiree (Argyll & Bute) again on 25th, with two present on the latter island on 26th-27th. On 27th, further drakes were found in Scotland at Loch Oire (Moray) and Rescobie Loch (Angus), and in Ireland at Termoncarragh Lough (Co.Mayo).

An eclipse drake American Wigeon was present at Barleycraft Lake (Cambridgeshire) on 25th-27th; an eclipse drake was seen in the afternoon of 27th in Lincolnshire at Freiston Shore RSPB; and, back in Co.Mayo, a drake was sharing Cross Lough with the settled drake Black Duck.

Shetland’s two recent King Eiders remained off East Burra on 21st-23rd and in Wadbister Voe on 21st-26th, the latter seemingly the first port of call for every single birder coming in fresh off the overnight Northlink ferry… Another was found off the Scottish mainland in Burghead Bay (Moray) on 24th.

Finally, a trio of Surf Scoters were seen in Scotland this week – one in Lunan Bay (Angus) on 25th; the regular drake still off Musselburgh (Lothian) on 24th-27th; and one from Fife Ness (Fife) on 25th.

 

Best of the week’s waders was, once more, the resident White-tailed Lapwing in East Yorkshire at Blacktoft Sands RSPB on 21st-27th. Nothing ambiguous about this cracking bird.

And so to the Americans, and the week’s best new wader had to be the popular Wilson’s Phalarope found in Cheshire at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB on 21st. It remained there until 23rd before, on 24th, relocating to Parkgate Marsh for the day. To say that Cheshire’s enjoyed 11 previous birds is to underplay what this latest individual will have meant to county birders – the last bird was way back in 1991 at Woolston Eyes. Thirty years is an awfully long wait for another.

Grey Phalaropes, meanwhile, were found on 27th at Blashford Lakes HWT (Hampshire) and off Strumble Head (Pembrokeshire), and a phalarope sp was found that evening in Dorset at Mudeford Quay.

While one or two Pacific Golden Plovers were accounted for this week – one was present at Frampton Marsh RSPB (Lincolnshire) on 21st, while another was reported from Monks House Pool (Northumberland) on 23rd – it was American Golden Plovers that were in the ascendancy. Birds were seen on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) still on 21st, and at Omey Strand (Co.Galway) on 23rd-24th; while a brief bird on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 24th came with further reports in the isles that day on St Martin’s and Tresco too; and still another was found on 26th in the east at Fingringhoe Wick EWT (Essex).

Scilly held onto its Baird’s Sandpiper on Bryher this week until 27th; while Irish birds remained at Clonakilty (Co.Cork) until 25th and Inny Strand (Co.Kerry) until 23rd.

In Argyll & Bute, the Semipalmated Sandpiper honours were shared between Coll on 22nd-24th and Tiree on 23rd-26th; another bird was found on 23rd at Money Point (Co.Clare).

A Buff-breasted Sandpiper remained at Myroe Levels (Co.Derry) on 21st, with one still present that day too on South Uist (Western Isles) – two birds were present on South Uist on 24th-25th, with one still present on 26th. Further individuals were noted this week on Bryher (Scilly) on 23rd-27th, Omey Island (Co.Galway) on 23rd, North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 25th-27th being trapped and ringed there on the latter date, and Lissagriffin (Co.Cork) on 26th-27th.

Some 70 Pectoral Sandpipers across the region marked a reduction on the prior week’s higher numbers, but only just – there were still plenty to go around, at all points of the compass and inland too. Once again, Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) was bossing the week’s tallies, with a peak count of half a dozen birds present on 22nd; four were present at Frankfield Loch (Clyde) on 26th. Frankly, I’d settle for one near to home…

A familiar Long-billed Dowitcher popped out of the woodwork again this week – the adult being seen once more at Potter Heigham (Norfolk) on 21st-26th – while the juvenile was still present on Lough Beg (Co.Derry) on 21st.

