Weekly birding round-up: 27 Aug - 2 Sept 2024
A timely reminder came this past week that early autumn isn’t completely about the amazing seabirds – once upon a time, apart from a roiling foray out into the Western Approaches on the Scillonian to score a Wilson’s Petrel, and maybe a few large shearwaters off Porthgwarra, August was all about the promise of a rare wader or two. And, let’s be honest, the past month hasn’t disappointed on that front – though events of the preceding week off British and Irish coasts rather eclipsed that. Step forward, in the week just gone, East Yorkshire with a perennially pleasing leggy wader.
There aren’t many Nearctic waders that are so generally appealing as a Stilt Sandpiper - they’re the complete package. They’ve got presence, understated good looks and, while they’ve turned up in sufficient numbers in Britain and Ireland alike in the past to not warrant a day-shattering mega alert, they’re still rare enough to generate some heat and light and attention.
To the end of 2022, Britain has 41 accepted birds on the books. It’s something of a curiosity how well eastern England fares compared to the west – Cornwall and Devon have never been graced by one, while the eastern coastal counties present an unbroken chain of records from Kent north to Yorkshire.
Ah yes, Yorkshire. God’s own county has two past records to its credit – the first, an adult that settled into Kilnsea on 31st August – 4th September 1954, was Britain’s first; and the last, another adult, was seen initially at Flamborough Head on 2nd July 1989, and latterly at Catwick on 3rd-4th July. But since then, not a sausage.
Given how many birders now call Yorkshire home, this will have been a mounting itch that was waiting to be scratched – 35 years is a long while to wait for a chance to unblock a local Stilt Sandpiper. (Though try telling that to Cornish birders, for whom the wait goes on…)
Happily, this week, a fine adult bird was found at Kilnsea Ponds NR on 30th, and remained in situ there as the weekend began on 31st, to the obvious delight of many.
I daresay were one to look at the internet search history of many a birder lately, there would be a distinct theme to what was revealed.
No, not that! We’re talking about the dark arts of large skua identification here. Maybe, like me, you’ve been perusing galleries of Great Skua in their various guises, and wondering what you’d make of a dark chocolatey juvenile bird seen powering past a headland some way out to sea in the midst of a large passage of other seabirds. Would it be a South Polar Skua candidate?
The masters of these dark identification arts, courtesy of Dutch Birding, have combined forces to produce a truly brilliant paper that brings together everything we currently know about identifying South Polar Skua in the north-eastern Atlantic in autumn – with some emphasis on the ability of even poor quality images to help secure an identification. It’s a triumph of evolving forensic bird ID, and it’s free to read too.
With that in mind, we can all feel a little more confident to take record shots of any putative candidates we come across. Because we might just secure, in the fleeting heat of the moment, the evidence needed to make a reasoned appraisal of what we suspected all along.
Which brings us back to this year, and the undoubted hotspot for South Polar Skua, the waters off Scilly. Those magnificent Scilly pelagics turned up the goods once more this week, with a bird seen off there on 30th. This followed a probable on 28th seen from Chynhalls Point (Cornwall), and a possible the same day off Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare).
Last reported in Cornwall earlier this year at Morvah Quoit on 20th May, it’s tempting to assume that the dark morph Booted Eagle reported from Nanquidno on 2nd may be one and the same bird, still lobbing around the county months later, having summered overlooked and unseen in the west country all along. Who knows. One thing’s for sure, birders heading west for the Scilly season would be delighted were this bird to be nailed down as a regular somewhere in the county in the days and weeks to come.
While they didn’t scale the dizzying, bewildering rarity heights of the sea-watching of the preceding week, the past week’s seabirds didn’t exactly disappoint either. Foremost amongst them was a Barolo Shearwater noted from Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) on 29th…
…while once again, it was Bridges of Ross that stepped up with a Scopoli’s Shearwater seen from there on 28th, with a further two probables on 29th. A final bird for the week came courtesy of the Scilly pelagic of 2nd.
