Weekly birding round-up: 4 - 10 May 2021
Now this – this was more like it. A spring week just gone that had all the thrills and spills we could possibly have hoped for. Big passerines from east and west, a tasty shorebird or two… yes, spring had definitely sprung with a vengeance. And there are still weeks and weeks of it to come. Happy days.
Just when we might have thought the rare bird story of the year had drawn to a remarkable close, with the relocation of the wintering Northern Mockingbird from the sheltered gardens of Exmouth (Devon) to an all-too-brief pit-stop in West Sussex at Pulborough on 8th April, events took a dramatic turn this week with the breaking news on 6th that a (the?) Northern Mockingbird had been present for some days beforehand in a Newbiggin (Northumberland) garden.
For many, hindered by circumstances earlier in the year, it was time to fire up the Quattro. It’s not often a mega offers a second bite of the cherry, let alone a third go. Fabulously, with access arranged, what goes without saying is Northumberland’s first ever Northern Mockingbird remained settled in Newbiggin, showing wonderfully well until 9th.
If it is the same bird, now northbound, one wonders where it’ll be found next. It’s either bypassed East Anglia altogether, or simply slipped through the net of good observer coverage on the North Norfolk coast. Could it – and there’s naked self-interest at play here – even be found in Shetland?
In the aftermath of Britain’s first Calandra Lark, a one day bird on Portland (Dorset) on 2nd April 1961, it looked for a long while like this chunky lark was destined to be almost unthinkably beyond the reach of all but the very most fortunate – three decades elapsed, in which time just two more birds were found. One on Fair Isle (Shetland) on 28th April 1978, and a three day individual on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 26th-29th April 1985.
Our next bird, found on St Kilda (Western Isles) on 21st September 1994, was notable for a variety of reasons. For starters, it broke the pattern of spring occurrences – and, to date, there’s only been one further autumnal record – but it also firmly cemented what was to become the accepted orthodoxy for Calandras - namely, that they generally are found on islands rather than the British mainland.
It also marked something of a tipping point. Having gone over 30 years with just three birds found in that period, the St Kilda bird was the first of what has come to be almost – though not quite – an annual event. One found this week on Fair Isle on 8th-10th is the 22nd British record, and comes hot on the heels of our last, also found on Fair Isle, on 22nd June 2020.
We’re used to some species being lauded as Shetland or Fair Isle specialties – some of us, of a more grizzled vintage, grew up thinking of Red-flanked Bluetail, Pechora Pipit and Lanceolated Warbler as such. Yet all of those, while Fair Isle remains a potent draw for them, have subsequently begun to be found, to varying extents, more regularly away from the jewel in Shetland’s crown.
And while there certainly have been Calandra Larks found away from Fair Isle, and even on the British mainland since 1994 – Kent, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire have all had fleeting one day birds – them stats don’t lie… this week’s bird on Fair Isle is the eighth record for the island, and the fourth in the past 10 years. That’s quite a reputation the island’s building for this magnificent bird.
The wait for our next Bimaculated Lark, on the other hand, is pushing on towards the half century mark. Our last – also on Fair Isle – dates back to 8th June 1976, a 45 year period in which three Black Larks and a White-winged Lark have come and gone. What will greet the next Bimac, wherever it may be found? Absolute scenes, one suspects.
Granted a Broad-billed Sandpiper doesn’t have the mega status of either of the two previous headliners, but it would be a churlish birder indeed who insisted that one of these humbug-headed waders doesn’t have a stellar quality all its own. They’re more or less annual arrivals on these shores, but there is the odd blank year too, so they’re not a given in any spring. And just look at them – they’re gorgeous birds, a symphony of dark chocolate and milky coffee atop a snow white underside accented with a scatter of chevrons and streaks.
Anyone’s day is vastly improved by seeing one of them, let alone finding one. Jonathan Farooqi can feel justly pleased with himself this week for picking one out of the accompanying flock of a couple of hundred Dunlin on the Alde estuary (Suffolk) on 5th. Happily for Suffolk birders, it proved to be a relatively accommodating individual, remaining there the following day also.
