Weekly birding round-up: 25 Jun - 1 Jul 2024
Suddenly, it felt a lot like summer out there. Excitement was mounting in the English southwest, anticipation was building, and that was just Glastonbury. For birders, the appearance of some quality seabirds at this juncture now feels more a matter of when rather than if, and so it was to prove.
Were it not for the fabulous bird first seen from a Scilly pelagic on 7th August last year, and then delighting many a boat-tripper to the Bishop lighthouse off and on until 22nd October, we’d be looking back at the Red-footed Booby taken into care in East Sussex back on 4th September 2016 with deeper chagrin – potentially the one and only example of its kind to occur in Britain during our birding careers.
But then again, back in 2016, what did we know? Truly, we’d no idea just how wild our summer seabird seasons were about to become, with Brown Booby alone transforming from unheralded mega to near-annual and duly anticipated. And more on that in just a moment…
But back to Red-footed Booby - last year’s bird was a joyous unblocker for the keenest listers. And were it not for that, we might this week just gone be tasting the bittersweet regret of another bird that had got away, for belated news emerged of a Red-footed Booby in Dorset on 24th, seen initially on the sea off Portland Bill in the afternoon…
…and then filmed, showing outrageously well, upon a small boat later that evening, further along the coast in Worbarrow Bay.
Incredible scenes in Worbarrow Bay on Monday! (with thanks to Vince Jenkins) pic.twitter.com/SbGWLBtNLl
— Dorset Bird Club (@DorsetBirdClub) June 28, 2024
That makes it two consecutive years with both Brown and Red-footed Booby recorded off the southwest of England. Brown Booby has now been recorded almost annually in Britain since 2019, with just one blank year, in 2021.
A lot’s changed then, since that wobbly Red-footed Booby was picked up off the beach at St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex in September 2016. Surely our first Masked Booby is only a matter of time now?
Almost a footnote in the context of the week’s leading headline, let’s not relegate the other notable booby this week to obscurity in the main body of the Round Up – a Brown Booby is, after all, still a bloody good bird, and one to be duly celebrated.
As, we’re sure, the adult or near-adult bird seen heading west past Porthgwarra (Cornwall) in the evening of 30th must have been. Seawatching is so often a triumph of stark reality over boundless optimism, so it’s always a joy when the dedication and the numb posterior are rewarded with something of this calibre.
Last seen, and photographed, zipping through Idle Valley NR (Nottinghamshire) airspace in the evening of 19th, the county’s second ever Black-winged Pratincole appeared to have slipped through everyone’s fingers. A glorious bird, but the one that had got away.
Happily, there was to prove to be a second bite at the cherry for all concerned this week with the discovery of the bird back in the county on 29th in the late afternoon at Finningley. There it remained until last light, allowing those quick out of the blocks locally to connect – joined there, for good measure, by a bonus Caspian Tern that evening.
Both tern and pratincole were still around the following day, giving those from further afield a chance to enjoy a fine Sunday’s inland birding.
If the appearance of a couple of boobies were not enough of a shot across our seawatching bows, further timely reminders of what’s to come in the next month or two were seen at sea off Courtmacsherry (Co.Cork) on 26th – a lone Great Shearwater; and from Pennance Point (Cornwall) on 30th – a single Cory’s Shearwater. In both instances, the first hopefully of many of these attractive large shearwaters to grace British and Irish waters over the course of the summer.
Numbers of Balearic Shearwater will also be building from here on, and this week the English southwest again hosted a few hundred birds – the peak count being 250 seen from Berry Head (Devon) on 29th.
Two Wilson’s Petrel were seen from the first Scilly pelagic of July on 1st.
A single Long-tailed Skua was noted at Embo (Highland & Caithness) on 25th, and another off Cley NWT (Norfolk) on 30th; while single Pomarine Skua were seen on 26th at Pendennis Point (Cornwall), and on 29th at Flamborough (East Yorkshire), and from the ferry between North Ronaldsay and Kirkwall (Orkney).
Needless to say, and doubtless this will be the case for some time to come, the best of the long-legged beasties this past week was, of course, the adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron still present at Belcarra (Co.Mayo) on 25th-1st.
Yellow Crowned Night Heron, 1st for Ireland & UK, a total poser of a bird, was like going to a Disney zoo! Delighted to see a small community in Mayo embracing its presence and all the twitchers that go with it. Such a warm welcome. pic.twitter.com/lOKSwxl55V
— Ian Young (@bonsaieejit) May 27, 2024
A regular Night Heron dropped in to Cley NWT (Norfolk) on 29th; and the second-summer bird was again seen at Saltholme RSPB (Cleveland) on 1st.