As for Lesser Yellowlegs, just two were recorded this week – one lingered in Suffolk near Shelley still on 22nd-24th, while the Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) bird remained present on 21st-27th.

And finally, Dotterels - a few were still on the move, with single birds noted at Dale airfield (Pembrokeshire) still on 21st-26th and Dawlish Warren NNR (Devon) on 21st-22nd still; one was seen in Shetland at Stenness on 21st, possibly also accounting for the sighting at Hillswick on 25th; while on 26th birds were found near Monks House Pool (Northumberland) and at Myroe (Co.Derry). On 27th single birds were found on Bryher and Tresco (Scilly).

 

It’s reached that point in proceedings where we can’t be getting too excited about gulls’n’terns – not when there are, potentially, much more exciting birds in the offing. So we’ll not linger here too long this week where, once again, the pick of the bunch were the two adult Bonaparte’s Gulls, still present at Oare Marshes KWT (Kent) on 22nd-26th and on Belfast Lough (Co.Down) on 21st-25th, with a further first-winter found on 26th at Slapton Ley (Devon) a fresh face.

The adult Ring-billed Gull remained Nimmo’s Pier (Co.Galway) on 21st-22nd.

Some 20 Sabine’s Gulls were logged this week most of which, by some margin, were seen from Strathy Point (Highland) on 23rd, where nine birds were tallied. The remainder also had a northern and western bias but for one bird that spent 22nd-23rd at Worth Marsh (Kent).

Just two Glaucous Gulls were seen in the first half of the week – on the Bann estuary (Co.Derry) on 21st and at Kilmarnock (Ayrshire) on 24th – before one was found on 26th on North Uist (Western Isles), and three were seen in Shetland that day too: two on Unst, and one on Mainland.

Finally, in Ireland the adult Forster’s Tern remained at Soldier’s Point (Co.Louth) on 21st-26th.

 

Pallid Harriers aren’t really one of those rarities you can set out reasonably hoping to find – they’re one of those species that, if you’re lucky, find you, hoving unexpectedly into view and giving the ultimate “woah! What the ####?!” surge of adrenalin. So it would have been for Mike Carr when, on 25th, he found himself confronted by a smart, flyby juvenile at Toft on the Shetland Mainland. Welcome to Shetland!

A couple of Montagu’s Harriers were also seen this week – one at St Aldhelm’s Head (Dorset) on 21st, and another at Wantage (Oxfordshire) on 24th.

Turns out it’s not third time lucky this week, as yet another report of a Booted Eagle in Suffolk failed to coalesce into a drop-everything mega – a possible was seen high over Hollesley on 25th, following previous reports this year from Carlton Marshes SWT on 3rd August and Martlesham on 7th. At least the Irish and Cornish individual in 1999 had the decency to hang around for a few days and didn’t just vanish into thin air…

Both of our recent Snowy Owls were still being seen in recent days – the female bird still a birding distraction out on St Kilda (Western Isles) on 24th-26th, and the male bird still up on Ben Macdui (Aberdeenshire) on 21st.

 

Mixing things up just a smidge, we’ll start the passerines this mid-autumn week away from the warblers with something else entirely – not rare enough to warrant a berth in the headlines, but always a top drawer bird, especially in Scotland, a Red-eyed Vireo was an excellent find by the indomitable Bruce Taylor on Barra (Western Isles) on 27th.

Far from a headline bird nowadays, but always with the power to brighten the finder’s day, the first Red-flanked Bluetail of the autumn was found by John Lowrie Irvine on 26th on Whalsay (Shetland).

While the southerlies and, latterly, southeasterlies that were hitting Shetland over the weekend didn’t, on the face of it, appear to originate much further east than the Scottish central belt, that bluetail and a few warblers too suggested some birds at least were squeaking in from further afield, dragged along the edge of the front.

