• No news currently, check back later
• Why not check out our great value bird news subscriptions

 

Weekly birding round-up: 20 - 26 Aug 2024

To say that the sea-watching and pelagic trips were red-hot during the week just gone would be something of an understatement. Storm Lilian came and went with notable intensity, passing through Britain and Ireland like a dose of salts. And speaking of salty things, when our most dedicated sea-watchers could keep the salt from their lenses, there were all manner of good things lurking in British and Irish waters to grab their attention. This was a week of sensational seabirds.

 

We suggested last week that there might be more sightings of South Polar Skua in the immediate offing, and for once idle speculation became magnificently concrete in the days that followed.

Of course, the Scilly pelagics always stood a good chance of being the place to connect – their recent reputation for the species goes before them, after all. First, this past week, a bird on 22nd; and then another on 24th.

Meanwhile, also on 22nd, another individual was logged off Annagh Head (Co.Mayo). British land-based sea-watchers got their turn on 25th with a bird seen heading west past Porthgwarra (Cornwall); and then, on 26th, either the same bird or another was seen again at Porthgwarra.

Relegated to the main body of the Seabirds section of late for their recent relative ubiquity, in this of all weeks, Scopoli’s Shearwater is back in the headlines – not only because the week just gone was all about the seabirds, nor because when all’s said and done they’re still a top drawer rarity, but for sheer volume in recent days – they were being picked out with some regularity as the week unfolded.

We kicked off with a bird seen from Porthgwarra (Cornwall) on 22nd – this being somewhat overshadowed by another shearwater entirely in said sea-watch… This was followed, on 25th, by an extraordinary run of records – three seen from Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare), two from the Scilly pelagics, and one from Galley Head (Co.Cork).

For the sake of sea-watching completeness in the headlines, it would be churlish not to include the week’s Fea’s Petrel sp sightings. For there were a few, and nobody’s day was ever made worse for bumping into a Pterodroma on a sea-watch.

Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) was cooking with gas as the week wore on – birds being seen from here on 20th, 22nd and 26th. Further Irish sightings came from Galley Head (Co.Cork) on 21st, and Annagh Head (Co.Mayo) on 22nd.

The British account opened with a bird seen from Porthgwarra (Cornwall) on 22nd during that sea-watch, followed by another on 25th. In the meantime, those on the Scilly pelagic of 24th were treated to another fleeting bird.

It’s hard to know quite where to begin with the balance of the headlining seabirds – on the one hand there’s so much emotion freighted within claims of birds of their stature, and yet on the other hand these days, in the absence of a digital image or two, one wonders how far they can possibly go in terms of official acceptance.

But just put yourselves in the shoes of the various observers this week, and imagine how you’d be feeling if you’d seen any one of the following outrageous seabirds pass your coastal vantage point.

As we’ll see in the main seabirds section, there were a couple of calls for putative Black-browed Albatross in Ireland this week. And one more, in the late afternoon of 21st, at Seven Heads (Co.Cork), which by 22nd had changed in the newsfeeds into something very much larger, both practically and figuratively – a claim of a probable Wandering Albatross, no less. Seabird news really doesn’t get much bigger than that.

Well… from one putative national first to another. We were no sooner digesting the developing news from Ireland when, later on 22nd, a bombshell was matter-of-factly dropped in Cornwall with a post on Bluesky from Kester Wilson:

A Scopoli’s Shearwater, a Fea’s Petrel sp, and… what, if accepted, would be Britain’s first Pink-footed Shearwater, all seen passing Porthgwarra in the space of a few hours in the afternoon and evening of 22nd. Blimey. Alas, nobody else present at the time got onto the shearwater, so one fears it may have a mountain to climb upon submission. But, just like the observers at Seven Heads, Kester will know what he saw that day.

As will the blessed at Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) in the late afternoon of 25th. Bridges of Ross has enjoyed the very best of sea-watching seasons already in 2024, and it sounds like it may have just got that little bit better – a bird initially reported in the newsfeeds as a Fea’s Petrel sp was, within no time at all, being mooted as a probable Zino’s Petrel.

There’s probably no stranger cocktail of perfervid emotions in birding than seeing a bird of the stature of any of those three species passing through your field of view during a sea-watch. How it leaves one feeling is something only a precious few of us will ever experience. It’s a cliché, but ‘you know what you saw’ will be trotted out again and again by those who didn’t. But that’s maybe scant consolation these days. We’ve become spoiled rotten by digital photography and digiscoping – we practically expect our rare seabirds now to be digitally nailed. Sometimes though, that’s simply not going to happen.

