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Weekly birding round-up: 9 - 15 Mar 2021

While the early spring migrants continued to trickle in this past week, the weather was firmly against them, with strong winds bearing heavy rain from the west and, at times, much further north. There was a bite in the air, this past week. But, as ever, there were birds too.

 

There was a sense of some inevitability about this week’s headline bird, a drake Baikal Teal found in Hampshire at Ripley Farm reservoir on 14th. There’d been a handful of birds in Sweden, Poland and Belgium in the first two months of the year…

…and at the start of the current week, the species seemed to be drawing a little closer, with a drake in France’s Pas de Calais at Platier d’Oye on 8th-9th and a female in Belgium at Wecheldezande on 5th-11th. Could the French drake be one and the same bird as what, if accepted in due course, would be Hampshire’s first record of the species?

 

After a bit of a wobble in the preceding week, normal service happily resumed in Devon, where the Northern Mockingbird continued to be reported daily from the gardens of Exmouth. At this rate, it could yet be destined to be very popular indeed.

 

Also proving to be a long-stayer, the juvenile Double-crested Cormorant was again seen at Carrig Island (Co.Kerry) on 15th. That’s consistent with both Ireland and Britain’s previous birds – the Irish first clocked up 50 days spanning the end of 1995 and early 1996; while Britain’s only record went considerably further, managing 106 days at Charlton’s Pond (Cleveland) in early 1989, finally departing on 26th April.

How long this bird lingers remains to be seen and, at the risk of sounding like a stuck record, there’s hope yet for anyone making an effort to double-check their local Cormorants. Any wayward Nearctic arrivals may yet be hanging around…

 

In the north of England, Lancashire’s third Pied-billed Grebe was reported daily on Bantons Lake outside Dolphinholme until 15th. ‘Reported daily’ isn’t to say ‘readily seen’, as the bird could be frustratingly elusive at times…

 

Those feisty winds that characterised the week bore fruit in recent days, and in some unexpected quarters too. We wouldn’t be expecting Long-tailed Skuas just yet, let alone a confiding inland bird, but for South Yorkshire birders the bird of the week – whisper it, maybe the year – was a cracking adult individual seen over Mayfield Valley on 11th and then settled near Fulwood on 12th-15th.

Nor was it alone, at a national level – further birds were seen at Severn Beach (Gloucestershire) on 11th; and on 12th at Bristol Airport (Somerset), Chesil Cove (Dorset), inland over East Leake (Nottinghamshire), and to the east at Rainham Marshes RSPB (London), the Bristol bird remaining until 14th. On 14th a final bird was seen in Devon near Ashford.

A handful of Pomarine Skuas joined the party – two were noted in Somerset at Chittening on 11th, with a single bird seen from Towan Head (Cornwall) on that day also; and a further bird was logged on 12th at Downderry (Cornwall).

North Yorkshire harboured a decent seabird all of its own on 9th – a smart White-billed Diver an excellent find for Mark Pearson off Filey; a further bird was lingering off Papa Westray (Orkney) on 15th.

More storm-blown waifs, in the form of a scatter of Leach’s Petrels, were seen from Newquay (Cornwall) on 11th, where two birds were reported; at Severn Beach (Gloucestershire) on 12th-13th; and in Somerset, where at Burnham-on-Sea on 13th three birds were logged and, on 14th, singletons were noted from Stert Point and Wall Common, preceded by one off the former site on 13th also.

A Little Auk was seen from Chanonry Point (Highland) on 14th.

 

The long-legged beasties begin, this week, with a reported Night Heron in Somerset at Saltford on 12th. Other than that, though, our main point of interest was, once again, Glossy Ibises…

The week’s peak count, in the absence of news from Devon, was once again three birds still present at Earith (Cambridgeshire) on 9th-15th; other settled recent individuals remained at Dungeness (Kent) on 9th, Stanpit Marsh (Dorset) on 9th-14th, and at Thrapston GPs (Northamptonshire) on 9th and again on 15th.

