Weekly birding round-up: 23 Feb - 1 Mar 2021
It’s now officially, meteorologically speaking, spring. We knew that already, of course, after the prior week’s early auguries, the first migrant passerines and shorebirds clocking in. But still… with the year moving onto March, it feels like a line has been crossed. While this week wasn’t marked by the floodgates opening – it’s early days yet – it’s just a matter of time now before wintering birds start to feel the irresistible stirrings of zugunruhe. One of our headline birds this week certainly seems to have succumbed to it. Many a birder will sincerely hope the other doesn’t just yet…
For birders patiently waiting for the opportunity to arise to head west to Exmouth (Devon) to catch a glimpse of the wintering Northern Mockingbird, the daily reports of it still being present until 1st will have been a mixed blessing. Great news that it’s still settled there… but with every passing day, the suspicion that it’s going to move on any day now will be mounting.
Having reappeared in the daily news in the preceding week, the drake Bufflehead in Warwickshire at Coton 2B appeared to be happily settled there this week, being seen daily on 23rd-25th. And then, on 26th… it was gone.
Which makes it incredibly tempting to join the dots and suppose that the drake Bufflehead found on 26th at Cresswell Pond NWT (Northumberland) was one and the same bird. Not least because it had moved on by 27th – a restless bird on a mission. Then again, as we’ve rehearsed in these columns recently, there’ve been a number of birds found in recent months, so absolute certainty must remain a chimera.
How long will the first-winter female bird remain in Co.Cork at Nohoval? She too was still present this week, being seen there again on 26th-27th, so for now it remains to be seen how long before she decides she’s places to go and drakes to see.
Like buses, we wait ages for news of one of our returning wintering Pacific Divers and then, in quick succession, along come two of them. Last week it was the turn of a Cornish individual, and this week we got belated confirmation that the Crookhaven (Co.Cork) bird was still present there on 31st January.
Shetland, meanwhile, was the place to be for White-billed Divers though, frustratingly, I still haven’t found one from the kitchen window. Dozens of Great Northerns on a calm day, but still no banana-bill… Other observers here weren’t so frustrated – two birds were hanging out in Bluemull Sound on 24th; one was seen off Yell on 27th; and the regular bird was still in South Nesting Bay off the east coast of Mainland on 27th. One was again seen in Orkney from North Ronaldsay on 26th.
For another week, it fell to Cornwall to supply our Pomarine Skua records – off Falmouth again on 25th and 26th, with two juveniles also seen from there on 28th; and off The Lizard on 28th also.
Lastly, a Little Auk was seen at Lossiemouth (Moray) on 28th.
Our wintering contingent of Glossy Ibises remained in good fettle for another week, with double figures once again noted. Starting in Devon, the quartet of birds remained at Fremington Pill on 24th; in Dorset, the Stanpit Marsh bird was still present on 23rd-1st; while in Kent, the Dungeness bird remained on 23rd, and the inland bird was still to be seen at Haysden Lake on 23rd also. Further inland still, in Cambridgeshire the settled trio were regularly seen at Earith on 23rd-28th; and the recent Northamptonshire bird remained at Titchmarsh LNR on 23rd-26th.
As usual, the honkers and quackers section kicks off with The Goose Formerly Known As Canada. On Islay (Argyll & Bute), the interior Todd’s Canada Goose was still present on 25th, while the Banks Marsh NNR (Lancashire) bird was seen again on 28th; the two hutchinsii Richardson’s Cackling Geese were again noted on North Uist (Western Isles) on 27th and 1st; and the possible Cackling Goose was again reported with Pink-footed Geese at Loch of Strathbeg RSPB (Aberdeenshire) on 25th.
Back on North Uist, the Snow Goose was again seen on 1st.
It was a more muted affair than of late where Black Brants were concerned, with a mere five birds in all reported nationwide. These were one in East Yorkshire still at Kilnsea on 23rd; one on The Fleet (Dorset) again off Butterstreet Cove on 25th and again on 1st, and at Littlesea on 28th; the Warblington (Hampshire) bird still on 26th; one again at South Woodham Ferrers (Essex) on 27th; and an Irish representative in Dublin (Co.Dublin) on 1st.
Moving onto the quackers, the drake American Wigeon was still present at Big Waters NR (Northumberland) on 26th, while another bird was seen this week on Sanday (Orkney) on 23rd.
Settled Green-winged Teals remained in Dorset at Longham Lakes on 24th and on North Uist (Western Isles) on 27th; another was seen in Cleveland at Saltholme RSPB on 24th-26th; and in Ireland, the Cabragh Wetlands individual remained in Co.Tipperary on 28th.
