Weekly birding round-up: 26 Apr - 02 May 2022
Spring still not exactly springing this week… there were more migrants finding their way to us, but it still all felt slightly… muted. (That is, until the closing hours of Monday evening, when things began to properly kick off). There’s plenty of time for that to change though in the weeks to come and, for now, there’s always a cuppa and an account of the week just gone.
We couldn’t have seen it coming, to be fair. Broad-billed Sandpipers have the strongest affinity with May, with over half of British records owing themselves to the month. April, on the other hand, is a different story – of the 257 British records accepted, post-1950, to the end of 2019, just two birds were found in April. One in Ireland on Shannon Airport Lagoon on 27th April 1998, and one in Gwent at Goldcliff Pools on 22nd-23rd April 2016.
A Broad-billed Sandpiper anywhere always has the merit of novelty – there are blank years in the past when we didn’t get a single bird – but one in April really was a bit leftfield. 2016, the year of Britain’s earliest ever, was coincidentally also the year that Lancashire and North Merseyside enjoyed its last example – a bird found at Marshside RSPB on 8th May.
Other counties have waited longer for another bird, and for some the wait goes on for the first, but local birders will have surely been delighted this week with the discovery of a bird on 27th at none other than Marshside RSPB. Showing well there from mid-afternoon into the evening, alas it did an overnight bunk and wasn’t hanging around the following day.
The county’s 12th record, hopefully it augurs well for the month to come – in favourable years we exceed 10 British records annually, providing ample opportunity to catch up with one of these smart spring shorebirds.
The afternoon was wearing on in Co.Waterford on 2nd when news began to break of a Sand Plover sp on the saltmarsh at Tramore. The week was almost over, but Ireland was going to roar back into life with an absolute banger…
Confirmation swiftly followed that this was indeed a Greater Sand Plover - a species that remains of the very highest calibre in an Irish context. Ireland’s first dates back to as lately as 2016, when one spent but a day at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 20th July. Last year, belated news came of a bird seen on 21st April at Schull (Co.Cork), but the stable door had slammed days after that particular horse had bolted.
With Co.Waterford’s first ever record showing until dusk on the Tramore saltmarsh it remains to be seen whether it follows the precedent of those two prior Irish records and calls it a day after, well, a day… but if not, that’s a bird set to make a lot of Irish birders very happy indeed.
Greater Sand Plover, need a lie down after that!!! pic.twitter.com/ZfLp6AN24a
— arlo jacques (@arlojacques5) May 2, 2022
Nor was late news the sole preserve of Co.Waterford this week for Scilly, having paused and caught its breath after the recent Crag Martin, was ready late on 2nd to deliver another top quality bird in the form of what, initially, was reported shortly after 8pm as a female Western Black-eared Wheatear on the golf course on St Mary’s.
A little later that specific determination had moderated somewhat, with the possibility of Eastern Black-eared Wheatear back in the mix. One way or another, a quality spring find on the Fortunate Isles, and one to watch in the coming days should it be relocated – in the dying embers of 2nd, the bird had no sooner been found than it had lost itself on the golf course as night fell.
Kicking off the seabirds section in fine form, the adult Black-browed Albatross was still very much present at Bempton Cliffs RSPB (East Yorkshire) for much of the week, being seen daily there on 26th-28th, and again on 30th-1st.
Marking a small change from the recent norm this week, sightings of White-billed Diver(s) came from somewhere other than Scotland. North-eastern England accounted for a small flurry of records, with northbound sightings coming from Whitburn CP (Co.Durham) and Whitley Bay (Northumberland) on 26th, and Whitburn CP and St Mary’s Island (Northumberland) on 27th. Meanwhile, in Scotland one lingered off Roseisle (Moray) still on 26th-2nd, with one seen along the Moray coast off Portnockie again on 30th; and in Shetland, one was seen off Fair Isle on 28th, and two birds were present in the traditional wintering site of South Nesting Bay off Mainland on 29th.
Numbers of Pomarine Skuas finally began to pick up a little in the English Channel in recent days, with some 135 birds noted between Dorset and Kent over the course of the week, and the odd outlier further north too. Peak count cames from Dungeness (Kent) on 18th, where 18 birds were logged, and 1st, where a further 20 were seen passing over the course of the day.
Two Long-tailed Skuas were seen from North Uist (Western Isles) on 1st.
