Weekly birding round-up: 6 - 12 Dec 2022
There’s just no keeping a good year down. Where the week before seemed to indicate the year was winding down, at last, Lothian pulled a first for Britain out of the bag, during a week of wintery conditions that featured snow pretty much everywhere, even in the unlikely surroundings of counties like Cornwall that are normally spared such events. These were conditions to test the mettle of any birder, whether they were working their local patch or setting off for Scotland. And for the latter at least, the rewards were ample.
[Some apologies, at this juncture, are in order – living in Shetland may be fantastic for birding, but occasionally there’s a price to be paid for that. Your own correspondent’s electricity went down, alongside that of thousands of other islanders, in the blizzards of 12th and, at the time of writing on 14th, still hasn’t been restored and probably won’t be until Friday 16th. In sub-zero temperatures, that’s been no fun whatsoever, and has delayed the week’s round up. But here it is, better late than never…]
There’s been a sense of some imminence for some time about a Stejneger’s Scoter turning up in Britain one of these days. British birders had a near* miss a little over a decade ago when a drake spent 70 days bobbing off Rossbeigh (Co.Kerry) on 1st February – 11th April 2011, and in the intervening years the species had been recorded with monotonous annual regularity elsewhere in northern Europe. It was surely just a matter of time…
*well, not that near. It’s an actual different country, after all…
Even in the past month, there were northern European records – first one, and then two drakes being seen in Poland at Krynica Morska in mid-November.
There is, as they say, many a slip twixt duck and tick, and these regular sightings elsewhere have steadfastly refused to translate into a British bird. When one finally turned up, wise money would assume it would probably be somewhere on Scotland’s eastern seaboard, given how attractive the area is to scoters at large… but the years rolled by without one. Spare a thought for Lothian’s birders, having to put up with the annual reappearance of the drake White-winged Scoter off Musselburgh, not to mention regular Surf Scoters in the county too. Tough gig, that.
Their patience, however, was amply rewarded this week with the discovery, at long last, of a drake Stejneger’s Scoter in the late afternoon of 10th off Gullane Point. Present for a short while before flying off west towards Aberlady Beach, the wait until first light on 11th would have felt interminable for those who went for it.
Happily it was still present, and was seen intermittently from Gullane Point on 11th-12th and, with the benefit of weather-induced hindsight, was still hanging around in the area in the days that followed. Now that, surely, is the last big bird of 2022?
We wondered, a couple of weeks back, if thrushes pouring in from the near Continent might usher in a rarer thrush or two in their midst. It seemed a fair prediction, and December has ample pedigree in this regard.
The past week began promisingly in this regard with a report of a possible Dusky Thrush in Roslin Park (Lothian) on 8th. That, sadly, didn’t firm up into anything more concrete in the days that followed, but this wasn’t to say that Lothian was quite done with us just yet…
Only a day later, a fine male Black-throated Thrush was photographed in a Haddington (Lothian) garden and, as what remained of the week unfolded, it stayed put in the area until 12th, allowing local birders and those making a scoter pilgrimage from further afield the opportunity to put some icing on the Stejneger’s cake this week.
Both volume and variety of interesting seabirds continued to contract sharply this past week, so we’ll not be lingering long here. Cream of the crop, by a country mile, was the persistent Double-crested Cormorant still present in Co.Leitrim on Doon Lough on 10th.
Little Auks were still being logged in inshore waters, but numbers dropped again this week, down to 170 birds noted nationwide. Many of these were ones and twos buzzing by, with few sites mustering double figure tallies. Of those that did, 33 birds passing Fife Ness (Fife) on 11th were the highest count of the week.
A mere handful of Pomarine Skuas were seen lately, the species almost absent for the first week in ages – on 6th two birds were seen from Cley (Norfolk), and one off Ballycotton (Co.Cork); and on 11th at Swanpool (Cornwall).
The cold snap suppressed numbers of Glossy Ibises seen in recent days, with around half the usual 30 weekly tally recorded this week. Cambridgeshire, as ever, had the best of them in the shape of four birds once again at Ouse Fen RSPB on 9th, equalled on 12th in Hampshire where four birds were seen at Titchfield. The only Irish bird was a singleton again at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 10th.
