Weekly birding round-up: 25 - 31 Oct 2022
While the biggest news this week was on the wrong side of the English Channel for British or Irish birders – France’s remarkable autumn showing no signs of letting up any time soon, more of which anon – that’s not to say we were short of quality of our own. The unseasonably warm late autumn weather was delivering all sorts of southern goodies – not least bucketloads of Crimson Speckled moths and Pallid Swifts. And rather more besides…
Like buses, Alpine Accentors. You wait years for a readily twitchable bird and then two come along more or less at once. Or, if not two birds, then two opportunities to have a crack at one.
Though the latter opportunity involved a certain amount of commitment. But we’ll get to Norfolk in due course…
…as the week’s excitement was to kick off on the Suffolk coast at Slaughden on 27th with the discovery of an absolute peach of an Alpine Accentor hanging around the vicinity of a Martello tower. And not just any old Alpine Accentor, this – a showy bird and, as it went on to stay there until the early morning of 29th, the first widely twitchable bird in Britain for 20 years. By and large, most of our prior records tend to involve one day birds, so getting a bird that stuck around made for a welcome change.
Not that, perhaps, it was such big news for Suffolk birders. The last lingering British record was the bird that hung out in the county at Minsmere RSPB on 16th-19th March 2002, and this came hot on the heels of another bird in Suffolk in 2000 – a more typically fleeting one-day example at Corton on 13th May of that year.
But, for a fair few of the new generation from further afield, this week’s latest Suffolk bird offered a welcome chance to catch up with one in Britain. Unfortunately for anyone who turned up shortly after dawn on 29th, the chance had passed them by, as the bird left its roost site and promptly headed off high to the southwest.
Was that direction of travel significant? Well, maybe, and maybe not. For a day later, news came in the morning of 30th of an unconfirmed report of an Alpine Accentor on Norfolk’s Blakeney Point. It took three and a half hours before that initial report firmed up into something more substantial – a bird showing well in the dunes east of the plantation.
A new bird, or the Suffolk bird? Sharp eyes online soon began to discern small differences in the plumage, indicating the two bird theory had some mileage in it.
Norfolk boasts three prior records in the current century, and an historic county first back in 1978 at Sheringham – a bird that spent five days there in late April and early May of that year. All the subsequent latter day birds have been one-day affairs, naturally, the last being on Scolt Head on 12th April 2016. Happily, like the Suffolk bird before it, this week’s Norfolk individual stayed the night, and was showing well in the morning of 31st too. More treat than trick for Halloween.
There will, in addition to the usual weekend visitors to the north Norfolk coast, have been some local birders in the county with unfinished business where Alpine Accentor was concerned. But the price to be paid for all concerned? That would be the long, long walk out onto Blakeney Point and back again…
The preceding week had already given us a taste for Pallid Swifts, with some perhaps as many as 20 birds logged across Britain and Ireland, with one pioneering bird seen as far north as the Western Isles. Hard, of course, to be sure of numbers when you’re dealing with such mobile birds as swifts, and that’s before we even consider the reports of possibles and probables that suboptimal viewing conditions frustratingly consign to the ones-that-got-away category.
The influx continued apace as the new week dawned, and we’re left with somewhere in the region of 80 confirmed birds and over a dozen probable or possibles – let alone the birds which observers simply didn’t dare to stick a label upon. Again, we had a northerly outlier, on this occasion a bird at Catterline (Aberdeenshire) on 29th, and Welsh and Irish birds too for good measure.
But the bulk of the action was emphatically down the English east coast – with four birds at St Abb’s Head (Borders) on 29th and four at Dunbar (Lothian) on 30th honourable exceptions. Nor were they the only sites to notch up multiple birds at once this week – in Norfolk, Cromer hit the dizzy heights of a quartet on 27th, with four also seen at Sheringham on 28th.
Away from Norfolk – which seemed littered with Pallid Swifts at times – three birds were found in Northumberland at Howick on 29th, and duos at Flamborough (East Yorkshire) on 28th and Bempton Cliffs RSPB (East Yorkshire) on 29th. 30th proved to be a busy day for multiple sightings, with four seen at Buckton (East Yorkshire), three at Saltwick Nab (North Yorkshire), three at Amble (Northumberland), three at Warkworth (Northumberland), and two at Cliftonville (Kent). On 31st two were seen over Redcar (Cleveland), two at Budle Bay (Northumberland), and back up in Scotland further duos over the Lossie estuary (Moray) and Tayport (Fife).
