Weekly birding round-up: 2 - 8 Jul 2024
The seawatching season continued to develop apace this past week, and we’ve weeks more of it stretching ahead of us – a delicious prospect, not least if you’ve booked a berth on one of the coming Scilly pelagics. And waders are getting on the move again too. It’s all to play for, as the past week amply demonstrated.
Following in the considerable footsteps of Brown Booby and Red-footed Booby, could South Polar Skua become something of a regular, if still very rare, sighting in British waters?
Our first birds were, of course, all winter individuals, found in Dorset in January 1996, on Scilly in October 2001, and in Glamorgan in February 2002. More recently, however, last year gave us birds seen on the Scilly pelagics of 1st August and 25th August, another seen at sea off St Martin’s on 29th August, and a final bird seen passing St Ives (Cornwall) on 13th October.
This week, Scilly got the needle back in the groove early, with a bird seen from the pelagic in the evening of 5th. One suspects this may not the be the last South Polar Skua seen off there before the pelagic season is done and dusted in 2024, providing yet another compelling reason to give a pelagic a try one of these days.
Lothian’s no stranger to a drake Stejneger’s Scoter these days – records coming from 10th-20th December 2022 around Aberlady Bay, and off Musselburgh Lagoons on 12th August – 23rd September 2023. Presumably that returning bird accounts for the drake found this week off Musselburgh Lagoons on 2nd-8th – a welcome return, and one that’s looking settled again for now.
The 2024 Red-footed Booby story took a couple more twists this past week, following the previous week’s Dorset encounters. Far from heading east up the Channel, the bird appears to have doubled back, being seen in Devon off Sidmouth in the evening of 2nd, and potentially also off Dawlish Warren NNR on 4th, the latter record involving some intrepid birding from the morning train. Where next for this bird?
Giving us our second consecutive week with both booby species notched up, seawatching off St Levan (Cornwall) in the late afternoon of 6th produced a Brown Booby.
Waders are getting on the move again and a midsummer Least Sandpiper, while a rare beast, isn’t wholly without precedent – of the 42 accepted British records, fully eight come from past Julys. Put like that, it’s a decent month in which to find one.
All but one of those eight past birds stayed for at least two days, with our last – the adult that settled at Drift Reservoir (Cornwall) on 17th July – 3rd August 2022 – extending a stay to almost three weeks. Alas, one found this week at Kilnsea Wetlands NR (East Yorkshire) on 3rd wasn’t sticking around beyond the late afternoon that day, but showed well at times while it was still there.
We hardly needed telling, after the booby double bill the preceding week, that the seabird season had thrown its doors wide open and invited us all in to play, but this week just gone firmly hammered that message home. As we’ve seen in the headlines, of course, but here in the main body there’s plenty more to get our teeth into.
Starting with Wilson’s Petrel, pelagics proved fruitful – off Co.Cork, six birds were logged on 2nd, and three more on 6th; while the Scilly pelagic of 6th scored four birds. A probable was seen from Pendeen (Cornwall) on 6th.
Large shearwater numbers were picking up nicely too. Some 175 Cory’s Shearwater were noted during the week, with a peak count of 75 seen from the Scilly pelagic of 5th; while 45 Great Shearwater were also noted this week, with a peak count of 25 birds from the Scilly pelagic on 5th.
Some 450 Balearic Shearwater were logged over the course of the week, with Devon once again comfortably taking the honours for the biggest tally – 321 birds being seen from Start Point on 5th.
Lastly, Pomarine Skua crept into double figures with 15 birds noted across Britain and Ireland, all singletons bar two seen on 5th from Dun Na Mbo (Co.Mayo), and four off Dawlish Warren NNR (Devon) on 8th. The latter site also attracted a Long-tailed Skua on 8th.
Starting the long-legged beasties also in Co.Mayo this week, as we’ll do for the foreseeable, the adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron remained present at Belcarra on 4th-8th still.
