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Weekly birding round-up: 14 - 20 Feb

How our world would have been rocked this week had the reported Wallcreeper in Cornwall only come to more than the initial sighting. A certain Cornish headliner of recent weeks would, remarkably, have been relegated to an also-ran. Alas, it wasn’t to be…

 

Still continuing to delight, our opening headline bird remains the pale morph Booted Eagle, still present in Cornwall in the Marazion Marsh RSPB area throughout the week until 19th. Quite how long this residency goes on to entail remains anyone’s guess, but it’s a welcome tenure while it lasts.

The year’s barely underway and already we’ve an Eastern Yellow Wagtail on the books – a first-winter bird, and a cracking find near Winteringham (Lincolnshire) on 19th. Happily for local birders, it remained on site there the following day too.

Presumably an autumn arrival that’s only now come out of the woodwork, it’s destined to be a locally popular bird, particularly if it sits tight into the weekend – it’s the first of its kind to be confirmed in the county. With Winteringham sitting more or less west of Spurn, perhaps this one flew under the East Yorkshire radar last year…

It fell to divers this week to provide the colour and light in our seabird reports. Starting in Cornwall, the recent adult Pacific Diver was once more to be seen off Mousehole, Penzance, and Newlyn on 15th-19th.

Scotland meanwhile gave us a couple of White-billed Diver - one seen from Kirkcaldy (Fife) on 16th, and another in Shetland on 17th off Yell.

Relatively little change to report in the sphere of long-legged beasties, with our Glossy Ibis numbers remaining fairly constant on 15 for the week. As ever, multiples remained at some sites – three still in Hampshire at Titchfield Haven NNR on 15th-16th; and duos at Ham Wall RSPB (Somerset) still on 14th-16th (rising to three there on 19th, at Deeping Lakes LWT (Lincolnshire) until 20th, and at Lady’s Island Lake (Co.Wexford) still on 14th-19th. A further pair were seen at Cley NWT (Norfolk) on 15th.

The honkers and quackers commence once again with The Goose Formerly Known As Canada. Single hutchinsii Richardson’s Cackling Goose were seen in Dumfries & Galloway at Wigtown on 14th-17th still, and Crook of Baldoon RSPB on 16th; and on Islay (Argyll & Bute) still on 17th-19th; while two remained at Cross Lough (Co.Mayo) on 15th. A Cackling Goose was also seen this week at Ballintemple (Co.Sligo) on 17th.

Shetland’s Ross’s Goose relocated across the north of Mainland to the Toft area on 14th-20th, while the Ayrshire individual was still to be seen at Raith Reservoir on 17th.

The Snow Goose remained at Montrose Basin (Angus) on 14th-15th.

Back on Islay (Argyll & Bute) the recent Red-breasted Goose was once more logged on the island on 16th-20th.

In Norfolk two Black Brant were at Snettisham RSPB on 16th, with a single bird still to be seen there on 17th-18th. Two birds were seen in Essex at Great Wakering on 15th, with one at West Mersea on 18th still. Finally, a single bird was present at Kilnsea Wetlands NR (East Yorkshire) on 18th; and another sighting came on 19th-20th from Gibraltar Point NNR (Lincolnshire).

Moving on to the quackers, the drake Black Duck was still in Co.Mayo on Cross Lough on 15th.

It proved to be another strong week for Green-winged Teal, with again around 20 birds reported from across Britain and Ireland as the days unfolded. There was similarly no change in the numbers of American Wigeon, with half a dozen again tallied – two drakes at Ballygilgan NR (Co.Sligo) still on 15th-16th; one still at Kenfig Pool NNR (Glamorgan) on 15th-20th; and Scottish birds at Crook of Baldoon RSPB (Dumfries & Galloway) still on 15th-20th, on Orkney Mainland at Loch of Bosquoy on 14th, and around Quendale (Shetland) still on 14th-18th.

In Essex, the drake Canvasback remained at Abberton Reservoir on 14th-20th.

In London the settled female Ferruginous Duck remained at Tooting Bec Common on 14th-20th; another female was seen this week in Cambridgeshire at Fen Drayton Lakes RSPB on 17th-20th.