The Purple Heron was again seen at Stodmarsh NNR (Kent) on 27th-30th; and another possible was seen at Martin Mere WWT (Lancashire & North Merseyside) on 29th.
The recent usual cohort of Glossy Ibis were largely all still present and correct in recent days – the duo remained in Lincolnshire at Deeping Lakes LWT on 26th-1st, with a singleton noted at Cowbit on 29th also; Norfolk provided sightings at Ken Hill Marshes on 26th-27th, and Hickling Broad NWT on 28th-29th; one remained in Oxfordshire at Otmoor RSPB on 25th-29th; and the Minsmere RSPB (Suffolk) bird was still present on 27th. One was seen in Kent at Dungeness on 29th; and another in Gloucestershire at Saul Warth, Slimbridge WWT, and Frampton –on-Severn on 26th, followed by a sighting on 30th at Slimbridge WWT again. On 1st, two were again seen in Cambridgeshire at Etton Maxey Pits. In Ireland, two were seen at Lady’s Island Lake (Co.Wexford) on 30th.
Lastly, a possible Corncrake was reported from Burtonwood (Cheshire & Wirral) on 30th.
We’ll start the short paddle around the rarity duckpond this week in Scotland where, on the sea off Blackdog (Aberdeenshire), the recent first-summer White-winged Scoter remained to be seen on 28th-30th.
Moving south, in Perth & Kinross an eclipse drake Lesser Scaup was seen at Vane Farm RSPB on 26th.
In Warwickshire, a drake and a female Ferruginous Duck remained present at Draycote Water on 25th-28th.
Back in Scotland, the recent drake American Wigeon was still present at Balormie Pig Farm (Moray) on 26th-27th; and another was found in Ireland at Lurgangreen (Co.Louth) on 29th-1st.
A Red-breasted Goose was present in Staffordshire at Middleton Lakes RSPB on 1st. Doesn’t really feel like a propitious time of year for that, does it?
The weekly waders begin in Orkney for a change, where a Pectoral Sandpiper was seen on North Ronaldsay on 27th; another was found on 1st in East Yorkshire at Kilnsea Wetlands NR.
Also marking a change, a new Lesser Yellowlegs dropped into England – an adult seen at Stiffkey Fen (Norfolk) on 25th, and at Cley NWT on 26th – while the first-summer bird was again seen at Frampton Marsh RSPB (Lincolnshire) on 28th.
A Long-billed Dowitcher gave some variety at The Cull (Co.Wexford) on 30th.
In Cambridgeshire a Black-winged Stilt was noted at Berry Fen on 25th, with two present again at Smithey Fen on 28th and 1st, and a singleton on 1st again at Ouse Washes RSPB. A single bird was seen in Norfolk at Ken Hill Marshes on 26th and 30th.
The recent female Red-necked Phalarope remained in Co.Derry at Lough Beg on 25th-1st; and we finish the waders where we began them, on North Ronaldsay (Orkney), where another bird was seen on 29th.
Starting the gulls’n’terns, for a change, with the latter, our attention swings to Gloucestershire where, on 25th, a first-summer Franklin’s Gull was seen at Kidwelly. Were that not enough, over the weekend a second-summer bird was found in the afternoon of 30th on Fetlar (Shetland).
In Kent, meanwhile, the adult Bonaparte’s Gull remained happily ensconced at Oare Marshes KWT on 25th-1st.
Once again, a handful of Glaucous Gull were logged in recent days, Northumberland proving particularly fruitful for them – on 27th at Monks House Pool; on 28th at Amble still; and on 29th at Budle Bay. Away from there, another bird was seen on Orkney at Stenness on 26th, and a further individual on 1st on Unst (Shetland).
Shetland meanwhile gave us sightings of Iceland Gull on Yell on 26th, and Loch of Spiggie on Mainland on 30th.
In terms of terns, it was again a good week for the mighty Caspian Tern, with sightings aplenty. Norfolk was once again busy, with a bird noted at Hickling Broad NWT still on 25th; Potter Heigham Marshes on 26th; and on 28th at Cley and Scolt Head Island. Additional sightings on 26th came from Abberton Reservoir (Essex) and Far Ings NR (Lincolnshire); while an inland bird was seen in Nottinghamshire on 29th-1st at Finningley – not, as we’ve already seen in the headlines, even the best bird at Finningley this week. A South Yorkshire sighting came from Newington Flash on 1st.