Further sightings this week came from Cotswold Water Park (Wiltshire) on 9th and Otmoor RSPB (Oxfordshire) on 12th-15th.

 

Starting the honkers and quackers with The Goose Formerly Known As Canada, we’ve the two hutchinsii Richardson’s Cackling Geese still present on North Uist (Western Isles) on 15th, and two interior Todd’s Canada Geese still on Tiree (Argyll & Bute) on 15th.

Next up are Black Brants and, of these, two seen at Kilnsea Wetlands (East Yorkshire) on 13th were the best of it, while one bird had lingered there beforehand since 9th and remained until 15th; and elsewhere, one was noted in Dublin (Co.Dublin) on 10th-12th, with another noted at Reculver (Kent) on 14th-15th.

A possible Grey-bellied Brant was seen in Highland near Ardersier on 14th.

British American Wigeons were seen again this week at Port Clarence (Cleveland) on 12th-15th and Grindon Lough (Northumberland) on 11th-13th; while in Ireland the drake on Larne Lough (Co.Antrim) remained present on 9th-14th.

Green-winged Teals had another strong showing, with at least nine individuals reported, five or six of which were from Scottish islands. In the Western Isles single birds were noted on North Uist on 10th-12th and Barra on 11th still, with three birds seen on Barra on 15th; and in Shetland, the recent bird remained on Unst on 9th-10th. Elsewhere, one was present at South Slob (Co.Wexford) again on 14th-15th, another was seen in Lancashire at Mythop on 14th-15th, the Blennerville (Co.Kerry) individual remained present there on 15th, and the recent bird was again seen at Saltholme RSPB (Cleveland) on 15th also.

The prior week’s female Ferruginous Duck was still to be seen on Horwood Pond (Wiltshire) on 9th.

In Ireland, the first-winter drake Lesser Scaup remained on Knockaderry reservoir (Co.Waterford) on 14th.

Almost last, but certainly not least in terms of sheer volume, 30 Ring-necked Ducks were noted nationwide in recent days. Some sites continued to maintain small flocks – four birds remained at Talley Lakes (Carmarthenshire) on 11th, with three at Pencarreg on 14th-15th; four were still on Dozmary Pool (Cornwall) on 14th; and three were still settled on Tiree (Argyll & Bute) on 11th; while not quite qualifying as a flock, two were still present at Radley GPs (Oxfordshire) on 9th-14th.

Finally, our only seaducks this week were two Surf Scoters again off Ben Head (Co.Meath) on 15th.

 

Our now regular trio of wintering Nearctic waders checked in again this week, but were supplemented by just a little more variety in the daily news reports.

Starting in Scotland, the Spotted Sandpiper was still present at Culzean Bay (Ayrshire) on 10th-15th.

Moving south, in North Yorkshire the Long-billed Dowitcher was once more seen at Bolton-on-Swale GPs and Scorton GPs on 9th-15th.

In Devon, the Lesser Yellowlegs was once more noted at Aveton Gifford on 9th-12th.

Further birds of note this week were a Dotterel in Cornwall at Black Head on 11th; and, on 12th, a probable Grey Phalarope heading west past Cley (Norfolk) followed, on 14th, by a confirmed bird inland at Grafham Water (Cambridgeshire).

 

While Laughing Gulls are, in a national context, far from the rarest of gull offerings, at a county level they’re a somewhat different matter. Dorset’s enjoyed half a dozen accepted birds in the past since the first back in 1969, but the last bird available for county birders to enjoy was way back in the early winter of 2005 – an individual that bounced between Radipole Lake RSPB and Weymouth Bay from 3rd-15th November.

This week’s discovery, by Steve Groves, of a second-winter bird on the beach opposite Abbotsbury Swannery in the morning of 11th felt, for a while, like it might prove frustrating – it chose not to hang around, and went missing for hours. Was that it, a bird destined to be seen by just the fortunate few who happened to be handy at the time? Happily not, for later in the afternoon it was relocated at roost in Weymouth Bay, and went on to be seen there until 14th and at Lodmoor RSPB in the morning of 15th.