Numbers of Cory’s Shearwater in recent days were still huge, but not as eye-watering as in the preceding weekly period – around 10,000 birds were logged, with some 2,500 seen on the Scilly pelagic on 30th, and 1,870 off Bridges of Ross on 29th our highest tallies.
Numbers of Great Shearwater on the other hand continued to climb inexorably, with around 20,000 noted over the course of the week in Britain and Ireland as a whole. The week began with a chunky count of 3,400 seen from Porthgwarra (Cornwall) on 27th, a total blown out of the water by Bridges of Ross where 6,585 were seen on 29th.
Where Balearic Shearwater were concerned, numbers remained muted – around 1,200 birds were seen across the region this week, with a peak count of 215 off Portland (Dorset) on 30th.
Things were quietening down on the Wilson’s Petrel front. Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) laid claim to single birds on 28th and 30th; one was seen from the Scillonian on 27th; the Scilly pelagics scored singletons on 27th, 29th, and 1st; one was seen at sea off Penzance (Cornwall) on 28th; and two at sea from a pelagic off Tory Island (Co.Donegal) on 31st.
The volume of Leach’s Petrel on the other hand showed little sign of abating, with Bridges of Ross almost singlehandedly responsible for most of the 90 birds noted in recent days in Britain and Ireland – three birds on 27th followed by seven on 28th, and then a mighty 68 birds on 29th.
Numbers of skuas on the move were down somewhat, though there were still plenty of both scarcer species to go around – around 165 Pomarine Skua and 120 Long-tailed Skua respectively were logged. Peak count of the former species was 22 birds seen from Bridges of Ross on 29th; and of the latter species, 16 birds also off Bridges of Ross on 29th – though Southwold (Suffolk) put up a sterling performance on 31st, with 11 birds seen passing here that morning.
Suffolk also scored a White-billed Diver past Southwold in the morning of 31st; while another was seen that day passing Fife Ness (Fife); and one was seen off Maevie Point (Aberdeenshire) on 1st.
Finally, a possible Brown Booby was seen heading south past Filey Brigg (North Yorkshire) on 30th.
Quietish times for the long-legged beasties this week. A couple of Night Heron provided the weekly relief from a litany of Glossy Ibis, being seen again at Oare Marshes KWT (Kent) on 28th and 30th-1st, and at North Cave Wetlands YWT (East Yorkshire) once more on 28th-29th.
While a Purple Heron was seen on 1st-2nd at Gifford’s Flash (Suffolk).
With the exception of two birds seen over Etton Maxey Pits (Cambridgeshire) on 29th, it was all single birds where Glossy Ibis were concerned this week. Lingering British birds remained at Otmoor RSPB (Oxfordshire) on 27th-2nd; Dungeness RSPB (Kent) on 27th-2nd; Titchfield Haven NNR (Hampshire) on 29th-31st; at Breydon Water (Norfolk) still on 31st; and at Deeping Lakes LWT (Lincolnshire) still on 31st-2nd; while another was seen at the species’ erstwhile regular haunt of Fremington Pill (Devon) on 28th-2nd, and one in Norfolk over Titchwell RSPB on 31st. In Ireland, one remained in Co.Wexford at Tacumshin on 27th-1st, and at Ring Marsh on 31st; while another was seen at Lough Gal (Co.Roscommon) on 29th.
As usual of late, we commence the weekly paddle on the rarity duckpond once again in Scotland, where the drake Stejneger’s Scoter remained settled off Musselburgh Lagoons (Lothian) on 28th-2nd.
In Essex, the first-summer drake Canvasback continued his residency at Abberton Reservoir on 27th-2nd.
The eclipse drake Lesser Scaup remained on Belvide Reservoir (Staffordshire) on 27th-2nd.
In Buckinghamshire the drake Ferruginous Duck was still to be seen at Willen Lake on 27th-31st.
Up next to East Yorkshire, where the Blue-winged Teal remained at Tophill Low NR on 27th-31st.
East Yorkshire also gave us a possible American Wigeon on 29th at Kilnsea; while another putative bird was reported from Tresco (Scilly) on 30th; and a probable on 31st at Hagg Lane Flash (Nottinghamshire).