While a shade over 270 accepted birds in Britain to the end of 2019 isn’t of the same rarefied atmosphere as a Northern Mockingbird or a Calandra Lark, local perspective is all here. Suffolk’s enjoyed 15 birds to date, but just two of those have been since the turn of the century. While there may not be many Suffolk list keepers who still needed Broad-billed Sandpiper, it’s emphatically a Good Bird, and a sign of further good things to come in the weeks ahead of us. A further possible bird was heard over Nene Washes RSPB (Cambridgeshire) at 10:15pm on 7th.
With no news of a Double-crested Cormorant nature emanating from Co.Kerry this week, it fell to White-billed Divers to make up the rarer quotient of the week’s seabirds.
Three seen again in the favoured waters of Shetland’s South Nesting Bay on 7th represented the week’s largest count, with three also again off Lossiemouth (Moray) on 9th. Lingering single birds off the Scottish mainland were seen from Portsoy (Aberdeenshire) again on 7th-9th and Lossiemouth still on 4th; but the week’s showiest bird was, by a country mile, the absolutely sumptuous individual still in the shallow turquoise waters off Papa Westray (Orkney) on 5th-6th.
Pomarine Skua passage remained fairly muted this week, with around 70 birds noted in the course of recent days, of which seven seen from Lavernock Point (Glamorgan) on 9th were the highest single site tally.
A sub-adult Long-tailed Skua was seen going west past Portland (Dorset) in the early morning of 9th followed, later in the day, by sightings from Hampshire of an eastbound adult at Hurst Spit and Needs Ore Point. On 10th an adult passed Splash Point (East Sussex).
Balearic Shearwaters were seen on 4th and 9th from Portland (Dorset) and, on 10th, from The Lizard (Cornwall).
Once more topping the long-legged beasties section this week was a Black Stork - on this occasion, one found in Kent over Bekesbourne in the evening of 9th. The following day it was kicking around the marshy delights of Stodmarsh NNR, Grove Ferry NNR and Westbere before, in the evening, finding Lydden Valley RSPB.
Herons of southern origin were the best of the rest – starting in the very south, Purple Herons remained on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 4th-9th, and at Brading Marsh RSPB (Isle of Wight) on 7th; while a little to the north, a bird was seen in flight over Hickling Broad NWT (Norfolk) on 10th.
A couple of Night Herons were also seen – a second-summer bird was found in Herefordshire at Ross-on-Wye on 5th-9th; while, in Norfolk, an adult bird was present at Filby Broad on 7th.
And so to Glossy Ibises, of which there were again a good few to go around. Oxfordshire again proved fruitful for them, with one seen regularly at Otmoor RSPB on 5th-10th still, and three birds near Abingdon and back at Radley GPs on 5th. That other recent county hotspot, Cambridgeshire, provided sightings of a single bird at Burwell Fen again on 5th, March Farmers on 7th-8th, Oxlode on 9th, and Upware again on 9th-10th. One of the best records of the week, for the lucky homeowner in question, had to be the three birds seen at the weekend in a garden near Ouse Washes RSPB…
On the south coast, settled recent individuals remained at Dungeness (Kent) on 7th-10th and in Devon at Velator NR on 4th-6th still. A fresh flush of sightings came midweek, with Suffolk providing a flyover bird at Iken on 6th, one seen on 7th and again on 9th-10th at Ramsholt, and on 9th a bird at Trimley Marshes SWT; a bird was present in Nottinghamshire at Langford Lowfields RSPB on 7th-8th; and one more was found in Somerset at Steart WWT on 7th. On 10th final new records for the week came from over Eysey Pits (Wiltshire) and at Manby Flashes (Lincolnshire).
A Corncrake was heard rasping at Newham Bog (Northumberland) on 7th.
Ugh, Snow Geese… They’re looking like the new Hooded Merganser - more of which in due course – with feral or escaped birds clouding the issue of what’s wild and what’s merely having a bit of a wander. After the prior week’s flurry of itinerant feral birds popping up all over the shop, a single white morph bird this week at Newport Wetlands NNR (Gwent) on 6th was a shot across our bows before 21 birds pitched down on Lewis (Western Isles) on 8th – 19 white morphs, and two blues. Four remained there on 9th, while 16 were seen that day in Argyll heading south over Loch Gilp. Four, presumably the Lewis birds, headed east over North Uist (Western Isles) on 10th. Try sorting the wheat from the chaff with this sort of thing going on…
Getting into the meat of the less contentious honkers and quackers, we’ve one of the former – the Black Brant still present on Mersea Island (Essex) on 6th, and another sighting coming from Essex on 9th at Heybridge Basin.