The west was poorly served by comparison. A superb garden tick materialised over Hoylake (Cheshire & Wirral) on 27th, with two present there on 31st; the Welsh bird was seen at Ynys-hir RSPB (Ceredigion) on 26th; one was seen in Cornwall at Pendeen on 26th; while a bird lingered in Devon at Berry Head on 26th-27th. On 31st three were found in Gloucestershire at Aust, and a singleton over Pilling Lane (Lancashire & North Merseyside). Ireland’s sole sighting was an individual at Wexford (Co.Wexford) on 27th.
On the basis of the ongoing influx of Pallid Swifts it’s fair to say that many of us were walking around this week with at least half an eye on the skies above. With news of a White-rumped Swift seen earlier in the week in the Netherlands, some of us might have been entertaining dreams of something a little rarer than a Pallid…
Sadly for those within striking distance of Brean Down (Somerset & Bristol) in the late afternoon of 30th, news of a Little Swift present there for 40 minutes leading up to 5pm didn’t hit the airwaves until a couple of hours later. If accepted, this will be a county first. With no sign of the bird there the following day, that’s a blocker that may take some time for local birders to recoup.
Nope, I just can’t bring myself to do it. It would take a cold-hearted round-up writer indeed to consign the gorgeous Scillonian Blackburnian Warbler to the main body of the weekly copy. Suffice to say, what is surely the red-hot candidate for bird of the year for many remained this week on Bryher until 29th, continuing to show well and delight those who made the pilgrimage out there to see it. But on 31st, there was no sign of it. Perhaps, finally, the show was over. It’s been a stellar run.
By a nautical mile this week the biggest seabird news continued to be the presence of significant numbers of Great Shearwaters in the English southwest – on 25th alone, in excess of 4,000 birds were seen from St Agnes and St Mary’s (Scilly), with in the region of 1,200 individuals noted from Porthgwarra (Cornwall) alone. Overall, some 9,000 birds were recorded over the course of the week.
Cory’s Shearwaters, on the other hand, were scarcer stuff entirely, with a mere 20 birds logged during the week. Of these, Porthgwarra (Cornwall) did best, notching up nine birds off there on 29th.
Similarly muted, around 40 Balearic Shearwaters were seen lately, and as usual Devon had the best of them, with 10 birds seen from Berry Head on 26th the highest count.
Nearly 30 Leach’s Petrels added a little more spice to the sea-watchers’ lot in recent days, all bar two of which were in the English southwest – the outliers being single birds off Criccieth (Gwynedd) on 26th and 28th, and Prestwick (Ayrshire) on 28th. St Agnes (Scilly) provided a goodly proportion of the week’s overall total, with seven birds noted from there on 25th.
Similar numbers of Little Auks were seen nationwide this week, though as we’d expect their distribution was weighted towards the north, the only English records being singletons seen on 28th from Sandsend (North Yorkshire), on 29th from Spurn (East Yorkshire), on 30th from Kilnsea (East Yorkshire) and finally, on 31st, at Saltwick Nab (North Yorkshire) and Holme Dunes and Cley (Norfolk). The highest single site count were half a dozen birds seen passing Pool of Virkie (Shetland) on 26th.
Almost 50 Pomarine Skuas ensured the species maintained a presence around the coast for another week, with several sites garnering multiple birds – four off Porthgwarra (Cornwall) on 25th; seven from Berry Head (Devon) on 27th; eight off Barra (Western Isles) on 29th; and five off Berry Head (Devon) on 30th.
Long-tailed Skuas were, once again, much harder to come by at this late juncture. Single birds were found on 26th off Toe Head (Co.Cork), on 27th off Spurn (East Yorkshire), on 28th off Strumble Head (Pembrokeshire), and on 30th off Berry Head (Devon), Hengistbury Head (Dorset). On 29th two birds were seen from Helvick Head (Co.Waterford).
Finishing the weekly seabirds with a rarer flourish, a White-billed Diver was seen from North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 28th, and a possible Pacific Diver on Islay’s Loch Indaal (Argyll & Bute) on 31st; while in Co.Leitrim the Double-crested Cormorant remained on Doon Lough on 28th-31st.
Allowing us to mix things up a little week and come away from an unrelenting diet of Glossy Ibises, in Kent the Purple Heron was once again seen at Seasalter on 29th-31st, while another was noted circling over Patcham (West Sussex) on 30th.
