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Weekly birding round-up: 24 Dec 2024 - 2 Jan 2025

Strap yourselves in, 2025 is under way and, if it continues in anything like the vein in which 2024 finished, the pace could be unrelenting from the very off. Turns out we neither need to wait for spring for a Mediterranean overshoot, nor for autumn for a Nearctic stray. Winter will do us nicely.

And with the turning of the year, a small change in the timing of your weekly round up. We’re moving to Fridays, giving you something to read on the cusp of each weekend. For many of us, the weekends mark the beginning of the most free time available to go birding in the course of the week, so the Rarity Round Up will now be landing in your inbox on a Friday, wrapping up the week just gone, and hopefully sending us all out with a spring in our steps first thing on Saturday morning.

Happy birding, everyone. Here’s to a good year ahead.

 

Kent, as those of us of a certain vintage can attest, has something of a pedigree where wintering American warblers are concerned. If the Golden-winged Warbler that spent 24th January – 10th April 1989 at Larkfield feels like a lifetime ago, that’s because for a new generation of birders who’ve come to the scene latterly, it was precisely that. The grizzled ranks of those of us who saw that particular gem are already beginning to see the inexorable ravages of time on their numbers.

And, lest we forget, that was a bird whose stay overlapped with that of a Common Yellowthroat near Sittingbourne on 6th January – 23rd April 1989. Some counties never get a Nearctic warbler, let alone one in the dead of winter. Kent’s had two…

And, as of winter 2024/25, three, with the fabulous discovery of a golden nugget of a male Yellow Warbler at New Hythe on Christmas Eve. Needless to say, an extremely well-received individual, not least as it showed well there until 27th and then, after an absence of a couple of days, again on 30th-31st, and once more on 2nd.

Short of the present cold weather proving too much for it, surely this bird will follow the precedent of its illustrious Kentish forebears, and stay put for weeks to come – a bird destined to be very popular indeed, given the species’ past propensity for turning up in island locations, and those for the most part in Scotland. The Dorset bird of 2017 was a startling anomaly, but only present for one day on 21st August that year. There will be plenty of birders without Yellow Warbler on their British lists who’ll be only too glad to seize the opportunity presented in Kent at the moment.

 

Think the months of winter in Britain, and think notable owls, and one of the mightiest of all their kind comes straight to mind – the Arctic vastness that’s Snowy Owl. What most certainly doesn’t suggest itself is a diminutive Scops Owl, more familiar from holidays in the balmy Mediterranean than chilly winter evenings on the north Kent coast.

Coming, as it did, just two days after the breaking news of the Yellow Warbler further west in the county, the report of a Scops Owl present at Broadstairs Cricket Club on Boxing Day seemed scarcely credible. It’s the wrong time of year, for starters – they’re the classic spring rarity, far from annual, always warmly received. Not the stuff of deep midwinter...

But the bird was real enough, and apparently a local dog walker caught a glimpse of an owl in the area in November, which might chime nicely with belated news that broke this week of a Scops Owl seen on Anglesey at Beaumaris on 19th. Maybe we enjoyed a small, and frankly unprecedented, arrival of their kind in the strong southerlies that punctuated late November?

 

2025 got off to a flying start for Somerset birders on 2nd with the discovery of a Least Sandpiper at Steart WWT – a fine midwinter find anywhere in Britain or Ireland, but of particular heft for such a small bird for those based in Somerset, as it represented a county first.

We’ve no prior December or January records anywhere of Least Sand - and just the one bird for February, an individual found on 9th February 1986 in Cornwall at Portscatho. So in every sense, this was a remarkable find at this time of year in Somerset. That bird went on to stay put into April… we’ll see what transpires in Somerset next week, whether this bird proves to have staying power or is just a flash in the pan.

 

Satisfying birders in the north, the Grey-headed Lapwing continued its wintering tenure in Northumberland, being seen on Christmas Day at East Chevington NWT, and in the area again on 27th-30th. Then, nothing on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Had it done a flit after all?