A female Blue-winged Teal appeared at Walmsley Sanctuary CBWPS (Cornwall) on 4th-9th – a locally significant bird as it’s the first for Cornwall in a good few years, with the last bird, also present at Walmsley Sanctuary, dating back to 18th March – 4th May 2012.
Just one Green-winged Teal was logged this week – present in Dundee (Angus) at Riverside Nature Park on 4th-8th.
It’s hard to believe only a handful of weeks back we were tallying 30 or more Ring-necked Ducks across Britain and Ireland. This week, just the one was reported – a female still present in Dorset on Longham Lakes on 4th-6th, and reported again from there on 9th – until 10th, when we got news that a drake was again on Newchurch Common (Cheshire).
Surf Scoters remained at two traditional Scottish sites – the drake again off Musselburgh (Lothian) on 4th-10th, with the intermittent female again there on 7th also; and two drakes were again seen from Blackdog (Aberdeenshire) on 8th-9th.
And so to the murkier shallows of the rarity duckpond… where better to start that particular dabble than on Beddington Park boating lake (London) where the Marbled Duck continued what one suspects will be a long, damning residency on 4th-8th.
And finally… returning to where we began, we come to Hooded Mergansers. In a year that’s already featured a couple of known feral drakes and a female in Suffolk that may also fall foul of the taint of a known release just a few miles away, we’re already rehearsed ad nauseam the soap opera that’s the species.
Still, I guess we just have to give these ducks the benefit of the doubt until they do something really damning, like reveal a duck-fancier’s ring, spread a tatty wing, or wander down Ipswich High Street. The prior week’s drake Hooded Merganser remained at Loch of Kinnordy RSPB (Angus) on 7th-9th, and was joined in Scotland by another drake on Shetland at Stanevatstoe Loch on 8th-10th. Not, we should mention in passing, the only fancy ducks to have made it to Shetland lately – two Red-crested Pochards arrived on Loch of Brow on 7th, bouncing between there and nearby Loch of Hillwell until 9th; while a drake Mandarin was lobbing around Loch of Brow on 28th April – 1st May too. It’s getting to be like the boating lakes of London and the park lakes of Suffolk up here…
Away from Lancashire, where the recent Collared Pratincole made another couple of flying visits to the ploughed field near Kirkby on 7th where last it was seen earlier in the preceding week, Suffolk really was the place to be looking for interesting shorebirds in recent days.
We’ve already covered the Broad-billed Sandpiper on the Alde estuary, but there was plenty of other wader interest elsewhere in the county – though we may as well start on the Alde where, on 4th, the recent Kentish Plover remained; another was found on 10th way to the north, on Holy Island (Northumberland).
A Buff-breasted Sandpiper graced Carlton Marshes SWT (Suffolk) on 6th-7th; another was seen in Cornwall at Davidstow airfield on 6th-9th.
A long way from home??
— SWT Carlton Marshes (@SWTCarltonMarsh) May 8, 2021
The Buff-breasted sandpiper! A beautiful little bird which has found itself at Carlton Marshes when it should be over the Atlantic among other North American shorebirds. Amazing to see it displaying.
What will blow in next?!
??Andrew Easton pic.twitter.com/fQfHnB4nrv
The Temminck’s Stint remained in Suffolk at Trimley Marshes SWT on 4th, with two present there on 5th-9th. Other birds were found this week at Leven Carrs (East Yorkshire) on 4th; Alkborough Flats NR (Lincolnshire) on 6th; at Lilbourne Meadows (Northamptonshire) on 6th-7th; at Rutland Water (Leicestershire) on 8th-9th; and North Cave Wetlands YWT (East Yorkshire), Marshside RSPB (Lancashire) and Beddington Farmlands (London) on 9th. On 10th, further East Yorkshire sightings came from Kilnsea Wetlands, where two birds were found, and Burton Fleming.
The Spotted Sandpiper was seen in Lothian at Tyninghame Bay on 4th again; and an adult bird was discovered on 9th at Budle Bay (Northumberland).
The Lesser Yellowlegs remained briefly at Clifton Pits (Worcestershire) on 4th-5th; while another bird was found on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 9th-10th.
