Weekly birding round-up: 27 Feb - 4 Mar 2024
We’ve rolled into March and it’s now, officially, spring. Which isn’t to say much has changed, really – it’s still wildfowl-tastic out there and, this week, it was Ireland’s turn to enjoy a quacker of rare quality.
We rarely get a week these days without at least one brand spanking new headline bird, and so it proved again in the week just gone, with the discovery of a smart drake Bufflehead in Ireland at Lough Sheelin (Co.Westmeath) on 27th-29th.
It’s tempting to assume this is one and the same as the bird last reported from Inishmore (Co.Galway) on 16th January - after all, how many Bufflehead can there be on this side of the Atlantic presently? – but then again, we’re knee-deep in Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck and Green-winged Teal this winter, and it’s not like there isn’t recent some North Atlantic precedent – the first Bufflehead for Faroe, present on Suðuroy on 14th-16th February.
Continuing to draw admirers from near and far this week, the confiding Myrtle Warbler remained present in its favoured Kilwinning (Ayrshire) garden on 27th-3rd.
It won’t be long now before White-billed Divers begin their springtime gathering off the coast of Scotland. This week, a single bird was noted from Portsoy (Aberdeenshire) on 27th and 29th, and another passing Holy Island (Northumberland) on 3rd.
Much further south, a wayward Little Auk was seen buzzing past North Foreland (Kent) on 27th.
On 3rd, a Pomarine Skua was seen at sea a little way off Rosemullion Head (Cornwall).
Numbers of Glossy Ibis continued to hold steady, with some 15 birds in all noted nationwide once more. The usual suspects made up the small aggregations of their kind – three in Devon still present at Fremington Pill on 27th; four still on the Somerset Levels at Shapwick Heath NNR on 27th-3rd; and three still present in Hampshire at Titchfield Haven NNR on 27th-3rd. Numbers at Hollesley Marshes RSPB (Suffolk) rose to two birds on 4th.
Commencing the honkers and quackers with The Goose Formerly Known As Canada, the interior Todd’s Canada Goose was again seen at Banks Marsh NNR (Lancashire & North Merseyside) on 2nd-3rd, while another was logged at East Machrihanish (Argyll & Bute) on 27th. Also in Argyll & Bute, two hutchinsii Richardson’s Cackling Geese were noted on Islay on 27th still.
Islay also gave us one of the week’s Red-breasted Geese, seen again on there on 2nd-4th. Norfolk sightings came from Warham Greens on 27th-1st and again on 4th, and Lynn Point on 2nd-3rd. A bird was once again seen in Essex on 3rd on the Crouch Estuary.
A white Snow Goose was in Highland & Caithness in recent days near Allness on 1st; the blue morph remained wedded to Llay (Wrexham) on 3rd still.
Still eschewing White-fronted Geese for the dubious company of Greylag Geese, the Lesser White-fronted Goose remained in north Kent at Swale NNR on 28th.
With no sign of the drake Baikal Teal at Greylake RSPB (Somerset) this week, potentially the rarest of the teal tribe was the drake Blue-winged Teal reported at Loch of Strathbeg RSPB (Aberdeenshire) on 2nd.
Scotland continued to dominate sightings of American Wigeon, with four English records to report south of the border – these being at Bubwith Ings (North Yorkshire) still on 27th-3rd, at Grindon Lough (Northumberland) on 29th again, back in North Yorkshire at Long Preston Deeps on 3rd, and back to Northumberland again for a sighting at Big Waters NR on 4th. In Scotland, birds remained at Newshot Island (Clyde) on 28th-3rd; Crook of Baldoon RSPB (Dumfries & Galloway) on 28th-3rd; Cloddach Quarry (Moray) on 28th-3rd; and Loch Spynie (Moray) on 2nd. On Orkney’s Mainland one was seen this week at Loch of Harray on 1st-2nd.
Green-winged Teal continued to be strongly represented, with just shy of 25 birds seen across Britain & Ireland.
Ring-necked Duck also did well for themselves, again thanks in no small part to several sites retaining multiple birds, with around 30 birds noted across Britain and Ireland over the course of the week. Four lingered in Somerset at Shapwick Heath NNR on 29th-2nd; two in Glamorgan on Lisvane Reservoir on 29th-3rd still; two on South Uist (Western Isles) still on 3rd-4th; while in Ireland, three were seen at Ashton’s Callows (Co.Tipperary) on 27th, two were present on Lough Sheelin (Co.Westmeath) on 1st, two still at Kilkee Reservoir (Co.Clare) on 3rd, and two at Bracklagh Lough (Co.Cavan) on 3rd.
The flock of five Lesser Scaup remained settled upon Abberton Reservoir (Essex) until 4th. Further British birds included two found in Lancashire & North Merseyside at Heron’s Reach Golf Course on 2nd and Leighton Moss RSPB on 3rd-4th; one still present at Penberry Reservoir (Pembrokeshire) on 29th-2nd; one still at Lochwinnoch RSPB (Clyde) on 28th-4th; and the South Uist (Western Isles) female still present there on 27th. In Ireland the drake remained at Knockaderry Reservoir (Co.Waterford) on 1st-3rd; the drake was again seen in Co.Armagh at Oxford Island NR on 3rd; and a drake was found on Lough Corrib (Co.Galway) on 3rd.
The recent drake Ferruginous Duck was again to be seen at Titchwell Haven NNR (Hampshire) on 3rd-4th.