And as for those Glossy Ibises, around 35 birds were seen again this week nationwide, with Cambridgeshire remaining their steadfast British heartland – eight birds were seen at Fen Drayton Lakes RSPB on 25th – and four birds the peak count in Ireland at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 30th.
Finally, a possible Western Swamphen was reported from the caravan park at Dovercourt (Essex) on 31st, that initial intriguing news moderating somewhat with a later update that the bird was thought to be probably an African Swamphen that had been present on the caravan park pond since late Septermber.
Starting the honkers and quackers as usual with The Goose Formerly Known As Canada, Islay (Argyll & Bute) again had much to offer – giving us a Cackling Goose on 27th-31st and hutchinsii Richardson’s Cackling Goose on 28th-29th. Elsewhere in Scotland, the interior Todd’s Canada Goose remained in Lothian at Skateraw on 25th, and a Cackling Goose on North Uist (Western Isles) on 29th still. A probable Cackling Goose was seen at Marshside RSPB (Lancashire & North Merseyside) on 25th, and a hutchinsii Richardson’s Cackling Goose at Lissadell (Co.Sligo) on 29th-31st joined there on the 31st by an interior Todd’s Canada Goose. A final possible Todd’s Canada Goose was reported from Longhaugh Pools (Clyde) on 30th-31st.
North Uist (Western Isles) landed itself a Red-breasted Goose on 25th-29th.
Two blue morph Snow Geese were seen over Tain (Highland & Caithness) on 25th, while a white morph bird was present in Tyninghame Bay (Lothian) on 29th-31st, with a report of a white morph from John Muir CP on 30th also.
Single Black Brants began to pop up in expected quarters this week – one on The Fleet (Dorset) at Wyke Regis on 26th; another in Devon at Northam Burrows CP on 27th; and one on the north Kent coast at Reculver on 29th-30th.
We should start the quackers with seaduck this week, honouring the return of the White-winged Scoter to Lothian’s Musselburgh area for another winter on 25th, present there until 30th at least.
Down the road in Northumberland, the drake Black Scoter was still present off Cocklawburn Beach on 25th-30th.
Two drake Surf Scoter were hanging out in the Sound of Taransay (Western Isles) on 25th still; another was seen in Lunan Bay (Angus) on 29th-31st; while four birds were present in Brandon Bay (Co.Kerry) on 29th, with one still present there by 31st.
Scotland had plenty to offer on the King Eider front in recent days, with birds noted off Musselburgh (Lothian) still on 25th-31st, in Scalloway Harbour (Shetland) still on 27th-29th, and at Findhorn (Moray) on 26th.
In Lincolnshire, the recent Blue-winged Teal was seen again at Winter’s Pond on 29th-31st.
Green-winged Teals remained on the Lossie estuary (Moray) on 28th-31st, on Barra (Western Isles) on 29th, and at Tain Links (Highland & Caithness) again on 31st; while another was found on North Uist (Western Isles) on 25th.
The drake American Wigeon remained on Grafham Water (Cambridgeshire) on 25th-27th; another was found in Somerset at Shapwick Heath NNR on 28th-31st, with a female also present there with him on 29th.
A drake Lesser Scaup was found on 29th-31st at Dunfanaghy New Lake (Co.Donegal); and a female on 25th-29th on South Uist (Western Isles).
The female Ferruginous Duck remained in Co.Donegal at Inch Island Lake on 25th-31st; while the female was again seen in Staffordshire at Belvide reservoir on 25th.
14 Ring-necked Ducks were logged in Britain and Ireland over the course of the week, a drop explained by the absence of any small flocks – peak counts this week coming instead in the form of duos on Lisvane reservoir (Glamorgan) on 26th still, Loch of Spiggie (Shetland) on 27th still, and on Inch Island Lake (Co.Donegal) on 25th-26th still.
As we’d expect at this juncture in the autumn, things were beginning to calm down somewhat on the wader front. Try telling that to Gloucestershire birders though, who continued to be spoiled rotten by the lingering presence of the Collared Pratincole at Slimbridge WWT on 25th-31st.
Similarly, for those present on Scilly this late in the day – and with a Blackburnian Warbler there, why ever not? – the Wilson’s Snipe was gilding the lily still on St Mary’s on 25th-30th also.