A flyover Night Heron was a surprise in Shetland’s West Mainland at Mid Dale on 4th; while another was seen this week in East Yorkshire at North Cave Wetlands YWT on 5th-6th. Belated news emerged at the end of the week of a bird in London at Walthamstow Wetlands LWT on 6th; while a first-summer bird was found on 8th in Cambridgeshire at Ouse Fen RSPB.
A Purple Heron was reported from St Aidan’s RSPB (West Yorkshire) on 8th.
Glossy Ibis remained well scattered about the place. Starting in Co.Wexford, one was present at Tacumshin on 5th. In Britain, two were again seen at Etton Maxey Pits on 2nd; while two were still to be seen in Lincolnshire at Deeping Lakes LWT on 2nd-8th; and two once more in Hampshire at Titchfield Haven NNR on 7th, at least one of which was still present there the following day. Norfolk retained a bird at Ken Hill Marshes on 5th, with a flyover bird noted at Hickling Broad NWT on 4th, and a bird at Titchwell RSPB on 8th; one was still present in Oxfordshire at Otmoor RSPB on 5th-7th; and, in Kent, one was seen at Worth Marsh RSPB on 3rd-5th.
Scotland, as we saw in the headlines, was making waves on the rarity duckpond this week. A lingering notable quacker also remained north of the border – this being the first-summer White-winged Scoter still hanging around on the sea in the Blackdog area of coastline in Aberdeenshire on 2nd-4th, with a further report of it there on 6th also.
Two Surf Scoter were seen off Inch (Co.Kerry) on 2nd; and a drake in Cornwall off Pendower on 6th.
In Warwickshire, the drake and female Ferruginous Duck remained present at Draycote Water on 4th, with the drake at least still present there on 2nd-8th.
And finally for the quackers, in Scotland the American Wigeon was again seen at Loch Spynie (Moray) on 4th.
Last of all, a honker – a Red-breasted Goose again this week, this time at Marshside RSPB (Lancashire & North Merseyside), on 7th.
The biggest wader news this week, of course, concerned the smallest bird to feature in the daily reports, this being the East Yorkshire one-day Least Sandpiper… But other notable waders were being seen too.
Not least in Lincolnshire, which played host to not one but two Lesser Yellowlegs - the long-staying first-summer bird once again put in an appearance at Frampton Marsh RSPB on 5th and 7th-8th, while an adult was seen at Gibraltar Point NNR on 3rd-5th. Another British sighting came from Sprouston (Borders) on 4th, only the second record for the county; while in Ireland a bird was again seen at Harper’s Island (Co.Cork) on 3rd.
Wrapping up the Nearctic theme, a Pectoral Sandpiper was seen at Lough Beg (Co.Derry) on 5th-6th, and a possible Spotted Sandpiper was reported from Scourie (Highland & Caithness) on 5th…
…while Long-billed Dowitcher were seen at Portmore Lough RSPB (Co.Antrim) on 3rd-5th, and The Cull (Co.Wexford) on 3rd-8th still. A further bird dropped into Normany Marsh (Hamshire) on 8th.
In Cambridgeshire the pair of Black-winged Stilt were again at Smithey Fen on 3rd-7th; while the escaped, ringed individual remained in Norfolk at Ken Hill Marshes on 2nd-6th.
A Red-necked Phalarope remained on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 2nd-3rd, while two birds were seen on the island on 6th.
Lastly, finishing with a fine flourish, the Black-winged Pratincole reappeared once again at Finningley (Nottinghamshire) on 5th-8th.
In keeping with the increasingly seabirdy feel of the weekly news, a handful of Sabine’s Gulls were noted in recent days – a welcome sight whether you’re land-based or bobbing around on a small boat offshore. This week, birds were seen on pelagics off Co.Cork on both 2nd and 5th; while another was reported from Hayle Estuary (Cornwall) on 2nd.
In Kent the adult Bonaparte’s Gull remained settled at Oare Marshes KWT on 2nd-8th.
A handful of Glaucous Gull were seen this week – one in Northumberland at Seaton Sluice on 2nd, another in Moray on the Lossie Estuary on 3rd and 6th, and the recent Orcadian bird still at Stenness (Orkney) on 7th. On Yell (Shetland) the recent Iceland Gull remained on 2nd-6th.