The past week went to show that Britain and Ireland are still swimming in Ring-necked Duck, with some 35 birds logged in recent days. Largest tally this week were the five noted at Termon Lough (Co.Galway) on 15th-16th; while three were again seen at Dozmary Pool (Cornwall) on 15th-19th; and duos at Loch of Harray (Orkney) on 14th; on Gouthwaite Reservoir (North Yorkshire) still on 14th-16th; and Knockaderry Reservoir (Co.Waterford) on 16th.

Once more this week, 10 Lesser Scaup were seen in Britain and Ireland as a whole. Three remain on Loch Leven (Perth & Kinross) on 15th; two were still at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 15th-16th; and single birds remained at Northam Burrows CP (Devon) on 17th-19th, Longham Lakes (Dorset) on 14th-19th, Abberton Reservoir (Essex) on 15th-20th, Carsington Water (Derbyshire) on 14th-20th, and on Lough Clubir (Co.Cork) again on 15th.

Both recent drake White-winged Scoter remained this week at Gullane Point (Lothian) and off Methil Harbour (Fife) on 14th; two were seen at the former locale on 16th and 18th, with one still present there as the week drew to a close on 20th. In Co.Kerry, the drake Black Scoter was again seen from Inch on 14th.

Co.Kerry’s Inch also enjoyed a fine showing of Surf Scoter on 14th, with four of the week’s nine birds as a whole seen there. Elsewhere, one was seen in Brandon Bay (Co.Kerry) on 14th still; two off Old Colwyn (Conwy) on 15th-18th still; and two still off Methil Harbour (Fife) on 16th.

Finally, in Shetland the drake Bufflehead continued to stay pretty site-faithful to Loch of Hillwell in the south Mainland on 14th-18th; while the long-staying American Coot was showing no signs of abandoning nearby Loch of Spiggie on 14th-20th.

Once again this week our attention turns initially to Somerset for the cream of the weekly waders, where the county’s first Least Sandpiper remained at Steart WWT on 14th-20th, and the female Kentish Plover was again seen at Burnham-on-Sea on 18th-20th.

However, mixing things up a bit lately and providing some variety, an American Golden Plover was found on 15th at Corbally (Co.Roscommon).

Lastly, the Long-billed Dowitcher remained at Exminster Marshes RSPB (Devon) on 15th-20th.

Turning our attention to the gulls, an adult Bonaparte’s Gull was seen fleetingly in Dorset at Studland on 15th while, in Cornwall, the adult was again seen at Sennen Cove on 16th.

A Franklin’s Gull was reported from St Martin’s (Scilly) on 19th.

Just three Ring-billed Gull were reported from Ireland this week, a rather muted show compared with lately – one remained at Blackrock (Co.Louth) on 15th; the adult still at Enniskillen (Co.Fermanagh) on 15th also; and an adult again at Tralee Bay Wetlands (Co.Kerry) on 18th-20th. In Cornwall, the adult was lingering at Hayle Estuary RSPB on 14th-20th, with a probable first-winter individual also there on 16th; a probable adult was at Grafham Water (Cambridgeshire) on 17th. In Scotland, an adult was seen at Blairbowie Farm Pool (Ayrshire) on 14th; while the adult was again at Strathclyde Loch (Clyde) on 16th and 19th.

There was little change in the numbers of white-wingers seen this week, with a little over a dozen Glaucous Gull including two at Valentia Island (Co.Kerry) on 15th; and around 30 Iceland Gull again noted across the region.

The second-winter Kumlien’s Gull remained at Loch Oire (Moray) on 16th-18th, and the adult at Helmsdale (Highland & Caithness) on 19th still; while a juvenile was noted in flight at Kenmare (Co.Kerry) on 15th.

Sightings of wintering Pallid Harrier became a little more intermittent this week, particularly in Norfolk, where the female was first seen at North Point Pools on 16th, and latterly back at Warham Greens on 17th-20th; while the second-winter male was again seen in Pembrokeshire at Dowrog Common on 16th-20th.

Another week, another report of a Rough-legged Buzzard… this time at Titchwell RSPB (Norfolk) on 18th.