Running through the also-rans, an American Golden Plover was seen on North Uist (Western Isles) on 25th and again on 29th; another on Tiree (Argyll & Bute) on 26th; and then, on 30th, birds again on Myroe Levels (Co.Derry), and Kilbaha (Co.Clare), the latter still present on 31st.
In Somerset the adult female, German-ringed Kentish Plover was once more seen at Burnham-on-Sea on 31st.
Cambridgeshire birders got a late Dotterel at Fowlmere RSPB on 29th-30th.
Speaking of late birds, a Temminck’s Stint dropped into Loch of Strathbeg RSPB (Aberdeenshire) on 25th-27th, sharing the site with a Pectoral Sandpiper on 25th-27th also. Other lingering Pecs remained at Blithfield reservoir (Staffordshire) on 25th, Misson (Nottinghamshire) on 25th-31st, Cossington Meadows LRWT (Leicestershire) on 25th-28th, and Lough Beg (Co.Derry) on 25th.
A Spotted Sandpiper was found on 26th at Castletown Bearhaven (Co.Cork).
In Norfolk, the juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher continued to hang out at Cley and Salthouse on 25th-31st; while the juvenile remained in Conwy at Llanfairfechan on 25th-26th; and the recent bird was once again seen at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB (Cheshire & Wirral) on 29th.
Our good recent run of Lesser Yellowlegs continued this week with settled birds at Saltholme RSPB (Cleveland) on 25th-31st and Marshside RSPB (Lancashire & North Merseyside) on 25th-31st still joined in the dailies by another bird found in Orkney on Papa Westray on 27th-29th.
A Black-winged Stilt was found on 31st in Kent at Dungeness RSPB.
The recent Red-necked Phalarope continued its sojourn at Rye Harbour NR (East Sussex) on 25th-30th; while numbers of Grey Phalaropes picked up a little again, with a shade over 25 birds noted nationwide, of which counts of five seen from Pendeen (Cornwall) on 28th and four seen from Garinish Point (Co.Cork) on 26th were the best British and Irish tallies respectively.
A handful of widely scattered Sabine’s Gulls were seen over the course of the week – starting on 26th off the Scillonian; followed on 28th by a North Sea sighting off Flamborough (East Yorkshire); then, on 29th, birds seen from Penzance (Cornwall) and Toe Head (Co.Cork), with a further probable seen in Cornwall that day from Clodgy Point. On 30th one passed Portland (Dorset), and another was seen from Selsey Bill (West Sussex).
In Co.Kerry the Bonaparte’s Gull was again seen at Rough Point on 26th-29th; another probable was distantly seen from Lundy (Devon) on 29th.
A Ring-billed Gull was present at Nimmo’s Pier (Co.Galway) on 28th-30th, and another at Blennerville (Co.Kerry) on 30th.
Nine Glaucous Gulls were logged in the first two-thirds of the week, all in Scotland – on North Uist (Western Isles) on 25th; on Yell (Shetland) on 26th; on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 27th; on 28th-29th on Lewis (Western Isles); on 29th at Scatness and Unst (Shetland); on 29th on Westray (Orkney), where two birds were seen; and on 30th on Fair Isle (Shetland). On 30th, away from Scotland, birds were seen off Druridge Links (Northumberland), and Kenmare (Co.Kerry). On 31st, a final bird for the week was found on Rathlin Island (Co.Antrim).
Slightly fewer Iceland Gulls were seen – these being individuals in Shetland on 26th at Loch of Spiggie and on 27th at Laxo; on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 27th and 29th; on Lewis (Western Isles) on 29th; in Northumberland from Beacon Point on 27th; and at Whitby (North Yorkshire) on 30th.
Pick of the week’s raptors has to be the second-winter female Northern Harrier seen at Lough Boora Parklands (Co.Offaly) on 27th, presumably the wintering bird last seen there earlier this year on 23rd March.
A juvenile Pallid Harrier was livening up proceedings in Norfolk on 29th, being seen mid-afternoon from a moving car near Walcott and, latterly, at Blakeney and between Cley and Salthouse. On 30th sightings came from both Cley NWT and Titchwell RSPB. Sightings came thick and fast on 31st in Norfolk at Blakeney Point, Stiffkey, and Wells.