As always with this bird, it wasn’t always particularly easy to see, even on the days it was definitely seen, so it wasn’t a total surprise when, on 2nd, there it was again at East Chevington NWT. Not gone, then. But still potentially a banana skin for anyone travelling from any distance hoping to see it – no guarantees with this one, that’s for sure.

 

Despite a cold snap hitting Shetland as the old year wore to an end, cold enough to start to freeze the margins of some of the shallower freshwater in the isles, there was no shifting the American Coot from Mainland’s Loch of Spiggie – while not reported daily, it was still present there at the turn of the year on 1st.

 

With no startling sea-watch finds over the festive season, we fall back onto Ireland and some prior rarities to provide the festive cheer – on Christmas Eve the now resident Double-crested Cormorant was again seen on Doon Lough (Co.Leitrim), and still present there on 2nd; while in Co.Clare the second-winter Pacific Diver was once more seen off Gleninagh Quay on 27th-2nd.

In Shetland, meanwhile, a White-billed Diver was seen from the mailboat between Mainland and Foula on 30th.

This Shetland passage was also responsible for the best tally of Little Auk of the period – 29 birds noted from the boat on 30th. Overall, just shy of 60 birds were seen nationwide in recent days.

Devon’s Start Point provided the best variety of our shearwaters, on New Year’s Eve – a single Great Shearwater, and three Balearic Shearwater. Two of the latter species were seen from Cornwall’s Coverack on 27th; while on New Year’s Eve in Cornwall four Balearic Shearwater were seen at East Pentire, and one from Porthgwarra; and one again on New Year’s Day at the latter site.

Single Pomarine Skua were seen on 1st in Devon at Hope’s Nose and Shoalstone.

 

The Christmas period was to prove a fruitful one for our principal long-legged beastie, Glossy Ibis, with most of the recent usual suspects being recorded once more, but their numbers augmented by some fresh sightings elsewhere. Principal among them were a couple of small flocks – five were seen in Cornwall at St Buryan on 27th; numbers at Chew Valley Lake (Somerset) rose to four birds present there on 29th-30th; three remained in Hampshire at Titchfield Haven NNR on 25th-2nd; two were still present in Lincolnshire at Deeping Lakes LWT on 29th-2nd; while duos were noted in Cornwall at Land’s End on 27th, Marazion Marsh RSPB on 29th, and at Trewey Common on 31st; and two were seen in Glamorgan over Crofty on Boxing Day.

Singletons in Britain were seen at Burgh Castle (Norfolk) on Christmas Day (with two there again on New Year’s Day); at Polgigga (Cornwall) on 26th-2nd; at St Levan (Cornwall) on 29th; at Summer Leys NR (Northamptonshire) on 24th-2nd still; at Fencott (Oxfordshire) on New Year's Eve; at Banc-y-Lord (Carmarthenshire) on 28th-29th; in Devon still at Fremington Pill on 24th-30th; on 1st in Cornwall at Crows-an-Wra (with two seen there on 2nd); and on 2nd at Stiffkey (Norfolk), and Ham Wall RSPB (Somerset).

Ireland got a look in too, with a single bird again logged at White’s Marsh (Co.Cork) on 26th-28th, and a singleton at Ashton’s Callows (Co.Tipperary) on New Year’s Eve.

 

Starting the honkers and quackers with The Goose Formerly Known As Canada, news was pretty thin on the ground lately, with just the Cackling Goose again seen at Ballygilgan NR (Co.Sligo) on 28th-2nd.

The recent Ross’s Goose remained in Ayrshire near Raith Reservoir on 24th-1st, still making the most of the local Canada Geese for company. A further sighting came again on 2nd in Argyll & Bute near Machrihanish.

Appropriately in a festive period that featured snow in parts of Scotland, Snow Geese continued to be seen north of the border lately – single birds at Lochwinnoch RSPB (Clyde) again on 24th-2nd; at Montrose Basin (Angus) again on 27th-2nd; and at Loch of Strathbeg RSPB (Aberdeenshire) again on 28th. Northern England was busy too – East Yorkshire gave us two birds again at Watton NR on Christmas Eve, and Bubwith Ings on Christmas Day, and at least one at Tophill Low NR on New Year’s Eve; while North Yorkshire had two birds on 30th at Scampston; and a bird was bouncing around Lancashire & North Merseyside at Hundred End on 26th and 29th, Martin Mere WWT on 27th, Banks on 28th, and Southport on 2nd.