In Northumberland the adult female surinamensis American Black Tern remained at Long Nanny on 25th-1st.
An adult White-winged Black Tern was seen in Kent at Cliffe Pools RSPB on 26th.
Finally, in Ireland on 30th the Elegant Tern was once more seen on Inis Doire (Co.Mayo), and the Least Tern again at Portrane (Co.Dublin).
Sightings of Red-footed Falcon took until the latter half of the weekend to materialise – a first-summer male in Suffolk at Carlton Marshes SWT on 30th-1st, and the male in Cumbria again at Wedholme Flow on 30th-1st also.
Putative Black Kites teased this week in England – a possible was seen in Derbyshire at Loscoe on 25th; one was reported over Gloucestershire at Brockworth on 27th; and a probable was logged at Redmires Reservoir (South Yorkshire) on 28th. A bird in Scotland was also made of taunting stuff, seen at a site with no general access in Aberdeenshire near Huntly on 30th.
Lincolnshire continued to provide sightings of a first-summer male Montagu’s Harrier this week, at Gibraltar Point NNR again on 26th-27th and 29th-1st, and Pyewipe on 28th.
And so to the passerines, where it felt more like summer than ever before courtesy of the diminished reports of notable birds.
Some Bee-eater did their best to liven things up – two were seen in Norfolk at Sheringham on 25th; five were heard only in Suffolk at Wrentham on 29th; and a single bird was found on Papa Stour (Shetland) on 29th.
Also on Shetland, a male Red-backed Shrike was present on Fair Isle on 25th, with a further bird found on Fetlar on 1st; another was seen on 30th at Carlton Marshes SWT (Suffolk).
Skomer (Pembrokeshire) upped the shrike ante with a Woodchat on 25th.
A Golden Oriole was seen in Argyll & Bute near Tayinloan on 27th.
A singing Hoopoe was reported from Ranmore Common (Surrey) on 30th.
Foula (Shetland) retained a singing Marsh Warbler on 25th-28th, with another still present on Mainland on 1st at Swinister.
A bit of video taken before 6am this morning of the Marsh Warbler at Branston Gravel Pits pic.twitter.com/nrwvb9LP4Z
— Mike (@dogdoughty) May 25, 2024
Also in song this week, a Blyth’s Reed Warbler was heard on 26th at Ventnor Downs NT (Isle of Wight).
A Rose-coloured Starling settled in a Prestonpans garden in Lothian on 25th-26th.
The white-spotted male Bluethroat continued his summer residency at Slimbridge WWT (Gloucestershire) on 25th-1st.
The recent singing male Red-breasted Flycatcher was also showing no signs of budging near Carron Valley Reservoir (Forth) this week on 25th-28th.
The male Blue-headed Wagtail was still present at Winmarleigh Moss LWT (Lancashire & North Merseyside) on 26th-30th.
Finally, a Serin was seen at Funtley (Hampshire) on 28th.
The overseas news this week starts close to home, in France, where a mouth-watering array of rare terns remained available. The Elegant Tern was still present at Polder de Sebastopol on 25th, while the African Royal Tern was again seen there on 27th; and the Bridled Tern was still present at Ile aux Moutons on 25th.
In the Netherlands the first-summer drake Canvasback was still to be found at Vogelplas Starrevaart on 28th.
Norway enjoyed a pratincole double bill on 29th-30th, with both Black-winged and Oriental Pratincole present at Melvaeret; and also a personata Masked Wagtail at Nesseby on 1st.
Denmark meanwhile gave sightings of Pygmy Cormorant at Krapperupsdammen on 26th, and Slotsmosen again on 29th.
Moving much further afield, in Israel the Yellow-billed Stork remained at Eilat on 28th…
…and in Saudi Arabia, at least two Arabian Sunbird were seen at Jabal al-Lawz and near Shigry respectively on 28th.
The first week of July gives us a great deal of seabird food for thought, and any wishful thinking for the coming week would be remiss were it not to mention the likes of the Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross seen incongruously on fishing lakes in Lincolnshire on 2nd-3rd July 2007; or the Ascension Frigatebird found on Islay (Argyll & Bute) on 5th July 2013; or the Yelkouan Shearwater off Portland (Dorset) on 8th-9th July 2020; or, of course, the Giant Petrel sp noted off the coast of Co.Durham and Northumberland on 2nd July 2019.
A truly fabulous roll-call of seabird royalty, that.
And who’d say no to any of those, really? But there are also 10 accepted historic records of Collared Pratincole for the coming week, and another seems rather more likely under the circumstances…
Jon Dunn
2 July 2024
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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