The week was to prove a modestly busy one for sightings of Rough-legged Buzzards - sightings coming from Orkney’s Westray on 25th and 31st, Stronsay on 28th, and Mainland on 29th; at Wykeham Forest (North Yorkshire) on 25th and then again at Commondale on 26th-28th; at Donna Nook (Lincolnshire) on 25th-26th, and at Saltfleetby NNR on 26th.
Finally, a possible Gyr was seen in Conwy heading west at Great Ormes Head on 26th.
We may be heading into the closing act of another year’s autumn, but this isn’t to say that a few new passerines weren’t out there for the finding this week.
Perhaps prime amongst the non-headlining birds is former mega Eastern Yellow Wagtail – one of these cryptic birds was present at Kilnsea Wetlands (East Yorkshire) on 27th-28th. It’s amazing how quickly this species has transformed into something we confidently anticipate every autumn and, thanks to sonograms and DNA sampling, have reasonable chances of getting to grips with once found. And on the subject of shifting rarity status, and more related topics besides, you could do a lot worse than settling down with the latest Scottish Ornithologists’ Club podcast, an entertaining and informative conversation with BBRC chair Paul French that’s well worth a listen.
Before leaving the wagtails, a male probable Grey-headed Wagtail was seen at Gullane Point (Lothian) on 30th.
In addition to lingering Red-flanked Bluetails in Shetland at Kergord and on Yell still on 25th, new birds were found this past week – one trapped and ringed on Bardsey (Gwynedd) on 29th, and another ill-fated bird photographed in a Tingwall (Shetland) garden shortly before a neighbour’s cat took it.
Bluethroats remained on Orkney’s Westray still on 25th, and in Shetland on Fair Isle still on 25th-29th; and another was found on Shetland Mainland at Grutness on 28th.
North Ronaldsay’s (Orkney) Eastern Black Redstart remained present on the island on 25th-30th.
As the week drew to a close an eastern stonechat sp was found in Shetland at Loch of Spiggie on 31st, and a poo sample duly taken for analysis. What a strange, brave new world we live in.
If there’s one thing more esoteric than determining on sight alone (or faeces) whether an eastern stonechat sp is either Siberian or Stejneger’s, it’s got to be discerning that the candidate in question is, in fact, half-Whinchat. But that’s what an intriguing bird present at Whitburn Golf Course (Co.Durham) on 25th-27th was eventually ascribed to be.
The probable Stejneger’s Stonechat remained at Crail (Fife) on 25th, while eastern stonechat sp thought to be probably Siberian were found on The Lizard (Cornwall) on 25th-26th, and at Budle Point (Northumberland) on 27th-31st.
Ireland’s second Isabelline Wheatear remained on Toe Head (Co.Cork) on 25th-30th.
Anyone visiting the north Norfolk coast on 30th was in for a rare treat for, in addition to the Alpine Accentor on Blakeney, there was a male Desert Wheatear to be seen at Cley NWT. Like the accentor, it did the decent thing and hung around on 31st also.
A possible Blue Rock Thrush was seen and photographed, frustratingly distantly, at Martin’s Haven (Pembrokeshire) on 27th.
I had this Thrush sp on the rocks just north of Martins Haven at 14:50 today photo'd from the coastguard lookout at extreme range. It was on the rocks at ///verb.shot.shirts so may be viewable from the coastal footpath there. American Robin? @PembsBirds @westcoastbw pic.twitter.com/usIWuyoUIP
— Dave Rimes (@Rimesyboy) October 27, 2022
A handful of Red-breasted Flycatchers were logged this week, widely scattered around the region. One remained on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 25th-26th; another on Bardsey (Gwynedd) on 25th-27th; Lundy (Devon) and Cape Clear (Co.Cork) got one apiece on 27th; one was reported from Porthgwarra (Cornwall) on 28th; and a Shetland bird lingered in the plantation at Sullom on 30th-31st.
St Mary’s (Scilly) retained the American Buff-bellied Pipit on 26th-30th; and a Red-throated Pipit on 26th-31st. Tresco held an Olive-backed Pipit on 25th-27th; Bryher a probable Olive-backed Pipit on 28th-29th; and St Agnes Red-throated Pipit still on 25th.
Additional Red-throated Pipits this week were noted passing over Hengistbury Head (Dorset) on 25th, and at Sand Point (Somerset) on 29th; while additional Olive-backed Pipits were in Shetland on Out Skerries still on 25th and at Maa Ness on 26th, on Barra (Western Isles) on 31st, where two birds were found in the course of the day, and in Hertfordshire where a bird was discovered near Hatfield on 31st.