East Yorkshire also supplied a Black Brant at Kilnsea on 24th-31st; while another was seen further down the east coast at Wallasea Island (Essex) on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Back in Scotland, the Red-breasted Goose was once more seen on Islay (Argyll & Bute) on 29th.

Speaking of geese coming periodically back out of the woodwork, in Norfolk the here today gone tomorrow Lesser White-fronted Goose of recent weeks was once again seen in the county on 30th and again on 1st, on these occasions near Stanhoe and Brancaster Staithe.

Also marking a welcome return to the dailies, the drake Baikal Teal reappeared at Greylake RSPB (Somerset) on 30th and 1st.

Numbers of Green-winged Teal surged, perhaps reflecting increased observer coverage in the days surrounding Christmas – a little over 20 birds in all being recorded around Britain and Ireland.

American Wigeon also made it into double figures, with 10 birds being logged. Starting in Scotland, individuals were seen at Loch of Hillwell (Shetland) again on 26th-1st; on Orkney at Loch of Ayre again on 27th-1st; at Crook of Baldoon RSPB (Dumfries & Galloway) on Christmas Eve and 1st-2nd still; on 24th-26th still at Otterston Loch (Fife); at Newshot Island (Clyde) on 26th-2nd still, and Balgray Reservoir on 2nd; and at Darncorner Quarry (Ayrshire) on 28th-2nd. The recent Welsh bird remained at Kenfig NNR (Glamorgan) on 25th-2nd. In England, North Yorkshire provided sightings at North Duffield Ings on Christmas Eve, and at Wheldrake Ings YWT on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day; while one remained in Northumberland at Blagdon Hall on 26th-2nd. Another was reported on New Year’s Day at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB (Cheshire & Wirral).

In Essex, the drake Canvasback was periodically seen again at Abberton Reservoir on 24th, 27th and 31st-2nd.

Recent Ferruginous Duck continued to be seen with some regularity over the festive period. In London, the juvenile female remained at Tooting Bec Common on 25th-2nd; in Hertfordshire, sightings came once more from Batchworth Lake on 24th-2nd, Stocker’s Lake on 28th and 1st again, and Troy Mill Lake on 1st; while in Warwickshire sightings came again from Draycote Water on 24th-2nd, and Napton Reservoir on 24th-1st. On 1st, a bird was found in Oxfordshire at Dix Pit.

Numbers of Ring-necked Duck picked up again, sailing comfortably towards 40 individuals noted across Britain and Ireland. Among their number were several sites holding multiple birds, with Ireland their heartland once again – three were present at Knockaderry Reservoir (Co.Waterford) on 29th; two still at Lough Gara (Co.Sligo) on 28th; two again at Kilkee Reservoir (Co.Clare) on New Year’s Eve; two at Rossakill Turlough (Co.Galway) on 2nd; and two still at Rostaff Turlough (Co.Mayo) on 2nd. Britain wasn’t immune to this largesse, with two birds settling on Gouthwaite Reservoir (North Yorkshire) on 30th-2nd, and two on 1st in Gloucestershire at Coombe Hill Meadows NR.

Lesser Scaup flirted with hitting double figures, with nine individuals noted over the period. Starting in Ireland, two remained at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 27th-2nd, and the female on Lough Clubir (Co.Cork) on 24th-1st; while a drake was found on 2nd at Lough Sallagh (Co.Leitrim). Recent English birds remained settled in Staffordshire on Belvide Reservoir on 24th-2nd; at Blagdon Lake (Somerset) on 24th-2nd; in Cambridgeshire at Ouse Fen RSPB 26th-2nd; and in Essex on Abberton Reservoir on 26th-2nd. In Scotland the female remained at Otterston Loch (Fife) on Christmas Eve.