Formerly gracing the headlines, the first-winter Ross’s Gull last seen in Co.Down at Killough on 18th February was once more seen in Killough harbour on 9th.

Wexford (Co.Wexford), meanwhile, scored a smart second-winter Bonaparte’s Gull on 12th-13th.

So far, so good in Ireland this week. When news broke that Fionn Moore, American Herring Gull finder supreme, had found yet another first-winter example at Castletown Bearhaven on 12th, nobody was in the least bit surprised – Fionn’s got excellent form in their regard. Latterly, however, some doubts set in, with images and video revealing a gorgeous, if perplexing, bird that didn’t quite fit a classic smithsonianus - the undertail coverts, in particular, ringing alarm bells – that and a whacking great bicoloured beak (‘bill’ feels too delicate for a substantial gull-dagger) that suggested some Glaucous Gull genes might be at play. An interesting bird…

Ireland racked up nine or ten Ring-billed Gulls this week – Co.Limerick accounted for two, a second-winter still at Foynes on 9th and an adult in Limerick on 13th; two adults were again present at Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre (Co.Kerry) on 12th-15th; the adult remained at Carrickfergus (Co.Antrim) on 12th-15th; the adult was again seen in Enniskillen (Co.Fermanagh) on 12th-14th; the adults still at Blackrock (Co.Louth) and Cork (Co.Cork) on 14th; an adult at Blennerville (Co.Kerry) on 14th; and an adult logged in Wexford (Co.Wexford) on 13th-14th. In Scotland, Lothian accounted for two birds – an adult at Fisherrow Sands on 10th and Bilston on 14th, and a second-winter at Bilston on 13th. The regular adult was once more at Hayle Estuary RSPB (Cornwall) on 10th; and, in Wales, the intermittent adult bird was once again seen in Pembrokeshire at Llys-y-Fran reservoir on 13th.

Some 25 widely scattered Glaucous Gulls logged this week meant that the species was, nationally, in a holding pattern, with no change in numbers on the preceding week; the 70 or so Iceland Gulls, meanwhile, represented a modest increase. Of these, peak single site counts were four birds apiece for North Uist (Western Isles) on 10th, Unst (Shetland) on 11th-12th, and Scrabster (Highland) on 13th.

In Co.Galway, the adult Kumlien’s Gull was once more noted on Omey Island on 9th; while in Cambridgeshire the second-winter bird was again seen at Smithy Fen on 9th and near Witcham on 15th; an adult bird was present at Blennerville (Co.Kerry) on 14th; and the juvenile was once more seen in Kent at Dungeness on 15th.

 

Sad news, this week, came in the form of the discovery of a dead Snowy Owl by the N25 east of Cork (Co.Cork) on 10th – a tragic end for a bird that had come so far.

 

Kicking off the passerines, the prior week’s three Penduline Tits found in Somerset at Weston Airfield remained into the current week, being seen there once more on 9th-15th.

Hot on the heels of the Hoopoe found on Scilly last week, Ireland clocked up the first of the year at Baltimore (Co.Cork) on 9th-12th.

A definite sense of spring being in the air was heard in Buckinghamshire this week where, at Watermead Lake, the wintering Yellow-browed Warbler burst into song on 9th. The previous week’s bird in West Sussex remained on 9th also at Patching sewage works.

One of the two Dusky Warblers was again seen at Ainsdale NNR (Merseyside) on 9th-15th; while the Nunnery Lakes NR (Norfolk) bird proved to still be present there on 13th.

A handful of Great Grey Shrikes were once more seen in recent days – in East Yorkshire at Brough on 9th-10th; in Angus at Backwater reservoir again on 9th and 15th; at Crabtree Hill (Gloucestershire) once more on 13th; and again in Suffolk at Capel St Mary on 15th.