Last but not least, a honker – a Black Brant on Strangford Lough (Co.Down) on 31st. Never mind autumn. Winter is coming.
We’ve maybe mentioned that autumn is now firmly upon us, and what surer sign of that than the first Great Snipe of the season? A bird on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 30th was a welcome surprise.
Elsewhere, the pick of the weekly waders was, once again, the rather elusive male Hudsonian Godwit, still playing hide and seek with observers on the saltmarsh near Flint Castle (Flintshire) on 27th-2nd, going days without being seen at all in that period, but by all accounts finally deigning to show well on 2nd.
Cornwall supplied two lingering Semipalmated Sandpiper this week – the settled juvenile still on Hayle Estuary on 27th-1st, and the adult still present at Marazion on 27th and again on 31st-2nd. A fresh bird was found on 2nd on South Uist (Western Isles).
Norfolk once again was the locus for White-rumped Sandpiper - here one was seen at Holme Dunes NWT on 27th-28th, and two at Titchwell RSPB on 30th followed a single bird there the previous day; one was present at the latter site on 31st-1st, with two again there on 2nd. In Co.Kerry, one was seen in Ventry Harbour on 29th; while Co.Dublin again gave us sightings of a bird at Rogerstown Harbour on 31st and Rush on 1st.
The week’s sole Temminck’s Stint were a bird at Icklesham (East Sussex) on 29th, and one heard only at Chapel Porth (Cornwall) on 31st.
The recent Pectoral Sandpiper remained on Tresco (Scilly) on 27th-30th; while fresh birds were seen at Martin Mere WWT (Lancashire & North Merseyside) on 28th-29th; Hickling Broad NWT (Norfolk) on 28th-2nd; Middleton Lakes RSPB (Staffordshire) on 29th-30th; and at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford), where two birds were present on 30th, with one still present on 31st-2nd. On 1st sightings came from Belvide Reservoir (Staffordshire) and at British Sugar’s factory near Newark-on-Trent (Nottinghamshire); the Belvide bird remained present on 2nd, while another was found that day in Cornwall at Walmsley Sanctuary CBWPS.
At last, we got our first Buff-breasted Sandpiper of the season, a bird seen at Myroe Levels (Co.Derry) on 29th-1st.
The recent juvenile Spotted Sandpiper remained at Marloes Mere (Pembrokeshire) on 27th-29th.
A Long-billed Dowitcher was found at Quoile Pondage NR (Co.Down) on 1st-2nd.
A possible Semipalmated Plover was heard only at Chew Valley Lake (Somerset) on 2nd.
An adult American Golden Plover was found at Belfast Lough RSPB (Co.Antrim) on 28th-31st; with further birds found this week on Holy Island (Northumberland) on 31st, and South Uist (Western Isles) on 31st-1st. The recent adult remained on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 31st.
The week began with the recent Dotterel still showing near South Anston (South Yorkshire) on 27th, while another was heard passing over Beachy Head (East Sussex) on 31st. A possible bird was noted high over Bardsey (Gwynedd) on 28th; and another was reported over Crook of Baldoon RSPB (Dumfries & Galloway) on 30th. On 1st one was noted over Whitby (North Yorkshire), and two were reported from Treeve Common (Cornwall).
The Black-winged Stilt remained at Ouse Fen RSPB (Cambridgeshire) on 27th-29th.
Some 45 Grey Phalarope were noted across Britain and Ireland this week, with a peak count of seven birds seen off Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) on 28th. A Red-necked Phalarope remained tucked into National Wetlands Centre WWT (Carmarthenshire) on 27th-29th.
Numbers of Sabine’s Gull remained high nationally, albeit not scaling the dizzy heights of the previous week. In the week just gone, some 190 birds were logged in Britain and Ireland as a whole – and, once again, it was Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) that enjoyed the lion’s share of them, with a peak count of 64 birds seen from there on 29th.
Staying in Ireland a moment, a Ring-billed Gull was seen at Blennerville (Co.Kerry) on 28th-1st.