Some 20 Surf Scoter were logged over the festive period – with several sites boasting multiple birds. In Wales, four were seen from Llandulas (Conwy) on 26th, and four from Gilman Point (Carmarthenshire) on 28th; two remained off East Chevington NWT (Northumberland) on 27th at least; while in Ireland, six were seen from Inch (Co.Kerry) on 2nd, and three in Brandon Bay (Co.Kerry) on 2nd.

We finish the quackers with a fine rare flourish. In Ireland, the drake White-winged Scoter was once more present off Inch (Co.Kerry) on 29th -2nd, while a further possible first-winter drake was seen there on 2nd…

...while in Shetland, the lingering drake Bufflehead remained present on Foula on 30th-1st.

 

Seasonal shorebirds were, surprisingly, a fairly fruitful bunch away from the headlines. More a steaming plum pudding on our collective dinner table than the expected shrivelled tangerine in the toe of the Christmas birding stocking, as it were.

In Somerset, the female Kentish Plover remained at Burnham-on-Sea on 24th-25th and again on New Year’s Day.

In Suffolk’s recent White-rumped Sandpiper was still to be seen at Minsmere RSPB on 24th-29th; while another was found in Argyll & Bute at Machrihanish Water on Christmas Day.

Recent Long-billed Dowitcher were seen again in Norfolk at Holkham Freshmarsh on 28th-2nd; in Devon at Exminster Marshes RSPB on 24th-29th, and Bowling Green Marsh RSPB again on 2nd; and in Ireland at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) still on 24th-2nd.

On 2nd, a Lesser Yellowlegs was found in Hampshire at Pennington Marshes.

Finally, a Grey Phalarope was seen on 30th at Kinghorn (Fife).

 

The recent adult Bonaparte’s Gull was again seen lately in Co.Antrim at Carnfunnock Bay on New Year’s Eve, and at Ballygally on New Year’s Day, but it wasn’t the only one of its kind on offer this week – Cornwall enjoyed sightings of an adult bird at Progo Beach on 29th-30th, and an adult at Penzance on New Year’s Eve and once more on 2nd; and a first-winter was found at Squince Lagoon (Co.Cork) on New Year’s Day.

The days of our reporting upon weekly totals of Ring-billed Gull running into double figures are firmly a thing of the past now, but the festive period did its very best to break the nominal barrier, with half a dozen birds logged in recent days. Ireland enjoyed the lion’s share of them – two were present at Blennerville (Co.Kerry) on Christmas Eve, and again on New Year’s Day; a first-winter at Galway (Co.Galway) on Christmas Eve had found a friend on 29th-1st; and the regular bird still at Blackrock (Co.Louth) on 29th-1st. Away from Ireland, the adult was again seen in Scotland at Strathclyde Loch (Clyde) on 30th.

White-wingers weren’t setting the world on fire lately, with around a dozen Glaucous Gull again noted, and some 15 Iceland Gull only marginally more numerous.

A quartet of Kumlien’s Gull were rewarding giving the latter species a second, closer look – an adult settled at Blennerville (Co.Kerry) on 24th-26th; one was present at Pickerings Pasture (Cheshire & Wirral) on 28th; a juvenile at Loop Head (Co.Clare) on New Year’s Eve; and an adult on New Year’s Day on Skye (Highland & Caithness).

 

Christmas and the New Year supplied something of a festive mix where rare raptors were concerned, with sightings of both our recent rare harrier species – the male Northern Harrier again at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 24th-27th; and the female Pallid Harrier still in Norfolk at Warham Greens on 24th-1st and Stiffkey on 2nd.

In far from a classic winter for their kind thus far, a Rough-legged Buzzard was seen on 29th at Belvide Reservoir (Staffordshire).

 

Still outdoing any Christmas decoration one cares to mention, the recent Hoopoe remained in South Yorkshire at Rossington on 25th-30th.

Wintering Great Grey Shrike were seen on Boxing Day at Middleton Moor (Derbyshire) and near Banchory (Aberdeenshire); one was haunting Clocaenog Forest (Denbighshire) on 28th-2nd; another was seen periodically in Essex at Copt Hall Marshes on 29th and 31st, while Old Hall Marshes RSPB scored a bird on 2nd.