 

Picking up where the headlines left off, with albatrosses, we’ll open the seabird section with more sightings of these consummate pelagic wanderers from the past week. A probable Black-browed Albatross was seen in the late afternoon of 21st passing Ballycotton (Co.Cork), while another, presumed also to be Black-browed, was noted from Malin Head (Co.Donegal) on 22nd.

From massive tubenoses to small ones next. Wilson’s Petrel were seen in good numbers again in recent days, with some 60 birds logged in Britain and Ireland as a whole. Good counts came once again from Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare), which accounted for 16 birds during the week, with a peak count of six on 23rd; and from the irrepressible Scilly pelagics, which enjoyed half a dozen birds on both 22nd and 24th, ‘just’ three on the intervening day, seven birds on 25th, and five on 26th.

Numbers of Leach’s Petrel picked up this week, with Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) enjoying three birds on 23rd, followed by 10 birds on 24th, and three more on 25th followed by a single on 26th. Single birds were seen in Scotland off Lewis (Western Isles) on 20th and 25th, and Corsewall Point (Dumfries & Galloway) on 23rd; a probable from Strumble Head (Pembrokeshire) on 25th; and back in Ireland, one from Annagh Head (Co.Mayo) on 25th.

Inevitably, of the approximately 21,000 Cory’s Shearwater records this week, there will be some duplication between sites – but, nonetheless, the picture was of an awfully large number of large shearwaters in our vicinity lately. Peak count was a staggering 4,600 birds noted from Loop Head (Co.Clare) on 20th.

Nor were Great Shearwater too shabby either – around 11,000 were noted during the week, with a peak count coming from the Scillonian in the evening of 24th, off which some 1,700 birds were seen west of Wolf Rock.

Around 1,000 Balearic Shearwater were also seen in recent days, with no particularly large aggregations in their number.

Numbers of skuas on the move were noticeably up, with around 220 Pomarine Skua and 100 Long-tailed Skua respectively logged. Peak count of the former species was 37 birds apiece for Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) on 20th, and Annagh Head (Co.Mayo) on 22nd; and of the latter species, 22 bird past Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) on 25th.

We wrap up the seabirds this week staying in Ireland where, on 20th, the adult Double-crested Cormorant was once again seen on Doon Lough (Co.Leitrim).

The long-legged beasties calmed down a little on the prior week’s relative largesse, with just the one Night Heron seen, again at Oare Marshes KWT (Kent) on 21st-25th; and the settled Purple Heron still hanging around the Exminster Marshes RSPB area of Devon on 21st-23rd before, on 26th, the juvenile bird was once again seen at Leighton Moss RSPB (Lancashire & North Merseyside).

The exception to the peaceful rule came this week from Hampshire, where a single Glossy Ibis at Titchfield Haven NNR on 21st still exploded, suddenly, into nine birds present there on 24th, but just two there the following day, rising slightly to four birds by 26th. Elsewhere in England birds remained at Breydon Water (Norfolk) on 23rd; at Otmoor RSPB (Oxfordshire) still on 20th-25th; at Deeping Lakes LWT (Lincolnshire) still on 23rd-25th; and at Dungeness (Kent) again on 21st-26th. On 25th a single bird was seen at Gibraltar Point NNR (Lincolnshire), and another at Ken Hill Marshes (Norfolk); on 26th a bird was reported over Frinton-on-Sea (Essex). In Co.Wexford, sightings of a single bird came from Ring Marsh on 24th, at Lady’s Island Lake on 25th, and Tacumshin again on 26th.

In Dorset the juvenile Spotted Crake remained at Lodmoor RSPB on 20th-24th; and a further juvenile was found at Blacktoft Sands RSPB (East Yorkshire) on 24th.

We begin the notable quackers yet again in Scotland, where the drake Stejneger’s Scoter remained off Musselburgh Lagoons (Lothian) on 20th-26th.

In Essex, the first-summer drake Canvasback continued his residency at Abberton Reservoir on 20th-26th.

Up in East Yorkshire, the Blue-winged Teal remained at Tophill Low NR on 20th-26th also.

The recent eclipse drake Lesser Scaup was still to be seen on Belvide Reservoir (Staffordshire) on 20th-26th.

On Shetland, the drake Ring-necked Duck appeared once more at Uyeasound on Unst on 21st – where’s he been hiding these past long weeks of summer?

Finally, the drake Ferruginous Duck remained at Draycote Water (Warwickshire) on 22nd-26th; and our other recent drake was also still sitting tight on Willen Lake (Buckinghamshire) on 25th.

The weekly wander through the waders begins, where else, but in Flintshire, where the recent adult male Hudsonian Godwit was still being seen on the saltmarsh near Flint Castle on 20th-26th. Which isn’t by any means to say it was proving a reliable prospect – sightings in that period were intermittent at best.