On 2nd, Bonaparte’s Gulls were found in London at Rainham Marshes RSPB, passing Fife Ness (Fife), and on Mull at Garmony (Argyll & Bute).
A Glaucous Gull, meanwhile, was reported from Hayle Estuary (Cornwall) on 27th, while one remained on the Lossie Estuary (Moray) on 1st; and an Iceland Gull in London at Creekmouth in Barking Bay on 31st had apparently been present there for some days beforehand.
Out on Scilly, the recent Gull-billed Tern remained popular on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 27th-30th.
Lastly, a White-winged Black Tern was found on 29th at Martin Mere WWT (Lancashire & North Merseyside); followed by another at Dungeness RSPB (Kent) on 30th-2nd; and one more on 2nd at Calshot Marshes NR (Hampshire).
The weekly raptors of note were, alas, all couched with caveats of some uncertainty. We’ll start with what would have made the headlines had either been confirmed – a possible dark morph Eleonora’s Falcon at Glandon (Norfolk) on 28th; and an unconfirmed report of a further possible bird at Weeton (Lancashire & North Merseyside) on 30th.
In Kent, a probable female Red-footed Falcon was seen at Elmley NNR on 28th. Another male was seen at Dunfanaghy (Co.Donegal) on 1st-2nd.
In neighbouring East Sussex, a probable Black Kite passed over Waterhall Valley on 27th; a confirmed bird was seen at Pagham Harbour LNR (West Sussex) on 31st; another on 1st at Dunning (Perth & Kinross); and one at Cape Clear (Co.Cork) on 2nd.
That autumn migration was under way was evidenced firmly by Wryneck this week, with some 70 birds in all noted across the region.
A scatter of Red-backed Shrike were mixed up in this movement – single birds being noted at Marden (Kent) still on 27th; and at Chelson Meadow (Devon) on 27th-28th; on Skokholm (Pembrokeshire) on 27th-31st; on Fair Isle (Shetland) on 29th and 31st; at Fingringhoe Wick (Essex) on 29th-1st; and on Shetland Mainland at Bakkasetter on 31st. On 1st additional birds were found at Spurn (East Yorkshire), Weybourne Camp (Norfolk), and on Tresco (Scilly); followed on 2nd by additional individuals at St Abb’s Head (Borders), Fair Isle (Shetland), and on Shetland Mainland at Boddam.
A Woodchat Shrike was found on The Lizard (Cornwall) on 30th-2nd; and another at Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 1st.
A stunning Juv Woodchat Shrike found by @windmillfarmnn1 near Soapy Cove. The 4th Woodchat this year for the Lizard and tjeb3rd I've connected with. Lovely bird @CBWPS1 pic.twitter.com/95XxYZ44ay
— Joe Jones (@Joenkirst) August 31, 2024
Further north, five Bee-eater were reported from Belford (Northumberland) on 27th.
A Red-rumped Swallow put in a brief appearance in Waxham (Norfolk) on 2nd.
A Hoopoe was seen on 31st in Coventry (Warwickshire); another on 29th at Ventnor Downs NT (Isle of Wight); and one on 1st in Orkney at Tankerness on Mainland.
For a while it had looked like the traditional month for the species to get under way might go wholly unmarked by a bird, but thankfully Unst (Shetland) gave us a Greenish Warbler on 30th-31st. This was followed by a small fall on 1st – birds being found in Norfolk at Sea Palling and Holme NOA, and at Beacon Hill (North Yorkshire) and Flamborough (East Yorkshire) – with the pace quickening on 2nd in the form of more birds found on Shetland Mainland at Toab, on Fair Isle (Shetland), at Barns Ness and White Sands Bay (Lothian), St Abb’s Head (Borders), Rattray Head (Aberdeenshire), Whitburn CP (Co.Durham), Kilnsea (East Yorkshire), and Saltfleet Haven (Lincolnshire).
Just shy of 20 Icterine Warbler were logged nationwide during the week, all singletons bar two were present on Fair Isle on 29th.
A Melodious Warbler was seen on Lundy (Devon) on 28th and 30th; and another was found at Porthgwarra (Cornwall) on 1st.