Foremost amongst these was a Paddyfield Warbler on Foula (Shetland) on 26th that, judging by the lack in the tail department, had either taken a significant battering to make landfall in the first place or, perhaps, had had a close shave with one of Foula’s infamous, Siberian Blue Robin-slaying felines…

The week had begun on Foula with the Blyth’s Reed Warbler still present there on 21st; and another was found in Shetland on Fetlar on 25th.

A Marsh Warbler was found on Fetlar (Shetland) on 26th.

At long last, this week, there were some flickers of life in the now anticipated annual bonfire of Yellow-browed Warblers - though still not the many hundreds we’ve come to expect in the autumns of late. This week, some 25 were seen and heard, from Shetland to Dover (Kent), and as far west as Scilly too.

Sticking with Scilly a moment, on St Mary’s the Melodious Warbler remained settled on 21st; and a Western Bonelli’s Warbler was found on St Martin’s on 26th-27th.

Barred Warblers were making heavy weather of it this week, with barely double figures noted: on 21st at John Muir CP (Lothian); on 21st-23rd at Flamborough (East Yorkshire); on 22nd-24th and 26th on Fetlar (Shetland); on 23rd-24th on Unst and at Brae (Shetland); on 23rd on Barra (Western Isles); and on 26th at Wester Quarff (Shetland). One remained on Fair Isle (Shetland) on 26th, while one was found at Sumburgh (Shetland) the following day, and another on 27th on Foula (Shetland).

A shadow of their former selves, the influx of Wrynecks finally petered out in recent days, with a little over a dozen logged nationwide, with two on St Martin’s (Scilly) on 22nd the only notable single site tally amongst them.

In Glamorgan, the Hoopoe remained at Sker Point on 21st-23rd; further birds this week were found on Noss (Shetland) on 23rd and, fabulously, in flight over Haddington town centre (Lothian) on 25th.

A scatter of Red-backed Shrikes were found this week with, for the most part, a very southerly distribution – at Sancreed (Cornwall) still on 21st; on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 23rd; on Thorney Island (West Sussex) on 22nd; at Minsmere RSPB (Suffolk) on 22nd-25th; on St Martin’s (Scilly) on 24th-27th; on Bolus Head (Co.Kerry) on 26th-27th; on Bryher (Scilly) on 27th; and, being the exceptions that prove the rule, up on Foula (Shetland) on 24th-25th and Fair Isle (Shetland) on 26th.

Honours remained shared between Scilly and Shetland this week, with the settled badius Woodchat Shrike still present on St Mary’s on 21st-27th, and the Fair Isle Woodchat Shrike still hanging on there on 22nd-26th.

Alas, the report of a fly-through probable Isabelline Shrike on Dursey Island (Co.Cork) on 22nd came to nothing further; and the Lesser Grey Shrike found on North Uist (Western Isles) on 27th was from the Spanish reintroduction scheme.

A couple of Red-rumped Swallows were seen lately – one on 21st at Luccombe Down (Isle of Wight), and the other on 23rd at Mundesley (Norfolk).

A possible Pallid Swift was seen over Longwell Green (Somerset and Bristol) on 27th; while in North Yorkshire on 27th a white-rumped swift sp, thought to possibly be a Pacific Swift, was reported near Stockton.

The recent Bluethroat remained on Fair Isle (Shetland) on 21st; another was found on Fetlar (Shetland) on 26th-27th.

A Red-breasted Flycatcher in central Lerwick (Shetland) on 21st was followed by two birds in the area on 23rd; while in the South Mainland one was present at Wester Quarff on 23rd, and another at Quendale on 24th.

A probable Blue-headed Wagtail was seen at Church Knowle (Dorset) on 25th; and belated news came of a possible Eastern Yellow Wagtail on St Agnes (Scilly) on 25th.