Numbers of Semipalmated Sandpiper picked up during the course of the week – starting in England, the adult remained around Sidlesham Ferry Pool (West Sussex) on 20th-22nd; the juvenile at Hayle Estuary (Cornwall) on 20th-26th, with an adult at Marazion on 26th; and a possible was seen at Frampton Marsh RSPB (Lincolnshire) on 23rd. Ireland meanwhile accounted for sightings at Owenahincha (Co.Cork) again on 23rd; Rosscarbery (Co.Cork) on 20th-22nd; and at Streedagh (Co.Sligo) on 23rd.

Back in Lincolnshire, an adult Baird’s Sandpiper was proving popular at Frampton Marsh RSPB on 22nd-26th.

Norfolk once again gave us sightings of White-rumped Sandpiper at Snettisham RSPB on 21st-25th (with two birds confirmed present there on 25th-26th), and Holme Dunes NWT on 22nd and 24th. Additional British sightings came from Spey Bay (Moray) still on 20th-24th; at Freiston Shore RSPB (Lincolnshire) on 24th; and at Seaton Snook (Cleveland) on 24th. Ireland’s only reported bird was one present again at Rogerstown Harbour (Co.Dublin) on 23rd-26th.

Mounting numbers of Pectoral Sandpiper spoke eloquently of the season in general and the westerly airflow of the week just gone – one still present at Scotney GPs (East Sussex) on 20th-25th being joined in the news by further singletons on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 21st-25th and Tresco on 26th, Frampton Marsh RSPB (Lincolnshire) on 24th-25th, and on St Kilda (Western Isles) on 22nd – the latter bird being joined by a second individual on the island on 23rd-24th.

St Kilda also enjoyed a juvenile Spotted Sandpiper on 23rd, while another was present at Marloes Mere (Pembrokeshire) on 20th-26th.

Lingering Temminck’s Stint remained at Scotney GPs (East Sussex) on 20th, and at Frampton Marsh RSPB (Lincolnshire) on 20th-24th still. Further sightings this week came from Saltfleetby (Lincolnshire) on 20th, and Dickleburgh Moor NR (Norfolk) on 20th-24th; the latter bird was reported again there on 26th.

Two American Golden Plover remained, respectively, on North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 22nd-24th, and in East Yorkshire’s Easington area on 20th-25th. On 26th further sightings came from Longhoughton Steel (Northumberland) and Titchwell RSPB (Norfolk).

A couple of Dotterel were an early shot across our bows – reported from Cley NWT (Norfolk) on 21st, and seen near South Anston (South Yorkshire) on 24th-26th.

A Black-winged Stilt was seen on 25th-26th at Ouse Fen RSPB (Cambridgeshire).

Numbers of Grey Phalarope, given the unsettled weather and concomitant increased observer effort, unsurprisingly picked up, with some 70 birds noted during the week. Of these ocean wanderers, a peak count of 14 birds from Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) on 20th was the highest single site tally.

A Red-necked Phalarope seen briefly in Shetland at Bakkasetter on 23rd was presumably of local stock and due to depart for South America any day now; another was found on 26th at National Wetlands Centre WWT (Carmarthenshire).

Finally, in Northamptonshire at Lilbourne Meadows NR the adult Lesser Yellowlegs was still present on 20th, while another sighting came from Flint Castle (Flintshire) on 24th.

Numbers of Sabine’s Gull went through the roof this week, the strong winds driving many birds within sight of land. Over 270 were recorded, with Bridges of Ross (Co.Clare) once again dominating the sightings – 53 birds being seen from here on 24th alone.

A gift from the west landed in Cornwall at Hayle Estuary on 20th – an adult Franklin’s Gull. It remained there until 24th, absent only on 23rd.

In Kent the adult Bonaparte’s Gull remained settled at Oare Marshes KWT on 20th-21st; and in Co.Antrim the adult was once again seen near Larne at Carnfunnock Bay on 22nd.

The strong winds also blew a rare tern our way this week, though the encounter was all too brief to determine whether it was a Bridled or a Sooty - seen at Burnham-on-Sea (Somerset) on 23rd, it was quickly lost to sight, and may have been blown inland. Alas, it wasn’t to be seen again.

In West Yorkshire the Caspian Tern was again seen on 20th at Eccup Reservoir and St Aidan’s RSPB; another probable was seen way south passing Chesil Cove on 22nd.

The week drew to a close with a Gull-billed Tern found on St Mary’s (Scilly) in the evening of 26th.