Just three confirmed Richard’s Pipits were found lately – on Lundy (Devon) on 27th; near Padstow (Cornwall) on 28th; and at Salthouse (Norfolk) on 29th. A final, mobile, probable bird was seen on 31st at Rhoscolyn (Anglesey).
Moving onto the warblers, a Booted or Sykes’s Warbler on Lundy (Devon) on 29th was also the source of some frustration, being seen too briefly to allow a definitive identification.
Devon also supplied a probable Blyth’s Reed Warbler at Prawle Point on 27th; confirmed birds this week were on Tory Island (Co.Donegal) still on 25th-27th, and in Lerwick (Shetland) on 25th.
Keeping the theme of slightly annoying and unresolved warblers going a little while longer, the Subalpine Warbler sp remained at Tynemouth (Northumberland) on 25th-31st still.
Back in Devon, and another probable – on this occasion, a probable Greenish Warbler on 29th at Dawlish Warren NNR.
Neighbouring Dorset was having a little more luck in terms of certainty – a Radde’s Warbler trapped and ringed on Portland on 25th and it, or another, present there on 31st also. Far rarer, in an Irish context, was the bird found on Helvick Head (Co.Waterford) on 30th.
Half a dozen Dusky Warblers were seen this week – one still on 25th in Somerset at Sand Point; the lingering bird still in Suffolk at Southwold on 25th-28th; Yorkshire birds at Filey on 25th and Flamborough on 28th; and Co.Cork birds on 29th at Cape Clear and Lehanmore.
Numbers of Pallas’s Warblers were down on the prior week’s superb showing of many dozens – but, with a dozen birds logged this week, still a solid showing by any standards. A bird at Stiffkey (Norfolk) on 28th was the most northerly of the English lot; Wales got a bird trapped and ringed in a Southgate (Glamorgan) garden on 25th; while three birds were seen in Ireland, at Mizen Head (Co.Cork) on 28th-29th, Ballyquintin (Co.Down) on 29th-30th, and Helvick Head (Co.Waterford) on 29th-30th.
A Hume’s Warbler was present on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 29th.
Numbers of Yellow-browed Warblers continued to be rather subdued, with around 75 birds in all seen and heard over the course of the week.
Just four Barred Warblers were seen on land – a fifth being found on a fishing boat six miles east of Noss (Shetland) on 28th. Lingering birds remained on St Abb’s Head (Borders) onn 25th and Holy Island (Northumberland) on 25th-27th; and additional birds were seen on 25th at Grutness (Shetland) and on Bryher (Scilly) on 28th-31st.
A Melodious Warbler was present on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 30th-31st.
Shetland’s recent meena Rufous Turtle Dove remained around Quendale Farm on 25th-26th before shifting a little further north to Brake on 28th.
Some half a dozen Hoopoes were seen this week – lingering birds on Mull (Argyll & Bute) still on 27th and Fair Isle (Shetland) still on 28th-30th; and new birds at West Runton (Norfolk) on 27th-30th, Staunton Harold reservoir (Derbyshire) on 27th-30th, Sanday (Orkney) on 29th, near Formby (Lancashire & North Merseyside) on 29th-31st, and Eccleston (Cheshire & Wirral) on 30th.
Fair Isle’s (Shetland) Black-bellied Dipper remained present on 25th.
A Rose-coloured Starling was found on 29th in Essex at Layer Marney.
Three Wrynecks were hanging on in recent days – one on Portland (Dorset) still on 25th-29th; another on St Agnes (Scilly) still on 25th-28th; and one in Dorset still at Longham Lakes on 26th.
In Glamorgan, the Red-backed Shrike remained at Kenfig Pool NNR on 25th-31st.
Great Grey Shrikes meanwhile remained at Quendale (Shetland) on 26th-28th, and at Whixall Moss (Shropshire) on 25th-31st. Another was found on 28th near Dinas Castle (Powys).
Around 160 Waxwings were reported this week, with a few small flocks amongst them, and one larger flock of 50 birds seen on 30th over Hopeman (Moray). The signs are looking good to start checking the berry bearing bushes of supermarket carparks near you…
The recent Short-toed Lark remained on St Agnes (Scilly) on 25th-28th.