Some 20 Ring-necked Ducks were logged in Britain and Ireland as a whole this week, with a handful of sites still holding on to multiple birds. Best of the lot were three still present on Tiree (Argyll & Bute) on 26th; while duos remained at Radley GPs in Oxfordshire on 24th-28th, and on Moylan Lough (Co.Monaghan) on 25th-26th still.
Seaduck were well-represented this week with the reappearance of the drake Black Scoter off Cheswick Sands (Northumberland) on 25th and, the same day, the White-winged Scoter still off Eastfield (Lothian). The latter site also held onto its drake Surf Scoter on 24th-28th, with the intermittent female in the area seen again on 1st too; while the Embo (Highland) individual was again seen on 24th and 28th; and, in Co.Meath, two birds were seen once more from Ben Head on 28th.
First seen from the Foula ferry on 22nd, a first-winter drake King Eider was again seen off Walls (Shetland) on 26th.
And finally, surprising almost nobody, the female Hooded Merganser wasn’t showing any signs of moving on any time soon from Staverton Pools in Suffolk, being seen there still on 23rd-27th…
Quieter times this week where shorebirds were concerned, with a trio of wintering Nearctic species making most of the running.
In Ireland, the Lesser Yellowlegs remained at Killongford Pools (Co.Waterford) on 23rd, and the other settled individual still in Devon at Aveton Gifford on 1st./p>
In Scotland, the Spotted Sandpiper was still present at Culzean Bay (Ayrshire) on 1st.
Completing the set, the first-winter Long-billed Dowitcher was again seen at Scorton GPs (North Yorkshire) on 27th and once more on 1st.
Finally, a Grey Phalarope dropped into Pennington Marshes (Hampshire) on 26th-1st.
What’s perhaps the same first-winter bird seen further west along the north shore of the Bristol Channel lately, a Bonaparte’s Gull was found as the month closed in the fading light of 28th at Slimbridge WWT (Gloucestershire) before heading back out into the Severn estuary.
Eight Ring-billed Gulls were about the best of the rest of it where gulls were concerned this week. Starting in Scotland, in Lothian the adult bird was again seen at Eastfield on 23rd, with a second-winter individual there on 25th. In England, the adult was once more seen at Hayle Estuary RSPB (Cornwall) on 23rd-25th. Irish birds were noted in Co.Antrim at Belfast Waterworks still on 25th, and Carrickfergus on 25th-27th; at Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre (Co.Kerry), where the two adult birds were again seen on 27th; and at Enniskillen (Co.Fermanagh) on 28th-1st.
Some 35 Glaucous Gulls were seen nationally, a small drop on the preceding week. Peak count came, once more, from North Uist (Western Isles) where, on 27th, five birds were logged. Of the 50 or so Iceland Gulls reported in recent days honours were shared for peak count between North Uist and Lossiemouth (Moray), with five birds apiece on, respectively, 27th and 25th.
The recent adult Kumlien’s Gull in Cornwall presumably accounts for all sightings in the west of the county this week – near Mousehole on 24th; in Penzance on 25th; and a little way inland on 27th in a ploughed field at Bartinney Downs. In Cambridgeshire, the regularly seen second-winter bird reappeared at Dernford Farm reservoir on 24th and Foxton on 28th.
Finally, a little belated news this week brings the section to a close – the irrepressible adult Forster’s Tern again seen in Co.Galway off the pier in Newtownlynch on 22nd.
After an absence from the news of some weeks, we finally got a report of a possible Rough-legged Buzzard this week – a bird noted over South Kirkby (West Yorkshire) on 23rd.
Closing the week, on 1st a possible Snowy Owl was seen on St Mary’s (Scilly).
The week was marked by a slight return from the recent, mystifying absentee from the news - a handful of Yellow-browed Warblers were once more reported from a nation’s gardens. The recent bird in Portsmouth (Hampshire) was again seen in its favoured garden on 23rd-27th; while further garden birds were seen in Burnham-on-Crouch (Essex) on 25th and Hambrook (West Sussex) on 26th.
Less fickle where flirting with the daily sightings was concerned, the Dusky Warbler at Ainsdale NNR (Merseyside) was regularly reported from there again this week on 24th-28th, with two birds again confirmed there on 28th-1st.