Dotterels continued a steady passage north this week, with some 40 birds in all noted nationwide, of which eight birds at Pittenweem (Fife) on 10th was the largest trip.
Finally, a female Red-necked Phalarope was present in Northumberland on Grindon Lough on 6th-10th; with additional birds found on 9th at Swine Moor (East Yorkshire), Hatfield Moors NNR (South Yorkshire), and Misson (Nottinghamshire). On 10th a bird was found in somewhat more traditional quarters, back on Shetland on Fair Isle.
Showing admirable staying power, the rarest of the gulls this week was once again the first-winter American Herring Gull, still present in Cornwall at Newlyn on 4th-10th.
This was closely followed by Dorset’s sixth Franklin’s Gull, seen at Lodmoor RSPB on 9th – a bird with an uneasy genesis, initially identified as a Laughing Gull, then re-identified as a Black-headed Gull until, finally, settled upon as a Franklin’s…
If anything, though, the week was once again notable for the presence of Bonaparte’s Gulls, with four first-winters noted in recent days. In Glamorgan, with no sign of the recent adult bird, just the first-winter remained in Cardiff Bay on 4th-6th; one lingered still at Upton Warren NR (Worcestershire) on 4th-9th; in Highland, the recent bird was again seen at Dunnet Bay on 4th-5th, St John’s Loch on 7th, and back at Dunnet Bay on 9th-10th; and one was present at Holme Pierrepont (Nottinghamshire) on 8th, potentially also accounting for a sighting in Nottinghamshire two days later at Hoveringham GPs.
An adult Ring-billed Gull was found on Loch Turret reservoir (Perth & Kinross) on 8th-9th.
Numbers of Glaucous Gulls held firm, with just under 20 birds noted nationwide. Iceland Gulls were, once more, a little more numerous, albeit in reduced numbers – some 35 birds were logged this week in Britain and Ireland.
The recent adult Kumlien’s Gull was again seen in Lerwick (Shetland) at Gremista on 6th; and a second-winter bird appeared at Shawell (Leicestershire) on 7th.
rns were still on offer in the present period – in Co.Donegal, the Gull-billed Tern was again seen at Carrickfinn on 4th and again on 9th; and in Dorset, the Whiskered Tern did the decent thing and settled down at Abbotsbury Swannery on 4th-8th – with presumably the same bird accounting for that found on 9th-10th further east in Dorset at Longham Lakes.
A regular feature of the past few weeks, we landed another Pallid Harrier in the days just gone – a juvenile at Bonby Carrs (Lincolnshire) on 7th. Could this be the same mobile bird seen on Scilly on 30th April, and latterly in Norfolk on 3rd?
A male Montagu’s Harrier meanwhile was seen over Pershore (Worcestershire) on 6th; another male was found on 9th near Choseley (Norfolk) and, on 10th, a male was seen heading east over Holme Dunes NWT (Norfolk).
A mobile Black Kite was bouncing around Aberdeenshire on 4th-6th, being seen along the coast from Collieston to the Ythan estuary and, inland, at Cotehill Loch. Other birds recently were noted at Bawsey CP (Norfolk) on 4th; at Minsmere RSPB (Suffolk) on 5th, with another possible that day at Brough (East Yorkshire); at High Conniscliffe (Co.Durham) on 7th; and, on 10th, at Cromford (Derbyshire).
A probable Red-footed Falcon was seen in Kent at Grove Ferry NNR on 5th; a confirmed female was seen in the early afternoon of 9th at Sheringham (Norfolk) followed, on 10th, by a female in Norfolk at Winterton North Dunes, another female at Trimley Marshes SWT (Suffolk), and a possible bird also in Suffolk over Westleton in the evening.
Lastly, a first-winter female Snowy Owl was seen on Papa Westray (Orkney) on 8th.
While the week enjoyed some notable headline passerines, on the whole passerines weren’t flooding onto our shores, with the notable exception of Shetland towards the end of the week when some useful easterlies cracked open the door to some migrants.
What did make it through to the rest of the country was a decent representation of the time of year, but perhaps not the volume we might have hoped for.
We’ll start in Dorset where something formerly considered scarce but now very much heading into the category of decently rare was lingering – a Tawny Pipit at Cogden Beach on 6th-10th.