Waxwings continued to be a fairly subdued presence this week, with the best of them being nine birds again in Elgin (Moray) on 13th, followed by the quartet still tucked into Nethy Bridge (Highland) on 9th-13th; and the balance being a single bird at Tain (Highland) on 12th. A further flock of 10 birds were reported from Mullingar (Co.Westmeath) on 15th.

The Rose-coloured Starling remained in Borders at Eyemouth on 10th-15th; and another was again seen in Oxfordshire at Witney on 14th.

In Shetland, one of the recent Black-bellied Dippers remained in Voe on 9th still.

Augmenting the Rustic Bunting and two Little Buntings at Thursley Common NNR (Surrey) still on 9th-15th was a further Little Bunting this week – seen in West Sussex at Warnham LNR on 11th-15th.

 

There’s a distinctly October-ish feeling about starting the overseas news out in the Azores. Normally, we wouldn’t be going there, at least virtually, until the autumn. Normalcy doesn’t enter into it, however, when a bird as spectacular as the Western Palearctic’s fourth ever Swallow-tailed Kite is found on Sao Jorge, present on 10th-15th. What. A. Bird. And not, remarkably, beyond the realms of avarice for birders on the eastern side of the Atlantic – while this latest bird is the third for the Azores, the WP’s first-ever record relates to an individual seen on 19th-23rd March 1993 in the Canary Islands, on Fuerteventura. Three of those now four WP records were found in March, so if it’s ever going to happen, now’s the time.

Also in the Azores, and in keeping with the theme of the lingering bird in Co.Kerry still this week, the Double-crested Cormorant remained on Graciosa on 15th, while two were reported as still present on Sao Miguel recently too.

Surely more a matter of when and not if where British birders are concerned, a Black-winged Kite was seen in Germany this week at Schontal on 12th-14th. It’s gonna happen, eventually, surely… Further pleasant cause for conjecture came in the lingering form of the White-headed Duck at Quecksee on 9th-14th; while the Sociable Lapwing remained in the Mittlere Horloffaue area on 9th-14th.

Feeling distinctly unseasonal, a Red-eyed Vireo was found in Holland at Groningen on 15th.

It felt, this week, like Baikal Teals were drawing a little closer still to us, with two birds recorded, one of which was practically on our doorstep – a drake in France’s Pas de Calais at Platier d’Oye on 8th-9th – while a female in Belgium at Wecheldezande on 5th-11th wasn’t a million miles away either. The writing was on the wall for somewhere on the south coast…

Completing the British birders’ wishlist this week, the French Pygmy Cormorant remained at Marias de Buisson Gros on 9th-11th.

In Sweden, the wintering Black-throated Thrush remained at Sjorrod on 12th; and a drake Stejneger’s Scoter was seen from Tonnersa on 14th.

Denmark scored a female Pine Bunting on 14th at Rodhus.

In Spain, a Sociable Lapwing was still present this week at Laguna del Hoyo on 9th; and a Lesser Flamingo was present on 14th at Lagunas de Campillos.

Finally, in Israel the recent Three-banded Plover was still present at Ein Bdolach fishponds on 11th.

 

The third week of March ought, judging by mounting past records of southern goodies like Black-winged Stilt, Alpine Swift and rarer fare like Baillon’s and Little Crakes, and even an at-sea Scops Owl, to feel like we’re at least peering around the door at full-blown spring bearing down upon us.

That, of course, presupposes the weather plays ball… And, sad to say, the forecast this week looks very much like it hasn’t read the script – it seems, at time of writing, as if we’re set for some persistent northwesterlies originating from somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic and rolling around a big lump of high pressure to eventually reach us. Not hugely promising conditions, then.

It’s times like these where we hope something hitherto unseen will pop out of the woodwork. That or something hard as nails. The coming week, in historic terms, strongly features Gyr Falcons, with 10 past records and, given we can’t reasonably expect much southern migrant action, one feels like as good a punt as any for the days to come.

 

Jon Dunn
16 March

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

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