Weekly birding round-up: 13 - 19 Jul 2021
It may have felt even more heavy with summer this week, but the birding calendar put the first bit of heat on return movement while the beaches filled up with staycationers. While there weren’t really any new headliners besides the big bird in Ireland, it was certainly an improvement on last week!
We’d long resigned ourselves that a second coming of the Egyptian Vulture seen on Scilly last month was just not going to happen. And then this week it did. On 14th, exactly a month after the appearance on Scilly, the mega alert sounded with news that an Egyptian Vulture was near Dunfanaghy New Lake in Co.Donegal. It showed on several occasions that day and again on 15th before melting away. Late in the day on 19th, we heard that it was been tracked down an incredible 180 miles to the south-east in Co.Wicklow at Avoca, near Arklow, where it was seen circling before heading north-east. A prime position for a crossing into South Wales, but where it actually choses to go next is anybody’s guess. Of course, assuming acceptance, this will go down in history as Ireland’s first Egyptian Vulture and certainly thrilled Irish twitchers while it was in Co.Donegal.
There’s no tiring of the Black-browed Albatross, which thrilled visitors to Bempton Cliffs RSPB (East Yorkshire) throughout the week. It did go missing now and then, but it couldn’t really be expected to be any more dependable. After its flash-in-the-pan appearances of other years, it really is cause for celebration that this king of seabirds seems to at home in East Yorkshire’s seabird city this year.
In Co.Mayo, a Fea’s or Desertas Petrel was scored from Kilcummin Head on 19th. Both Wilson’s Petrels
this week were ‘seen from boat’ jobs again, with one 42 miles north of St.Kilda from the trusty RC Celtic Explorer on 15th, and another in waters off Co.Donegal on 18th.
A Cory’s Shearwater east past Fanad Head (Co.Donegal) on 16th was an optimistic sight. Numbers of Balearic Shearwaters simmered down, with no double-figure counts. Between one and three were seen off Portland Bill (Dorset) most days, while another was seen from Porthgwarra (Cornwall) on 16th, two were encountered from a boat off Brixham on 18th, and an evening pelagic off Scilly had another brace on 19th, when one was off the Skellig Islands (Co.Kerry).
The resident Long-tailed Skua in Shetland was reported near Boddam to the end of the week. Another adult flew past St.Mary’s Island (Northumberland) on 15th. Pomarine Skuas included two past Old Nab (Northumberland) on 13th and singles past Whitburn (Co.Durham) on 15th, North Queensferry (Fife) and Flamborough Head (East Yorkshire) on 17th, and others at sea off Co.Donegal on 18th and just off Blackdog (Aberdeenshire) on 19th.
There was a brief but thrilling encounter to be had with a grounded Black Stork at Minster Marshes on the Isle of Thanet (Kent) on 13th. What was presumably the same bird was seen over Dover and the Folkestone area on 15th, before crossing into Sussex at Rye Harbour NR at 2pm. The next day it was back in Kent, seen over Ash Level and Great Stonar. On 17th, the bird flew east over Folkestone again in the morning before returning to Ash Level at 7pm.
The smart adult Glossy Ibis reappeared at Snettisham Coastal Park (Norfolk) on 13th and stayed put the entire week. The Sussex bird was last seen over Pagham Harbour on 13th, while the individual at Bough Beech Reservoir (Kent) remained to 16th and the Lincolnshire bird was only seen on 18th at Alkborough Flats. Another was seen at Kingfishers Bridge NR (Cambrigeshire) on 18th, where there was a Purple Heron the previous day.
The adult drake Black Scoter was reliably found off Blackdog Rock (Aberdeenshire) this week, last reported on 16th, alongside a first-summer drake Surf Scoter. The current ‘Prince’ of Unst (Shetland), the first-summer King Eider at Baltasound, was still on 18th.
The Pied-billed Grebe was still going strong on Loch Feorlin (Argyll) on 19th.
Norfolk’s adult male Pacific Golden Plover moved west to tour the flagship RSPB reserves around The Wash this week. Initially staying in Norfolk, it was on view at Snettisham on the afternoon of 16th, but was soon pushed off and spent the evening and following morning at Titchwell. On the morning on 19th, it was drawn to the wader mecca of Frampton Marsh (Lincolnshire). At Cley NWT, where the plover made its initial appearances, it was replaced by the first White-rumped Sandpiper of the season on 17-18th. The next day, a White-rumped was at Minsmere (Suffolk). Hmm, another same-bird theory?
After a possible sighting on 14th, it was confirmed on 16th with better views that there was a Kentish Plover at the Church Norton end of Pagham Harbour (West Sussex), though it remained distant nonetheless and was not seen again.
A Temminck’s Stint made a fleeting appearance at Cresswell Pond (Northumberland) on 15th, followed by a more obliging bird at Pennington Marshes (Hampshire) on 19th. In Norfolk, a Pectoral Sandpiper at Titchwell on 13th might have been the one that settled at Hickling Broad on 15-19th given the proven exchange of waders between the sites. Others were at Old Hall Marshes (Essex) on 13th and Udale Bay (Highland) on 15th.