If only things had turned out differently this week, what a headline bird we’d have had on our hands. Alas, the probable Wallcreeper seen briefly in flight at Pentire Point (Cornwall) in the afternoon of 17th was never seen again. The scenes that would have unfolded, had it been relocated, would have been the stuff of instant legend…

For generations of birders, a twitchable British Wallcreeper remains in the realms of lavish fantasy. Those around in the decade that spanned the late 1960s-1970s were spoiled for choice – and they knew it, for the bird that spent a shade over 150 days at Worth Matravers (Dorset) on 19th November 1969 – 18th April 1970 was the first accepted British record since a one-day bird in June 1938 at Rottingdean (East Sussex).

They were spoiled for choice that decade, for the Dorset bird was followed in fairly short order by a returning bird that wintered in Somerset between November 1976 and April 1978. This was to be followed only by a fleeting one-day bird at St Catherine’s Point (Isle of Wight) on 16th May 1985.

Generously, then, our last bird was almost 40 years ago. Our last twitchable example is pushing on for a half-century ago in our collective rear-view mirrors. So yes, had events in Cornwall unfolded differently, this week would have been quite a big one. No further sign of the reported bird was forthcoming, with the more excitable birding accounts on social media quick to state unequivocally that the initial report related to a Black Redstart. It shouldn’t need pointing out that the presence of a male Black Redstart at Pentire Point does not necessarily mean that bird was the one in question seen on 17th…

As it stood, it was a pretty quiet week on the whole, colour being pretty much restricted to a handful of Waxwing - half a dozen at Cleadon (Co.Durham) on 14th, followed by single birds at Retford (Nottinghamshire) on 15th; at Dersingham (Norfolk) on 17th-19th; and at Boat of Garten (Highland & Caithness) on 19th.

In Co.Galway, the Pied Crow remained at Barna on 15th; while sightings from Scilly came on 19th initially on St Martin’s and, latterly, on Tresco, and then on 20th back on St Martin’s.

In Essex the Great Grey Shrike was still present at Copt Hall Marshes on 15th-18th, with a further Essex sighting coming on 19th at Abbotts Hall Farm NR; while the Hatfield Moors NNR (South Yorkshire) individual remained present there on 16th-19th still.

Cheshire & Wirral’s Penduline Tit remained at Woolston Eyes NR on 15th-18th.

The settled Yellow-browed Warbler remained in Worcestershire at Hallow on 14th-19th, while one was again seen around Perranuthnoe (Cornwall) on 14th-19th, and Bristol’s Henleaze individual was again to be seen there on 18th.

Breaking the late winter monotony in Buckinghamshire, a Richard’s Pipit was found just outside Newport Pagnell on 17th-20th.

In Surrey, the wintering Little Bunting was once more seen at Send on 19th.

Finally, we finish with a flourish this week in Kent, where four Serin were found at Sandwich Bay on 19th.

The overseas news this week begins, coincidentally, with Wallcreepers - a male singing in Belgium on 19th at Walloon Brabant; and one still in France on 19th at Les Andelys.

Also in France this week, the male Moussier’s Redstart remained at Frontignan on 14th-16th.

In the Netherlands, the drake Spectacled Eider was still lingering off Texel throughout the week, and was still present there on 20th.

In Germany, sightings of Sandhill Crane this week came from Gross Heseper Moor still on 15th-20th, and Twist again on 16th-18th. The Western Orphean Warbler was still present at the feeders in Eching on 19th.

In Spain, the second-winter Cape Gull remained at Larendo on 16th; while a male Black-faced Bunting was present at La Janda on 16th-17th, and an Atlas Long-legged Buzzard also at La Janda on 17th.

Further afield, in Kuwait the Indian Pond Heron was still to be seen at Sulaibikhat on 18th…

…while out in the Atlantic, on the Azores the Double-crested Cormorant remained on Faial on 16th.

The final week of February stretches ahead of us now, and the first hints of Wheatear have already been felt in Britain. Spring is just around the corner…

And the week begins nicely in that regard, with some decent southerlies. Alas, they’re not with us for long, and it seems like we’re set for a week dominated by weather coming our way off the Atlantic. Meh.

It must be said, that’s not a particularly inspiring forecast, and it’s not traditionally a particularly propitious time of year for rarities of great heft. We probably shouldn’t be shooting for the stars this coming week – an American Herring Gull feels about right at this juncture.

 

Jon Dunn
21 Feb 2025

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

 

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