Caspian Tern sightings pared right back, with just a bird seen at Sandbach Flashes (Cheshire & Wirral) on 6th to report.
In Northumberland the adult female surinamensis American Black Tern remained at Long Nanny on 2nd-7th.
In Co.Dublin the Least Tern remained at Portrane on 2nd-8th.
Ireland also boasted a second-summer Forster’s Tern at Soldier’s Point (Co.Lough) on 5th-8th. Another possible was reported again from Dorset at Middlebere on 6th.
Both recent first-summer male Red-footed Falcon hung on into the new week – one still present in in Suffolk at Carlton Marshes SWT on 2nd-3rd and again on 7th-8th, and the individual still in Cumbria at Wedholme Flow on 2nd-6th. A further bird was reported on 7th at Ouse Fen RSPB (Cambridgeshire).
In Lincolnshire the first-summer male Montagu’s Harrier remained this week at Gibraltar Point NNR on 2nd-3rd, and was seen again there on 8th.
The notable passerines this week largely continued their summer drought, as we’d expect at this juncture. We’ll start in Ireland, where a Hoopoe was seen at Shanagarry (Co.Cork) on 4th.
A Bee-eater was heard heading west over Holt (Norfolk) in the morning of 7th, followed by a bird seen at Overstrand in the early afternoon; and bird heard only on 8th at Eccles on Sea.
A Red-backed Shrike was reported from Inner Farne (Northumberland) on 3rd; while a male was found on 8th at Minsmere RSPB.
On 4th, a Marsh Warbler was trapped and ringed on Fair Isle (Shetland).
Shetland also landed itself a Melodious Warbler at Sumburgh on Mainland on 6th.
Another week, another Rose-coloured Starling in a garden, this time in Felixstowe (Suffolk) on 5th-8th.
A male Blue-headed Wagtail was seen at Hesketh Out Marsh RSPB (Lancashire & North Merseyside) on 6th.
And finally, the white-spotted male Bluethroat was flying the rather optimistic blue flag at Slimbridge WWT (Gloucestershire) on 2nd-8th, still finding something to sing about despite all evidence to the contrary.
Rather echoing news off Scilly in recent days, in Iceland a South Polar Skua was seen from an offshore vessel on 1st, just within Icelandic waters – a national first record.
Also with a nod to this week’s British seabird news, an immature Red-footed Booby was seen on 30th June from a boat off Spain’s Galicia.
In France, a vetula Cape Gull was seen in Nice at Embouchure du Var on 4th-5th.
A Western Reef Egret was present in Spain on 4th at Embalse de San Salvador.
Heading up into Scandinavia, in Denmark the Pygmy Cormorant was once more seen at Slotsmosen on 4th.
Male Yellow-browed Bunting, Emberiza chrysophrys trapped and ringed at Tauvo, Siikajoki 6th July 2024 by Kalle Hiekkanen - the 1st record for Finland and 17th for Western Palearctic pic.twitter.com/ENlz6oTDT5
— Tarsiger (@TarsigerTeam) July 8, 2024
Finnish birders were enjoying a superb day at Tauvo on 6th, with a Yellow-browed Bunting trapped and ringed there, and a Pallas’s Reed Bunting also present.
Singing male Pallas’s Bunting, Emberiza pallasi trapped and ringed at Tauvo, Siikajoki 6th July 2024 by Kalle Hiekkanen - 2nd record for Finland and 11th for Europe outside Russia pic.twitter.com/BHc7wbOgOy
— Tarsiger (@TarsigerTeam) July 8, 2024
Again, a week at this time of year is all too tempting for entertaining daydreams about rare seabirds. The coming week, after all, features historic records of Ascension Frigatebird, Scopoli’s Shearwater, and Swinhoe’s Petrel.
It also, however, features 10 British and Irish past records of Pacific Golden Plover, and that doesn’t seem such a bad bet with waders demonstrably on the move now.
Jon Dunn
9th July 2024
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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