An unexpected bonus for birders watching the Elegant Tern on Anglesey was a Grey Phalarope sharing the Cemlyn Lagoon for a short while on 16th. In East Yorkshire, a migrant Red-necked Phalarope was found at Beacon Ponds on 18th, being relocated on the Humber nearby the next day.
‘Napoleon’ the Bonaparte’s Gull was back at its Kent moulting site, Oare Marshes KWT, for its ninth summer on 16th. A little on the late side, the bird is usually back a few days earlier in July, sometimes even June. It was still there on 19th. A new, first-summer, Bonaparte’s Gull was found at Ringaskiddy, Co.Cork, on 18th; the first-summer was again at the sound end of Lough Beg (Co.Derry) on 14th, while the bird on Unst (Shetland) was still there on 18th.
A Sabine’s Gull was on the Bann Estuary (Co.Derry) on 18th. Glaucous Gulls included one on North Uist (Western Isles) and others in Suffolk and Highland. Two Iceland Gulls continued to while away the summer on Scilly.
The Elegant Tern remained faithful to the Sandwich Tern colony at Cemlyn Bay (Anglesey) all week, performing well and even displaying in between relatively short fishing trips. Meanwhile the Least Tern continued to live among the Little Terns of Portrane (Co.Dublin), last reported on 18th.
Messages about a ‘reported probable’ are sometimes difficult to get excited about, even with would-be rarities close to home, especially when followed by the somewhat predictable ‘no sign of reported probable’ message. This is how it began with a Caspian Tern at Middleton Lakes on the afternoon of 15th. This time, though, a breaking rarity message soon followed when the ‘carrot-bill’ reappeared – the 10th for Staffordshire – and stayed put till late evening.
Cornwall produced a high-flying Black Kite over Tregeare, near Launceston, on 15th. Another was seen over Wangord (Suffolk) on 13th. Female Montagu’s Harriers were seen at Mizen Head (Co.Cork) on 17th and Cemlyn Bay (Angelsey) on 18th. Given the unusual western locations on such a date, and the day between the sightings, surely this was the same bird, crossing the Irish sea? The migrant female Honey Buzzard continued to offer unusually good views on Fair Isle till 18th.
A male Red-footed Falcon was reported in the New Forest (Hampshire), west of Furzey Lodge, on 16th. The popular and showy first-summer female Red-foot stayed at Langford Lakes (Wiltshire) till 18th, but was nowhere to be seen the next day.
On the island of Skokholm (Pembrokeshire), a Western Subalpine Warbler was trapped and ringed by the observatory on 18th.
Bee-eaters continued to roam, with at least three reported south over Bentley (Suffolk) on 14th, then one heard above Bawsey (Norfolk) on 17th and another over Boscregan and Sennen (Cornwall) the following day. 16 Rose-coloured Starlings were widely spread, but with a noticeable west and north bias now, including four on Scilly, five on Scottish islands, and two in Ireland.
A late singing Golden Oriole was a surprise at Northward Hill (Kent) on 16th. A Hoopoe was seen at Wisbech (Cambridgeshire) on 20th and a female Red-backed Shrike spent a day at Porthgwarra (Cornwall) on 14th. There was a report of a Melodious Warbler near Hayle (Cornwall) on 16th, while another was trapped and ringed at Hilbre Island on 20th, making for a fantastic record for the Wirral. A Serin flew over Dungeness (Kent) on 15th and a male Common Rosefinch was reported on 13th on the Isle of Bute.
Sometimes when you rush things you can look silly!
— John Hewitt (@wathingsmecca) July 14, 2021
Rose-coloured Starling still at Driftwood 7.30 pm. I'm not around tomorrow but if bird is present there will be access through property from 2pm. Please ring front door bell. Don't attempt to access back or or you will flush it pic.twitter.com/70Univ9sLr
The roaming Sandhill Crane turned up on the Lakselv Delta in Norway on 13th, and a male White-winged Crossbill was found that day at Surtsey in Iceland. On 14th, a Mandt’s Black Guillemot was found at sea 46 miles east of the Faeroes. A putative Kamchatka Leaf Warbler was trapped and ringed at Kilpisjarvi in Finland on 18th.
The weather charts aren’t exactly screaming it, but while it remains warm over the first few days of the week, it feels like the kind of weather in which something crazy like a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater might catch us off-guard. More realistically, juvenile Two-barred Crossbill is something to look out for, particularly on the Northern Isles, though you’d have thought at least a couple would have appeared by now if we were to have a good year.
We’re moving into rich times for waders with each day that passes. Perhaps with something like a Broad-billed or Terek Sandpiper. I always cross my fingers for a Lesser Sand Plover at this time of year. The last three (all mongolus) have been in July, but it’s approaching 20 years since a truly twitchable one.
There looks to be a bit of a low-pressure system sweeping east across the Atlantic to hit Cornwall on Friday evening and Saturday morning, which may produce some interesting seawatching, initially from places like Porthgwarra, then Pendeen on Saturday evening and Sunday, as the system moves east.
David Campbell
20 Jul 2021
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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