Half a dozen Great Grey Shrikes were logged in recent days, with a decent geographic spread to records. In Hampshire, the bird remained at Wherwell on 25th-1st still, with the Woolmer Forest providing a further sighting on 28th; one was reported from outside Capel St Mary (Suffolk) on 26th; one was again seen in Surrey at Ash Ranges on 27th; a Welsh sighting came from Llyn Beryn (Ceredigion) on 26th; and the Scottish bird was once more seen at Backwater reservoir (Angus) on 27th.
Scotland had the best of the precious few Waxwings noted this week – these being the four birds still present at Nethy Bridge (Highland) on 23rd-28th. Elsewhere, a single bird was seen at Thurso (Highland) and, south of the border, two birds were seen in Cleveland at Billingham on 25th.
Both of the regularly reported overwintering Rose-coloured Starlings were again seen this week – these being the bird still present on Portland (Dorset) on 23rd-26th, and the Anglesey individual again noted at Amlwch on 24th.
A Richard’s Pipit was noted in flight over Merthyr Mawr (Gwynedd) on 1st.
Whilst far from the most eye-catching Loxia news of the week, the report of six Parrot Crossbills at Upper Hollesley Common (Suffolk) on 27th was nonetheless intriguing…
Finally for the week, in Surrey both the Rustic Bunting and the pair of Little Buntings remained at Thursley Common NNR on 23rd-1st; while the hardy Shetland individual of the latter species remained on Unst on 28th also.
The week’s overseas news really has to start in Spain where, on 27th-28th, a stonking Myrtle Warbler was seen on Gibraltar at Europa Point. Fingers crossed, in the wake of such a good autumn for Nearctic vagrancy, we may yet get a spring bird of our own in Britain… Elsewhere in Spain this week, an American Herring Gull was found at Langre on 28th, and a Lesser Flamingo at Salinas de San Pedro del Pinatar on 26th; while on the north African coast, in Ceuta, a Pied Crow was seen flying over the Punta Blanca Ornithological Station on 25th.
Another Lesser Flamingo clocked in during recent days, this time in France at Villeneauve-les-Maguelone on 27th-28th; the King Eider remained at La Fumee on 23rd; and the Wallcreeper at Coutances on 1st. The former was not, by any stretch of the imagination, the most eye-catching French bird news to break this week… That accolade had to go to the Scottish Crossbill sound-recorded at Saint-Leger-en-Yvelines on 21st. It’s truly hard to know where to begin with that one.
Was sent this from Facebook pic.twitter.com/PiNMOE7Zcu
— Ed Betteridge (@EdJBetteridge) February 25, 2021
In Germany, White-headed Duck records came again from Ausgleichsweiher on 23rd, and Staustufe Ingoistadt on 27th; and a Dusky Thrush was seen at Stollberg on 27th-1st.
In Poland, the Baikal Teal remained at Pakoslaw reservoir on 23rd-28th, and the meena Western Rufous Turtle Dove was still present at Katowice on 25th-28th.
Sweden’s settled Black-throated Thrush remained at Sjorrod on 26th-28th; and in Denmark, the Stejneger’s Scoter was still present off Zealand at Rorvig on 25th.
On Iceland, the Slate-coloured Junco remained at Helluvatn on 1st.
Casting our net further afield, the Pied-billed Grebe remained in the Azores on Sao Miguel on 27th.
In Israel, a Three-banded Plover was seen at Ein Bdolach fishponds on 23rd-26th.
A Variable Wheatear was found in Kuwait on 28th at Kabed Reserve was the third for both the country and the Western Palearctic.
And finally, belated news this week came of a dead Striped Crake found in Turkey on the Bodrum peninsula on 11th December 2020 – a national first, and only the ninth record for the Western Palearctic.
For all spring’s been flirting with us this past fortnight, in our hearts we know that the first week or two of March is a strange hinterland, where it’s still pretty wintery in birding terms for all it’s meteorologically spring now. Several dozen Sand Martins do not a spring make…
Which means that our historic records for the week to come present, with the odd glimmer of southern migrant glamour, a mostly chilly picture of past Gyrs, King Eiders, and Snowy Owls.
As it stands, the charts for the week to come look like we’re going to get a bit of everything where wind directions are concerned, from light southerlies and easterlies to stiff north-westerlies and, latterly, some robust south-westerlies. So really, anything’s possible.
Now feels like the week to wheel out our perennial late-winter favourite – the subtle joy that’s an American Herring Gull. With 10 accepted British and Irish birds found in the past during the week to come, we know it’s prime time for them to be discovered. It just needs someone suitably grimly determined to put in the legwork and, ultimately, get lucky…
Jon Dunn
2 March
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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