If those birds were the advent of spring skua passage, we got a report of a more wintery flavour from Highland on 29th, where a Little Auk was reported from Point of Ardnamurchan.
Starting the long-legged beasties once more this week with Purple Herons, we continued to be graced by a few of them in recent days. The week began with one intrepid bird away from southern or eastern England, seen in flight over Gowy Meadows CWT (Cheshire) on 26th. A bird lingered at Hickling Broad NWT (Norfolk) on 28th-29th. On the Somerset Levels, sightings came on 29th from Shapwick Heath NNR and Ham Wall RSPB, while another was also seen that day in flight over Kenidjack (Cornwall). On 30th and again on 2nd the Ham Wall RSPB bird put in further appearances, and the Hickling Broad NWT (Norfolk) bird of late showed again on 30th too. A final bird came in off the sea in Kent at Foreness Point on 1st.
An adult Night Heron was found on 30th-2nd in Devon at Slapton Ley followed, on 2nd, by another in London on the fringes of Brent reservoir.
Glossy Ibises, meanwhile, continued to feature heavily in the daily news. Once again, some 40 birds were seen the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland, from Scilly in the south to the very northern end of Shetland at Britain’s other extremity. Once more, some small flocks in great habitat remained settled – seven at Ham Wall RSPB (Somerset) on 27th-2nd; three in Norfolk at Welney WWT on 29th; and three at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 26th-29th. With the weather in the Iberian peninsula remaining unseasonably cold and generally stubbornly miserable, and Spain bursting at the gunwales with Glossy Ibises in the wake of years of population growth (partly fuelled, I’m told by Spanish ornithologist friends, by their adapting to eat invasive non-native American crayfish), maybe they’ll be in no hurry to leave our shores as spring unfolds…
The Spotted Crake was once more heard in song in North Yorkshire at Wheldrake Ings YWT on 27th; while a Corncrake was rasping away at Welney WWT (Norfolk) on 29th-2nd.
The week’s honkers and quackers were definitely showing signs of the changing seasons, with numbers on the whole rather down. Best of the honkers was the obdurate Red-breasted Goose still present in Norfolk at Blakeney on 26th-2nd, with a supporting cast of the Black Brant still present in East Yorkshire at Kilnsea on 26th-29th.
If one duck was bucking the downward trend, it was Blue-winged Teal, with a couple of familiar faces in these quarters augmented by some fresh finds. The female remained in Cambridgeshire at Berry Fen on 26th-29th; the drake was still to be found in Ireland at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 28th; while a drake and a probable female were found in Co.Cork at Old Head of Kinsale on 27th.
It was a similar story with Green-winged Teals, with settled birds remaining at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 26th-29th and Loch of Kinnordy RSPB (Angus) on 26th-29th still joined in the news by a bird found by Kristofer Wilson on Shetland Mainland at Grunna Water on 29th-2nd – a good start to his day further embellished with a drake Garganey, a local rarity, at the close of play that afternoon. All round top notch patch birding there. On 2nd another was found in Northumberland on Grindon Lough.
The drake American Wigeon remained in Northumberland at Cresswell Pond NWT on 26th-2nd, with an excursion to East Chevington NWT again on 28th. A further possible drake was seen distantly on 2nd at Hale (Cheshire and Wirral).
Numbers of Ring-necked Ducks were down again this week, and markedly so – with a dozen or so birds in all logged, of which the two still present at Acre Nook Sand Quarry (Cheshire) still on 26th were the only multiples on offer.
For the first week in ages, no Lesser Scaups were reported lately. Cheshire went some way to addressing that absence with a female Ferruginous Duck on 30th at Woolston Eyes NR. It, or another female, was then found on 2nd at Grimley (Worcestershire).
Drake King Eiders were seen in Scotland on Loch Fleet (Highland) on 26th still, and on the Ythan estuary (Aberdeenshire) again on 26th-27th. Meanwhile, the first-winter drake remained off Musselburgh (Lothian) on 26th-1st; and a further first-winter drake was found down the coast on 30th-2nd on the sea between Marske and Saltburn (Cleveland).
For much of the week Musselburgh’s Surf Scoter tally remained nailed on two birds, but that changed on 29th when four were logged off there; one remained there on 2nd. At the opposite end of the country, the first-winter female remained off Tresco (Scilly) on 26th-27th.