A Red-rumped Swallow lingered on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 25th-31st. Additional birds were seen at Cosmeston Lakes CP (Glamorgan) on 26th and Scalby Mills (North Yorkshire) on 27th. A probable bird was seen at Ventnor (Isle of Wight) on 28th, and a possible at Donna Nook (Lincolnshire) on 25th.
Common Rosefinches were seen at Porthgain (Pembrokeshire) on 26th, and on Islay (Argyll & Bute) on 27th-28th.
Shetland enjoyed two or three Arctic Redpolls this week – one lingering on Out Skerries on 25th-28th, and another on the outskirts of Lerwick on 29th-30th – the latter, or another, was found in the centre of town on 31st. Orkney, meanwhile, had a bird on North Ronaldsay on 27th-30th.
Serins were seen lately at Kilnsea (East Yorkshire) on 26th, on 28th in Devon at Exmouth and, on 30th, at Shapwick Heath NNR (Somerset).
A Little Bunting was found on Tresco (Scilly) on 28th.
And finally, the recent Red-eyed Vireo remained in Co.Cork at Lehanmore on 29th.
It’s fair to say we’ve not had a bad autumn here in Britain and Ireland – we’ve had our moments, especially on our usual island rarity hotspots. But can either Scilly or Shetland really compare for sheer volume and quality alike with France – in particular the islands of Ouessant or Île de Sein?
We’ll come to Ouessant in just a moment but, this week, the honours very much go to Île de Sein for, on 28th-29th, the island was graced by a Tree Swallow – a species that remains high on the list of most-wanted by many a British birder now that it’s been 20 years since our last, a one-day bird on Shetland in 2002, and over three decades since our one and only twitchable bird, the first for Britain that spent 6th-10th June 1990 on St Mary’s (Scilly). What we’d give for another, twitchable bird.
Speaking of twitchable birds, France had some lingering quality for those so inclined. On Ouessant, the Northern Harrier was still present on 25th-30th, with both recent Isabelline Wheatear and Isabelline Shrike sp still present on 30th also. Elsewhere, the Eastern Long-legged Buzzard remained at Thibie on 25th-29th, and a Sociable Lapwing at Cheppes-la-Prairie on 29th still.
Continuing to rub salt in the British birding wound, in the Netherlands the recent Yellow-browed Bunting was still present this week near Donderen on 25th. Elsewhere in the Netherlands a White-rumped Swift was seen at Schiermonnikoog on 26th and, mirroring events in Britain, an Alpine Accentor was found on 31st on Zealand at Middelburg.
Danish birders got to enjoy the can of worms that’s a Hooded Merganser, found on 30th at Hornbaek Enge.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given events elsewhere, a Pallid Swift was found over Jersey (Channel Islands) on 27th, with another seen over Alderney on 30th.
A Brown Booby was seen from Spain’s Cap de Creus on 27th.
Cape Verde came back into the overseas news this week with the discovery of a Least Sandpiper on Sal on 27th.
Staying miles out at sea, in the Azores Corvo retained a Great Blue Heron on 26th, and an American Robin on 26th-27th; with another Great Blue Heron on Terceira on 25th, and a Snowy Egret on there on 30th.
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT (nordgulstrupe) near Bergen in Western Norway 28. October 2022. The first for Norway. #birding
— Frode Falkenberg (@FrodeFalkenberg) October 29, 2022
More pictures at: https://t.co/ulk90943qr pic.twitter.com/SFTgVwKY5z
Which brings us neatly to two final American birds – both the same species, Common Yellowthroat, and both national firsts of their kind. One found in Norway at Oygarden on 27th would have been big enough news, but Switzerland blew that record clean out of the water with a remarkable landlocked national first on 28th-31st at Magadino.
Of course, the pragmatist in me wants to look at the opening week of November and say it’s going to be all about the wheatears. After all, with 23 prior Desert Wheatears, 10 prior Pied Wheatears, and a couple of Isabelline Wheatears too for good measure, who’d bet against at least one or two filtering through?
Then again, mitigating against that common sense is the romantic lure of a couple of recent Common Yellowthroats elsewhere in Europe. For goodness sake, if Norway and even land-locked Switzerland can land one, so can we.
The first week of November has some pedigree in this regard, with several decent American warblers having been found here in that time down the years, including Britain’s first Common Yellowthroat, trapped and ringed on Lundy (Devon) on 4th November 1954. And the coming week looks, at the time of writing, to have some fair westerlies mixed up in it. So why not?
Jon Dunn
1 Nov 2022
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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