We made it into double figures for a second consecutive week where Rose-coloured Starlings were concerned, with around 10 birds noted in all – at Hazlerigg (Northumberland) still on 21st-23rd; at Land’s End (Cornwall) still on 21st-27th; at Llandudno Junction (Conwy) still on 21st-26th; at Aith (Shetland) on 21st-27th still; on Bryher (Scilly) still on 22nd-27th; at Brighton Marina (East Sussex) and Thorntonloch caravan park (Lothian) on 21st, with another probable reported that day from Middlebere (Dorset); at Prawle Point (Devon) on 23rd; and again at Titchwell RSPB (Norfolk) on 26th-27th.

Some 25 Common Rosefinches were logged in recent days, with three trapped and ringed on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 25th the highest single site count of the week.

On Foula (Shetland) the Rustic Bunting remained present on 21st; and Little Buntings were found in Shetland in West Mainland at Walls on 23rd, and on Unst on 26th-27th.

 

It takes a lot to displace a first for the Western Palearctic from the top of the overseas news section but, this week, Iceland had just that to offer – a lot. A heck of a lot, in fact. It’s hard to know where to begin with this little lot, but here goes…

Starting with leftovers from the previous week, the presumed Alder Flycatcher was still at Garður on 22nd, and the Yellow Warbler remained at Þorlákshöfn on 22nd also. Things started to get really serious on 23rd with the discovery of an American Redstart at Stafnes, where it remained until 25th; followed, on 24th, by a Semipalmated Plover at Reykjanesviti; and then, on 25th-27th, a Cape May Warbler at Eyrarbakki; and, on 27th, a Swainson’s Thrush at Borgarholt. All of this with a supporting cast of three apiece of American Buff-bellied Pipits and Red-eyed Vireos. The Azores? Who needs ‘em?

Well, they’ve still got a certain something about them that keeps birders coming back. And that would be their spectacular ability to attract outrageous Western Palearctic records, firsts amongst them. This week, Corvo went and did it again, and landed just that – the first ever WP Warbling Vireo, on 25th. A day that also supplied a Chestnut-sided Warbler, and a Red-eyed Vireo. Ouch.

After all that, the continuing presence of Spain’s second-ever Short-billed Dowitcher at Embalse de Aguilar on 21st-26th feels unfairly anticlimactic… A Lesser Flamingo was present at Cabo de Gata on 27th.

A Great Knot was found in Latvia at Jurmala on 26th.

Italy, meanwhile, got a Western Sandpiper at Pavia on 27th.

A Sykes’s Warbler was found on 27th in Finland at Lagskar.

And, apart from that, closer to home it was mostly all about the Pygmy Cormorants again – the lingering bird still hanging around the Utrecht area of Holland on 23rd; and, in France, two birds at Affut ONCFS on 21st-27th, one at Chanaz on 23rd, and one still at Barrage de Lavours on 26th. France also claimed an Eastern Yellow Wagtail on Île de Sein on 24th.

 

Well now. Here we go, tipping over from September into what might well be most birders’ favourite month of the year. Hello October. It’s good to have you back again.

And looky here… if it isn’t a forecast that looks, at the time of writing, like a succession of fast moving low pressure systems out in the Atlantic that could, given half a chance, drop some Nearctic passerine loveliness upon us.

Sure, we’ve all been here before – the dashed dreams are all too painful. But we live in eternal hope – we’re birders, it’s what we do – and if we can’t fantasise about an unlikely American warbler or vireo at this time of year, when can we? 1st October is, after all, the anniversary of arguably the most contentious warbler of them all on the British List, the Land’s End Bay-breasted Warbler of 1995. One of those would lay a lot of ghosts to rest…

But getting a little more real… All of the Catharus thrushes ought to be possible around now – a Swainson’s Thrush at the very least in the coming week seems entirely reasonable.

As does a Bobolink or a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Neither is rare enough to test the fuel-rationing resolve of the keenest twitchers, but nor would any of us turn our noses up at bumping into one near to home.

 

Jon Dunn
28 Sept 2021

Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos

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