Once again rounding off the section our honorary wildfowl, the adult Pied-billed Grebe, was again seen in Argyll & Bute at Loch Feorlin on 28th.
Once more, several Black-winged Stilts stood head and shoulders above the other shorebirds in the weekly news. The female remained at Marshside RSPB (Lancashire & North Merseyside) on 26th; Berkshire provided another sighting on 27th at Newton Leys; and Norfolk at Welney WWT on 28th and 1st, and Hickling Broad NWT on 30th.
Suffolk’s Pacific Golden Plover seems to have finally moved on, being last seen at Carlton Marshes SWT on 26th.
A female Kentish Plover was found at Goldcliff Point (Gwent) on 30th.
The week’s biggest trip of Dotterels were, for much of the week, the five birds still present on North Uist (Western Isles) on 26th-2nd, matched by five birds in Norfolk on 2nd near Ringstead and then surpassed when the latter flock grew to number six birds. The week began with two still present in Norfolk at Waxham on 26th; one was also heard passing over Humshaugh (Northumberland) at night on 26th. Single birds lingered at Collister Pill (Gwent) on 28th-29th, and on Bryher (Scilly) on 29th-30th; and a single bird was found inland at Hemington (Northamptonshire) on 29th.
A Temminck’s Stint was seen in Cheshire at Woolston Eyes NR on 28th and, on 2nd, another was seen briefly in Cambridgeshire at Block Fen GPs.
Four Pectoral Sandpipers were found this week – in Gloucestershire at Pilning Wetland on 29th-30th and again on 2nd; at Llyn Trawsfynydd (Gwynedd) on 29th-2nd; in Cumbria at Campfield Marsh RSPB on 30th-1st; and in Suffolk at Hollesley Marshes RSPB on 1st-2nd.
Best of the gulls this week was, by some margin, the long-staying Ross’s Gull still present on Mutton Island (Co.Galway) on 26th-1st. Surely set to move on any day now…
In Co.Wexford the adult Bonaparte’s Gull was once more seen at South Slob on 27th. An adult turned up in Carmarthenshire at Llanelli on 27th.
Numbers of Glaucous Gulls held their own, remaining in the mid-teens nationally for another week. Iceland Gulls on the other hand plummeted, down four-fold to around 15 birds noted across the course of recent days, with two present on North Uist’s Rubh’ Arnal (Western Isles) on 1st and two on Lewis (Western Isles) on 2nd still the only sites to exceed a single bird. Our reliable winter white-winger staple will soon be an afterthought in these parts, replaced – hopefully – by some vagrant terns…
Pick of the week’s rare raptors was the juvenile male Pallid Harrier discovered on 26th hanging around the ternery at Sounds of Forvie NNR (Aberdeenshire). Still present on 30th, this was a bird destined to be locally popular with birders.
A ringtail Montagu’s Harrier was seen in Norfolk at Field Dalling on 30th.
Black Kites numbers dropped appreciably in recent days, with barely double figures logged over the course of the week. The week began with one seen coming in off the sea at Dungeness (Kent) on 26th. Finds on 28th ranged from Gifford (Lothian) in the north to Battle (East Sussex), and Langton Matravers, Godlingston Heath NNR and Ballard Down (Dorset) along the south coast and, on the Isle of Wight, a bird at Culver Down destined to remain there the following day also. On 30th one was also seen in Dorset at Corfe Castle, and another up at Spurn (East Yorkshire). On 1st another was seen heading north over Worth Marsh (Kent).
Out on St Kilda (Western Isles), the resident female Snowy Owl was again seen on 26th.
As anticipated in the closing remarks of last week’s round up, we’re now in prime time for Subalpine Warblers of all hues to be found in Britain and Ireland. This past week that amounted to a male Eastern Subalpine Warbler on Lundy (Devon) on 26th; a first-summer female Western Subalpine Warbler trapped and ringed at Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 27th, and still present on 28th; and an unattributed female Subalpine Warbler sp on St Martin’s (Scilly) on 28th.
The bulk of our warbler news this week concerned Dusky Warblers - in addition to the Stiffkey (Norfolk) bird still present there on 27th-1st, and the Walthamstow Marsh NR bird still present in London on 27th, we got a new bird trapped and ringed on Calf of Man (Isle of Man) on 26th.
At the close of play on 2nd, another warbler squeaked in – a singing Marsh Warbler found in London at Rainham Marshes.