Our sole notable raptor this week was the Black Kite still present at Tacumshin (Co.Wexford) on 20th-21st.

Autumn continued to quietly purr into life this week, not least in Shetland where, despite the unpromising westerlies, a few notable migrants were trickling in. Foremost amongst these came as the week drew to a close – a Black-headed Bunting out on Foula on 26th.

One or two warblers where on the move into Shetland too. A Blyth’s Reed Warbler was found on the eastern shore of Bressay on 23rd, while Bressay also held a Barred Warbler at Gorie on 25th-26th. Additional Barred Warbler were seen on Fair Isle on 20th and 26th, and Foula on 23rd.

Once a staple of late August in Cornwall, an Aquatic Warbler was reported from Pendeen on 26th, but couldn’t subsequently be relocated.

Fair Isle also retained its recent Citrine Wagtail on 20th-26th.

Shetland Mainland, meanwhile, also held onto the recent Lesser Grey Shrike at Channerwick on 20th.

A Red-backed Shrike made landfall on Out Skerries on 23rd. On 25th English birds were found on 25th-26th near Marden (Kent), and Colchester (Essex).

On Lewis (Western Isles) the recent Alpine Swift was last reported on 22nd.

In England, an inland Hoopoe was reported from Prestwood (Buckinghamshire) on 21st.

Wryneck were seen this week at Fleet Pond (Hampshire) on 20th-22nd; Chew Valley Lake (Somerset) on 23rd; Northward Hill RSPB (Kent) on 25th; at Ilmington Downs (Warwickshire) on 25th-26th; and near Glastonbury (Somerset) on 26th.

A presumably very confused Waxwing was seen on 26th at South Shields (Co.Durham) – August far from a traditional month for them.

A male Bluethroat was found on 26th at Maer Lake CBWPS (Cornwall).

Back in Scotland, an unconfirmed report came of a Black-bellied Dipper at Potarch (Aberdeenshire) on 21st.

Returning to where the passerines section began this week, on Shetland a Common Rosefinch was seen at Boddam on Mainland on 23rd.

And finally, hopefully a shot across our bows for some Nearctic action in the weeks to come, there was an unconfirmed report of a possible Common Nighthawk over the M8 in Co.Tipperary west of Clonmel on 23rd. Couched with all the usual caveats, but maybe a positive omen of things to come…

If the sea-watching wasn’t half bad in Britain and Ireland this week, nor was it too shabby in Spain in recent days, where at Estaca de Barres on 21st a South Polar Skua was just the prelude to events of 23rd, when two Zino’s Petrel and a Fea’s Petrel were seen.

In France, the Hudsonian Whimbrel remained at Salin-de-Giraud on 20th-24th; and a White Pelican was seen over Marais de Romieu on 21st.

The recent Western Sandpiper remained in the Netherlands at Grandyk on 20th-22nd, only the second Dutch record, hence continuing to draw a stedy stream of admirers its way.

Denmark’s steadfast Pygmy Cormorant was still present at Slotsmosen on 23rd; a Sandhill Crane was seen on 26th near Koldborgvej; and a Brown Booby on 26th from Skagen.

In Finland, the male Cretzschmar’s Bunting was still to be seen at Uto on 20th.

Israel’s recent Basra Reed Warbler and the Yellow-billed Stork remained at Eilat on 24th. Newly arrived, on 24th an unprecedented three Tibetan Sand Plover were seen at HaMa’apil fishponds – two remained there on 26th.

The week ahead looks set to start with still more weather coming our way off the Atlantic – and the last week of August is far from the time to be hanging up the sea-watching scopes just yet. More rare seabirds will surely be coming our way in the days ahead.

A lump of high pressure looks set to sit over us by the weekend, maybe slamming the door upon seabirds for a while. The possibility of some light easterlies onto the east coast over the weekend could be entertaining. As we’ve seen during the past fortnight, some notable passerines have squeaked in to Britain despite, rather than because of the prevailing conditions. Crack the door open for them at this point in the early autumn and we could land a peach or two.

The end of August and opening days of September are the time when we can start to hope for a decent warbler. Shetland landed the first Blyth’s Reed of the autumn during the week just gone – another’s a distinct possibility. Once upon a time the coming week was traditionally a strong one for Aquatic Warbler, though that horse has somewhat bolted given the species’ global travails of late. However, the coming week is also historically a strong one for Booted Warbler, with some 20 past accepted records to its credit - everyone’s cup of milky tea, that one, when it pops up in coastal shrub in front of you.

 

Jon Dunn

27 Aug 2024

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

 

Share

Tweet  

 

 

Latest photos

Register free to upload

Latest articles