Christmas may be coming, but numbers of The Goose Formerly Known As Canada certainly aren’t getting fat – this week, just an interior Todd’s Canada Goose at Cardurnock (Cumbria) on 10th-11th, the Cackling Goose still hanging around the vicinity of Cross Lough (Co.Mayo) on 9th-10th, and the Cackling Goose still on North Uist (Western Isles) on 11th were all that were reported.
Cross Lough also continued to hold its two recent Snow Geese, the blue and white morph birds remaining around there on 10th. A white morph was found near Gretna Green (Dumfries & Galloway) on 6th-7th.
Southern England held onto a trio of Black Brants - one still at Farlington Marshes HWT (Hampshire) on 6th-10th; another again in Essex at West Mersea on 8th-10th; and a bird in Dorset on The Fleet again at Rodden Hive on 9th.
On the Somerset Levels, the settled drake American Wigeon remained at Shapwick Heath NNR on 7th-10th; another was found on 11th in Northumberland at Big Waters NR.
Keen eyes checking their local Teals picked out new Green-winged Teals this week, with new and lingering birds amounting to over a dozen individuals across Britain and Ireland this week. Starting in Scotland, the regular bird was still at Tain Links (Highland & Caithness) on 6th-9th; two birds were seen on Lewis (Western Isles) on 7th; one at Baron’s Haugh RSPB (Clyde) on 11th-12th; and another on Barra (Western Isles) on 12th. English birds were seen at Dungeness (Kent) still on 8th-11th, and further round the coast at Sandwich Bay on 11th; on Grafham Water (Cambridgeshire) still on 6th-9th; and at Newburgh Priory (North Yorkshire) on 9th. Ireland gave us individuals at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford)on 10th still, and Akeragh Lough (Co.Kerry) still on 10th-12th; at Inch Island Lake (Co.Donegal) and Timoleague (Co.Cork) on 6th; at Termoncarragh Lough (Co.Mayo) and Blennerville (Co.Kerry) on 10th; and at Ballygilgan NR (Co.Sligo) on 11th. The Irish Sea hinterland of Isle of Man had a bird at Bay ny Carrickey on 7th and Poyllvaaish on 11th.
Norfolk’s Filby Broad held onto a female Ferruginous Duck on 7th-8th again before, on 9th, the full recent complement of three birds was again noted there; two were back on Ormesby Broad on 11th, while on 12th single birds were present on Ormesby and Rollesby Broads respectively. Away from this hotspot, in Staffordshire the female bird was again seen on Aqualate Mere on 8th.
Filby Broad was fairly bursting with decent ducks again on 9th, as in addition to three Ferruginous Ducks it also had two Ring-necked Ducks again and, for good measure, four Scaup too. Those two Ring-necked Ducks were part of 28 of their kind seen in Britain and Ireland in the course of recent days – other sites boasting multiple birds were Siblyback Lake (Cornwall), where two were present on 6th-8th; Lisvane reservoir (Glamorgan), where two birds remained on 7th-12th; Llyn Pencarreg (Carmarthenshire) on 11th; and Blarney Castle Lake (Co.Cork), where two birds were found on 8th and remained to the weeks end on 12th.
The drake Lesser Scaup remained at Dunfanaghy New Lake (Co.Donegal) on 6th-10th; and a female was present on South Uist (Western Isles) until 11th.
In Cleveland the second-winter drake King Eider remained present around Redcar on 6th-12th.
While our scoter attention was, understandably, rather skewed towards events in Lothian this week, a handful of Surf Scoters were seen away from Scotland – one down in Cornwall off St Austell on 9th, the drake again in Brandon Bay (Co.Kerry) on 10th, and two drakes off Llanddulas (Conwy) on 12th still.
We finish our quackers in Ireland, where the drake Hooded Merganser remained at Rosduane (Co.Mayo) on 6th-8th and, adding fresh lustre to the Irish duck offering, a female / juvenile Ruddy Duck was present on Cross Lough (Co.Mayo) on 7th-10th. If we think the former species has had a rocky road to acceptance as a genuine transatlantic vagrant, that’s nothing to the curate’s (duck) egg that’s the turbulent Ruddy Duck story.
It’s well-rehearsed, so doesn’t bear repeating at length here but, in short, after becoming widely established as a British breeding resident, an eradication program followed with the stated objective of protecting Spain’s beleaguered White-headed Duck population from a terminal influx of Ruddy Duck genes borne by wandering, frisky feral birds. Because yes, our Ruddies were a-wandering – once the British eradication program got under way, numbers of vagrant birds recorded in Iceland fell off a cliff, suggesting our birds were responsible for most if not all Icelandic records. A bird at Sílalækur/Aðaldalur in 2018 was the first Icelandic record in almost a decade.