If one passerine deserves plaudits this week it has to be Red-rumped Swallow, for a solid 17 birds were found in recent days, from Scilly in the south to Aberdeenshire in the north. The latter county landed two birds at Loch of Strathbeg RSPB on 30th; while another duo were found on Scilly on St Martin’s on 29th, and three were reported over St Mary’s in the evening of 1st.
Numbers of Wrynecks reported were also on the up, with 14 birds logged during the week. Most of these were in the usual, anticipated coastal counties, but one bird stood out – an inland find at Ivinghoe Beacon (Buckinghamshire) on 30th.
Nineteen widely scattered Hoopoes were found this week – a few of these chose to stick around too. The recent Fair Isle (Shetland) bird lingered on there until 29th; one was present around Rame (Cornwall) on 28th-29th; and a bird present at Catcott Lows NR (Somerset) on 26th-28th was to prove popular too.
Scilly landed at least one Golden Oriole this week – a male on Bryher on 26th. Another was reported from St Mary’s the following day while, on 2nd, a male was seen on Gugh and adjacent St Agnes.
St Mary’s also landed a Woodchat Shrike on 28th; another was found in Cornwall at Nanquidno on 29th.
Back on Fair Isle (Shetland), the Short-toed Lark was once more seen on 26th-27th.
An early female Bluethroat put in a fleeting appearance at Leasowe (Cheshire & Wirral) on 28th.
Fair numbers of Blue-headed Wagtails continued to trickle in, with some 13 birds in all reported. A Grey-headed Wagtail female was found in Gloucestershire at Coombe Hill Meadows NR on 30th, and further possibles at Cuckmere Haven (East Sussex) and Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 2nd; and a probable iberiae Spanish Wagtail at Abberton reservoir (Essex) on 29th.
A Richard’s Pipit made for a fine ringing tick at Hilbre (Cheshire & Wirral) on 26th; and another was found on 2nd on The Lizard (Cornwall)
BOOM ?? caught a #RichardsPipit @hilbrebirdobs first spring record for the magical island! pic.twitter.com/WkKLT9FLYV
— Steve Williams * (@SteveOnHilbre) April 26, 2022
A hornemanni Arctic Redpoll remained this week on Shetland on Unst at Hermaness on 26th-28th.
Serins were found at Porthgwarra (Cornwall) on 26th; on Scilly on St Mary’s on 27th-28th and St Agnes on 28th; on Great Saltee (Co.Wexford) on 30th-2nd; and at Churchtown (Co.Wexford) on 1st-2nd.
Finally, the Little Bunting was still present in North Yorkshire at Farnham GPs on 26th-29th.
Fairly quiet news on the overseas front this week, and we’ll start in Scandinavia in Denmark where, on 30th, a male Rock Thrush was found at Borreby Mose; and an Alpine Accentor was found on 2nd at Skagen.
In Holland, recent stalwarts remained in place Dwingelderveld, where the Pygmy Cormorant was still to be seen on 26th, and at Het Nieuwe Waterschap where the long-staying Western Swamphen was still present on 29th-2nd.
In Spain, the Black-and-white Warbler remained in its favoured vineyard near Sant Joan de Mediona on 2nd.
Out on the Azores the Yellow-crowned Night Heron was still settled on Sao Miguel on 26th-2nd.
So that was the week we waved goodbye to April and welcomed in May. Was April the kindest month? Well, it had its moments. But May has form for being significantly more benevolent to a nation’s birders…
The coming week features a glittering array of past goodies, and a Dalmatian Pelican. Orkney and Shetland have been graced with Yellow-browed Bunting and Brown-headed Cowbird respectively. The Isle of Man and Northumberland have each landed an Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler in living memory. And on it goes, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Which brings to mind Britain’s last Rock Bunting, announced in the coming week 10 years ago in Yorkshire at Bolton Abbey. Sublime or ridiculous? It certainly rocked the birding world at the time.
Let’s take a punt at something less divisive, but still with ample crowd-pulling potential for the coming week. Five past records of Alpine Accentor (and a bird found on 2nd in Denmark) mean it’s got fair form for the days ahead. Three of those were in Kent, while Devon and Lincolnshire also got a look in. Really, if one’s to be found, anywhere on the south or east coasts feels like a good bet. Now someone just needs to find us one…
Jon Dunn
3rd May 2022
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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