Two Marsh Warbler were found on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 1st, with one still present there the following day.
Barred Warbler were initially the almost exclusive preserve of Shetland this week – 18 birds were seen across the archipelago, with two apiece for Grutness on the southern tip of Mainland on 29th, and Fair Isle on 30th-31st – Fair Isle raised its game with four birds present there on 1st, rising to five birds on 2nd. One was trapped and ringed at Anderby (Lincolnshire) on 31st; on 1st further British mainland birds were found at Blakeney Point (Norfolk), near Whitburn (Co.Durham), at Donna Nook (Lincolnshire), near Warsett Hill (Cleveland), and at Kilnsea (East Yorkshire); and on 2nd birds were seen at Spurn (East Yorkshire), and Donna Nook (Lincolnshire).
Shetland also scored an adult Rose-coloured Starling in Lerwick on 27th. Another bird settled into the Isle of Man, remaining for its twelfth day at Ballasalla on 1st, and still there as the week drew to a close on 2nd.
A Thrush Nightingale was found on 1st on Blakeney Point (Norfolk); another was trapped and ringed on Fair Isle (Shetland) on 2nd.
A Red-breasted Flycatcher was early at Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 31st-1st. More followed on 1st – in Norfolk on Blakeney Point and at Holme Dunes NWT; and one more on 2nd at Chapel Point (Lincolnshire). More of them to come in the weeks ahead, for sure.
Fair Isle (Shetland) retained its recent Citrine Wagtail on 29th-1st; while another first-winter bird was found at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 28th-31st.
Notably rare in these parts nowadays, a Tawny Pipit was seen heading over Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 29th; and another was found on 1st over Burnham-on-Sea (Somerset).
East Yorkshire also accounted for the first of the week’s several Common Rosefinch, a bird trapped and ringed at Kilnsea on 27th. Shetland then enjoyed a small arrival, with birds noted on Fair Isle on 28th; two on Foula on 28th; one on Unst on 30th; two on Out Skerries on 30th; and one on Whalsay on 31st; before two birds were logged on Fair Isle on 2nd. A single bird made it west to St Mary’s (Scilly) on 29th. On 1st birds were found in Shetland on Unst, Out Skerries (two birds here), and on Mainland at Hoswick. North Ronaldsay also enjoyed a bird on 1st-2nd; while another was found at Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 1st-2nd; and a brief bird in Cleveland at Hunley Hall Golf Course on 2nd.
Back on Shetland, the recent Black-headed Bunting remained, albeit mobile at times, on Foula on 27th-31st.
Finally, an Ortolan Bunting over Cambridge (Cambridgeshire) in the early morning of 28th was followed, on 30th, by another seen at Spurn (East Yorkshire). On 31st one was noted in the evening over Mawgan Porth (Cornwall); and then on 1st birds were seen at Sandwich Bay (Kent) and St Agnes (Scilly).
Relatively quiet times this past week for overseas news, though just like closer to home, that’s all set to change fairly shortly. We’ll kick off in Denmark, where the Brown Booby was still at Grenen on 29th; and the adult Sandhill Crane remained near Koldborgvej on 27th, and at Bygolm Vegle on 1st.
In Germany, a White-headed Duck was found on 30th at Hoogstede.
In France, the Hudsonian Whimbrel remained at Salin-de-Giraud on 27th-30th.
Finally, out on the Azores the recent Little Blue Heron remained on Terceira on 28th. We’ll be hearing a lot more from the Azores in the weeks to come, no doubt.
Ah, September! We’re leaving the hinterlands of what might charitably still be called late summer, and we’re into the opening movements of the most glorious time of year, full-blooded autumn. And what might the first week of September portend?
American sandpipers of various flavours remain very much on the cards – expect more Baird’s, Semipalmated, and White-rumped. Surely one or two more Buff-breasted and Pectoral are also out there for the finding?
Much rarer, but both with some precedent this week, are the little fellas – we’ve three British and Irish records of Least Sandpiper and two of Western Sandpiper found in the past century. You know what you need to find this coming week, peeps.
Jon Dunn
3 Sept 2024
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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