Given the decent spell we’ve enjoyed this late autumn for Nearctic vagrancy, and with a feel-good Hooded Merganser not a million miles away, this week’s Ruddy Duck surely is about as good a candidate for a genuine Nearctic bird as we’re likely to get…
I really thought I’d never see another Ruddy Duck in Ireland. This female type (likely 1w) found by @perilsofbirding was still present at Cross Lough, Belmullet today. pic.twitter.com/FwKhNp4Ivg
— BMcCloskey (@BMcCloskey_98) December 9, 2022
Our weekly waders did their very best to provide a decent suite of species this week, though one suspects the ongoing cold snap may move some of them on once and for all. But that’s for another week. We start the section in Somerset, where the regular German-ringed Kentish Plover was again seen at Burnham-on-Sea on 6th.
A couple of American Golden Plovers brightened the week – one still in the Western Isles on North Uist on 10th-11th, and another found in Co.Wexford at Bannow Bay on 7th.
In Kent, the recent Dotterel was once again seen at Dungeness on 10th.
In Essex, the settled Spotted Sandpiper was again seen at Hanningfield reservoir on 7th-11th; while another was on Seil Island (Argyll & Bute) on 6th.
The Long-billed Dowitcher remained in Norfolk at Titchwell RSPB on 7th-12th.
Finally, just two lingering Grey Phalaropes were available this week – one at Farlington Marshes HWT (Hampshire) still on 6th-8th, and the other in Cambridgeshire at Isleham Washes on 6th-8th still.
Northerlies this week didn’t translate into the highly anticipated Ivory Gull though one did make it as far south as Faroe, so maybe a bird remains in the Christmas post for us after all.
Dreams aside, the adult Bonaparte’s Gull remained at Ballygalley (Co.Antrim) on 6th-10th still, while another was seen on 10th off Hartlepool Headland (Cleveland).
In Cornwall, the Ring-billed Gull remained at Lelant Saltings on 6th-12th, while one of the recent Irish birds was again seen at Blackrock (Co.Louth) on 10th.
Glaucous Gulls more or less made it into double figures this week. Birds were recorded on 6th at North Foreland (Kent) and Skye (Highland & Caithness); on 7th at Whitburn CP (Co.Durham) and North Uist (Western Isles); on 8th on Lewis (Western Isles) again, and at Loch of Strathbeg RSPB (Aberdeenshire) and Walmer (Kent); on 9th on Burray (Orkney); on 10th on the Lossie estuary (Moray); and on 11th from Girdle Ness (Aberdeenshire).
Iceland Gulls were even harder to come by. Birds were seen lately on Skye (Highland & Caithness) still on 6th; on 7th on Shetland Mainland at Grutness, and adjacent Pool of Virkie on 12th; on 8th in Kent at North Foreland; on 9th at Corbally (Co.Antrim) and Bradford (West Yorkshire); on 10th-11th again at Newlyn (Cornwall); on 11th at Big Waters NR (Northumberland); and finally on 12th in Sunderland (Co.Durham) at the mouth of the River Wear, where two birds were present.
Providing some variety, the adult Forster’s Tern was again seen in Co.Galway at Claddagh Beach on 10th.
Slim pickings on the raptor front this week were topped by the settled juvenile female Pallid Harrier still haunting the Warham Greens area on 6th-10th.
Apart from that, we just had a couple of Rough-legged Buzzards seen in recent days – an individual at Click Mill on Orkney Mainland on 6th; and another on 11th at Cheswick Sands (Northumberland).
Another week, another Red-flanked Bluetail, and this time a bird well inland, found at West Leake Hills in Nottinghamshire on 9th. Surely a county first, this?
If that was a surprise find, imagine the pleasure involved in the penny-dropping moment that heralded the realisation that both a Pallas’s Warbler and a Hume’s Warbler were sharing the same tit flock at Newbiggin (Northumberland) on 10th-11th. Additional Hume’s Warblers remained at Low Newton-by-the-Sea (Northumberland) on 7th-12th, and at Brancaster (Norfolk) on 6th-12th, with two birds reported at the latter site on 6th.