Simultaneously more black and white and, metaphorically at least, anything but, the 2024 Pied Crow story continued as the year drew to a close. Starting in Cornwall, a bird was present at Polgigga on 25th-26th, ranging west to the Land’s End complex on the latter date… It was seen again at Land’s End in the morning of 27th, before flying off east – though presumably it wore west again, unseen, for a Pied Crow was found that afternoon on St Mary’s (Scilly) – remaining there into the morning of 28th, but not reported thereafter. Meanwhile, another intriguing report emerged – this time a bird reported well inland, from a Leicestershire garden at Braunston-in-Rutland on Christmas Day. Where these birds have come from, and how they’ve got here, remains a matter of conjecture.

A Waxwing was reported from Galsnevin (Co.Dublin) on Boxing Day; and another seen on 1st in Aberdeen (Aberdeenshire).

The Penduline Tit was again seen on 2nd in Cheshire & Wirral at Woolston Eyes NR.

A dozen or so Yellow-browed Warbler were noted over the course of recent days, as usual with a southwesterly English bias, but with some outliers in their number. Birds were logged in Wales at Magor (Gwent) on Christmas Eve, at Port Talbot (Glamorgan) on Boxing Day, and at Pembrey Harbour (Carmarthenshire) on 2nd; one remained in St Albans (Hertfordshire) on Christmas Eve; a further bird was found at Wildgoose NR (Worcestershire) on 30th-1st; and one on 1st-2nd at Frampton Court (Gloucestershire).

A Richard’s Pipit was found on Christmas Eve at Chowder Ness (Lincolnshire).

Finally, in Cornwall, the recent Little Bunting remained near Boscathnoe Reservoir on 24th-2nd.

 

If an unseasonal Scops Owl was generating some heat and light this week in Kent, one can only imagine the scenes that would have ensued had the male Moussier’s Redstart found lately in the south of France at Frontignan on 26th-1st only made it further north and across the English Channel. Also in France this week, the Brown Booby remained at Salins de Frontignan on 30th; and a Wallcreeper at Les Andelys on 1st.

In Belgium, an Alpine Accentor found at Mechelen on 29th was taken into care there on the following day.

In Germany the Sandhill Crane remained at Gross Heseper Moor on 26th-1st, and the Northern Mockingbird at Feldflur Rheidt Am Schafott on 27th-1st still.

The Yellow-crowned Night Heron also remained settled, in Portugal at Quinta do Lago still on Boxing Day.

Iceland’s White-winged Scoter remained on the chilly sea off Reykjavik on 28th-2nd.

On Cape Verde, a Diederik Cuckoo was found on Sal on 1st.

An Indian Pond Heron was seen on 1st in Kuwait at Sulaibikhat.

Further afield still, in the Azores the Willet remained settled on Terceira on 27th-29th, with a Great Blue Heron also present there on 27th; while a Snowy Egret was seen on Pico on 29th.

 

The first full week of 2025 stretches out ahead of us, and is starting with a cold snap that’s extending from Scotland down into the very south of England. What could that portend?

It’s tempting, of course, to suggest that an Arctic blast could sweep us down an Ivory or a Ross’s Gull - and none of us will be complaining should that prove to be the case. It’s the right time of year for one, and the right wind-direction to usher one south, after all.

But if the past few days have taught us anything, it’s to serve as a reminder that this time of year can also reveal birds that have surely arrived on our shores days or, more likely, weeks ago. If the last week of December in Kent alone can yield a Yellow Warbler and a Scops Owl, what else could be lurking out there?

A cold snap can encourage some birds to be a little more active and less furtive in their daily routines. Maybe it’s time for another decent passerine to be found – perhaps a Dusky Warbler threading its way through the undergrowth of your local patch or, more ambitiously and with an eye to events at the tail end of autumn 2024 across Europe and on our very doorstep here in Britain, a Black-faced Bunting beneath a feeding station or in a game-belt on farmland near you. Surely one of those two candidates is out there, waiting to be found…

 

Jon Dunn

3 Dec 2025

Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos

 

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