Down in Cornwall the settled juvenile Surf Scoter remained off Feock on 27th-3rd; and the two drakes remained off Llandulas (Conwy) on 3rd.
Finally, in Lothian the drake King Eider was still loafing around the Gosford Bay and Ferny Ness area on 2nd-4th.
Absent from the news for much of the week, confirmation came from Somerset over the weekend on 2nd-3rd that the adult female Kentish Plover was still present at Burnham-on-Sea.
Three Long-billed Dowitcher were again noted lately – in England in East Sussex at Cuckmere Haven on 27th-4th, and in Suffolk still at Carlton Marshes SWT on 27th-4th; and in Ireland still at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 1st-2nd.
In Ireland, the recent Lurgangreen (Co.Louth) Lesser Yellowlegs was still to be found there on 27th-3rd, with another unconfirmed report of a bird coming from Bantry Harbour (Co.Cork) on 1st. English birds were again seen in Lincolnshire at Frampton Marsh RSPB on 27th-4th, and at Swine Moor (East Yorkshire) on 28th and 3rd.
East Yorkshire also gave us a Grey Phalarope in recent days – seen passing Spurn in the morning of 2nd.
Marking a little variety this week, a Bonaparte’s Gull was reported from Kenneggy Cove (Cornwall) on 2nd.
Numbers of Ring-billed Gulls were still fairly respectable this week, albeit still in single figures. Irish birds were noted at Blackrock (Co.Louth) still on 27th-4th; Blennerville (Co.Kerry) on 1st; Tralee Bay Wetlands (Co.Kerry) again on 3rd; at Cuskinny Marsh NR (Co.Cork) on 3rd; and Ballyronan (Co.Derry) on 3rd; while the Hayle Estuary (Cornwall) bird remained there on 1st-3rd also.
White-wingers remained a paltry bunch, on the whole. Again, little more than a dozen Glaucous Gull were logged nationwide this week; and some 30 Iceland Gull, seven of which were at Killybegs (Co.Donegal) alone on 28th, and three on Shetland Mainland at Hillwell on 3rd.
Half a dozen or so Kumlien’s Gull were noted nationwide in recent days – in Cornwall again at St Ives on 28th and 3rd, and Hayle Estuary on 29th; at Exmouth (Devon) off Bull Hill on 28th-1st; at Brora (Highland & Caithness) on 2nd; on Unst (shetland) still on 29th; and an additional probable bird in Nottinghamshire near Harwood Forest on 2nd.
Lastly, the adult Gull-billed Tern remained settled at Kilkeran Lake (Co.Cork) on 27th-3rd.
In Norfolk, the wintering Pallid Harrier was seen regularly in the Warham Greens area again this week on 27th-4th. Welsh sightings meanwhile came again from Llanrhidian Marsh (Glamorgan) on 29th and 2nd; and Castlemartin Corse (Pembrokeshire) once more on 29th.
Both of the recent juvenile Rough-legged Buzzards were still to be seen at Rosedale Moor (North Yorkshire) on 29th; at least one of them remained there on 2nd-4th, with a further North Yorkshire sighting at Brimham Rocks on 1st. Further south, a bird was seen heading north over Minnis Bay (Kent) on 28th. Where’s that one been all winter?
A presumed escaped white morph Gyr was seen on 4th in Cheshire & Wirral at Meols.
Pick of the passerines this week has to be the reappearance of the adult male Black-throated Thrush in East Yorkshire at Watton NR, now in song there on 2nd.
In Dorset, meanwhile, the recent Yellow-browed Warbler remained a fixture at Louds Mill sewage works on 27th-3rd. Another was again seen in Cornwall at Treen on 29th.
Three Great Grey Shrike were noted this week – one still in West Sussex at Black Down NT on 27th-4th, another still in Norfolk near Weeting on 27th-4th; and a further bird found in Dorset on 3rd-4th in Wareham Forest near Woolsbarrow Fort.
Waxwing, anyone? Yes, still widely scattered across Britain this week.
The recent Richard’s Pipit remained in Cumbria at Ulverston on 27th-4th.
An unconfirmed report came on 4th of a Serin in Hampshire at Rooksbury Mill LNR.
And finally, the Little Bunting was again seen in Kent at Godmersham Park on 28th and 3rd.
Some more overseas variety this week came in the leggy form of a Sandhill Crane seen in Germany at Feldflur on 26th-3rd.
That and a Moustached Warbler in the Netherlands at Grebbedijk on 28th-4th. That’s two records close-ish to us in recent times. Surely one’s going to make it over the Channel eventually.
That’s us firmly into March now and, while recent snow is a timely reminder that for all it’s technically meteorological spring now, it’s really still winter, there are still increasingly better odds with every passing day of something decent turning up that isn’t a duck or a gull.
(Though, think Ayrshire lately, and we can still truly dare to dream big).
As the week ahead stands, at the time of writing, it’s looking like a low pressure system off the Atlantic is, for once, not going to smack straight into us. It seems like France will take the hit, leaving some decent southerlies and easterlies spooling up off the Continent and into Britain and Ireland. Could we be in for an early southern overshoot?
Passerines are definitely on the move now, with more vanguard hirundines making the news in the past week, and even Shetland getting a small fall of Scandinavian Stonechats at this early juncture.
So let’s not shoot for the stars. Let’s be semi-reasonable. A Red-rumped Swallow or an Alpine Swift doesn’t seem too big an ask. Better yet a Great Spotted Cuckoo - the coming week boasts seven past records of these funky birds.
Jon Dunn
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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