Numbers of Yellow-browed Warblers meanwhile took a cold weather tumble, barely scraping into double figures. Single birds were seen on Tresco (Scilly) still on 6th; at Leighton Moss RSPB (Lancashire & North Merseyside) on 6th-9th still; at Clennon Valley Lakes (Devon) on 7th-11th; at Hodbarrow RSPB (Cumbria) on 7th; at Penberth (Cornwall) on 8th still; at Broad Haven (Pembrokeshire) on 8th; on St Mary’s (Scilly) still on 9th; at Helston Loe Pool (Cornwall) still on 9th-10th; at Kenfig NNR (Glamorgan) on 10th-12th, being trapped and ringed there on the latter date; and at Crymlyn Burrows (Glamorgan) on 11th. A further possible was heard in Croydon at Waddon Ponds (London) on 11th.
Scilly continued to hold three Dusky Warblers this week – two still present on St Mary’s on 8th, and one still on Tresco on 6th. The recently found individual continued to delight near Bradford-on-Avon (Wiltshire) on 6th-12th.
Numbers of Waxwings remained solid, with around 600 birds recorded over the week – once again, the best counts came from Scotland, with the largest flock once more seen in Aberdeen (Aberdeenshire), where 100 birds were noted on 10th.
A handful of Great Grey Shrikes were logged in recent days – one still present in Harwood Forest (Northumberland) on 9th, and another still at Black Down NT (West Sussex) on 11th; and additional birds found on 6th and 8th at Flamborough (East Yorkshire), in Rumster Forest (Highland & Caithness) on 8th, and in Dyfnant Forest (Powys) on 8th.
A possible American Buff-bellied Pipit was reported over St Mary’s (Scilly) on 6th, but wasn’t seen subsequently.
An Olive-backed Pipit was an excellent December find in Exmouth’s Phear Park (Devon) on 12th.
Cold weather in Highland & Caithness wasn’t deterring (or at least, not yet) the Eastern Yellow Wagtail at Loch of Wester still on 6th-11th.
Hot on the heels of the small recent arrival of its kind, a male Penduline Tit was seen on 11th in Norfolk at Hickling Broad NWT.
An exilipes Arctic Redpoll was present in a Grays (Essex) garden on 6th, having been present there for three or more days by the time it was reported on 7th. Another probable bird was seen briefly in Orkney on Mainland at Toab on 10th.
A Serin was seen in Cornwall near Sennen on 11th.
All three recent Little Buntings were again seen this week – in Cornwall between Cot Valley and Boscregan still on 7th-8th; on Fair Isle (Shetland) still on 6th-7th; and in London at Lower Morden Equestrian Centre still on 6th-12th.
Okay, so we didn’t get an Ivory Gull this week, but one still feels very much on the cards for the week to come, not least because of a decent Faroese omen earlier in the week – a bird seen on Suðuroy on 9th.
If we’re looking overseas for omens, few would be more popular than a wintering male Siberian Rubythroat - a bird was found this week in Sweden at Uppsala on 7th-8th.
Nor would there be many complaints were we to get a slice of the recent action in Norway – a Slate-coloured Junco seen on 8th at Naerbo.
After some silence lately, confirmation came this week that the Common Yellowthroat was still present in Switzerland’s Magadino on 10th-11th.
France scored a Pied-billed Grebe at Marais Parabaud on 8th.
A Sociable Lapwing was seen in Spain this week on 7th-8th at Aiguamolls de l’Emporda.
Moving much further afield, in Israel the Three-banded Plover remained at Nov sewage works on 7th.
Finally, in the Azores, on Terceira this week an American Coot on 6th was followed by a Great Blue Heron on 8th.
So yeah, that would be autumn over with all the finality of the England football team’s exit from the World Cup. Winter is, firmly, upon us.
Hard overnight frosts, snow… it’s almost like a proper winter, the sort we had in the old days. Let’s see how long it lasts, mind.
With northerlies still very much the order of the day, I just can’t take my mind off the snowy white possibility of an Ivory Gull. However, I guess we also have to consider the possibility that the cold weather may drive some other frosty birds down from the north.
Eyes peeled, then, for the likes of Snowy Owl, Gyr or Brunnich’s Guillemot. All worth bundling up in layers and braving the wind-chill for. Who can forget the fabulous early Christmas present that the coming week delivered in Dorset a few years back?
Jon Dunn
14 Dec 2022
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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