Fair Isle, in addition to the Calandra Lark, also landed a Red-throated Pipit on 8th. A further possible individual of the latter species was noted over Audenshaw reservoirs (Greater Manchester) on 5th.
A probable Richard’s Pipit was noted over South Stack RSPB (Anglesey) on 6th.
Another candidate Black-headed Wagtail was found in recent days, this time at Bothal Pond (Northumberland) – posing as such on 6th-7th until sound recordings resolved it as a Grey-headed Wagtail after all. Reported again on 8th distantly in flight, it wasn’t seen thereafter. Further Grey-headed Wagtails were noted this week at Cley (Norfolk) on 4th; Folkton (North Yorkshire) on 6th; North Point Pools (Norfolk) on 8th; and on 9th in Norfolk at Holme and West Runton, and at Reculver (Kent). Fresh additional birds were found on 10th at Happisburgh and Cley (Norfolk), with two seen at the latter site.
A possible Ashy-headed Wagtail at Newport Wetlands NNR (Gwent) on 6th added a little more variety, while some 20 Blue-headed Wagtails continued to brighten birders’ days from Scilly in the south to Cumbria and Northumberland in the north, and many points in between.
Rarer fare made it to Shetland on 10th, with a mobile Citrine Wagtail tracked from Spiggie to Noss Farm in the South Mainland. Another putative bird was reported from Ireland beach on Shetland in the mid afternoon of 10th.
A Bluethroat was seen in Norfolk at Gorleston on 8th.
A probable Black-throated Thrush was seen on 8th in flight near Straiton (Lothian).
In Essex, the first-summer male Woodchat Shrike remained at Rochford on 4th-10th. Two were present on The Lizard (Cornwall) on 9th, with one still present the following day; and one was found on Mizen Head (Co.Cork) on 10th, sharing the site with a female Red-backed Shrike present on 8th-10th.
More colourful heralds of spring migration were found this week – most pleasingly around 25 fresh Golden Orioles, of which a showy male at Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 5th-6th was a particular stonker.
Hoopoes put on a modest show again this week, with a dozen or so logged nationally. Lingering birds remained in Buckinghamshire at Hedgerley Green on 4th-6th, and at Drayton Bassett (Staffordshire) on 2nd-10th.
Wrynecks remained in shorter supply. Six were seen in recent days – settled individuals at Boldon Business Park (Co.Durham) on 4th-7th and Borough Hill (Northamptonshire) on 4th-5th, and new arrivals on Whalsay and Fair Isle (Shetland) and North Ronaldsay (Orkney) on 9th. A final Shetland bird was found on Yell on 10th.
Some half a dozen Red-rumped Swallows checked in this week – one zipping around Kilnsea and Spurn (East Yorkshire) on 4th; presumably the same bird in Greater Manchester at Audenshaw reservoirs on 6th and Little Woolden Moss on 7th; on 7th also at Hollesley Marshes RSPB (Suffolk) and Brading (Isle of Wight); on 8th at London Wetlands Centre WWT (London); on 9th at Burnham Overy Dunes (Norfolk); and on 10th at Gibraltar Point NNR (Lincolnshire).
Decent warblers were relatively thin on the ground, given the time of year. The singing male Iberian Chiffchaff was still present in Suffolk at Foxhall Heath on 5th-9th; while the recent male Eastern Subalpine Warbler wasn’t budging from Foula (Shetland) on 4th-8th.
Fresh faces came in the form of singing Savi’s Warblers - one apiece for National Wetlands Centre WWT (Carmarthenshire) on 6th-9th and Derek White’s Eggs Pits (Bedfordshire) on 6th-9th.
A Melodious Warbler was found on 9th at Beachy Head (East Sussex).
Southern England racked up a few Serins again this week – one on St Mary’s (Scilly) on 6th was followed by a probable heard only there the next day; and, on 7th, one on Portland (Dorset) was bolstered by two seen coming in off the sea at Selsey Bill (West Sussex). A further individual passed over Portland on 10th.
Finally, Shetland accounted for our notable buntings – the Little Bunting remained on Fair Isle on 5th-10th while, on Foula, a Rustic Bunting was found on 8th-10th.
The young male Walrus racked up a few more days on the lifeboat slip at Tenby (Pembrokeshire), being reported from there until 7th.
Wally the walrus watchers today?? pic.twitter.com/e8JTiymWDe
— Tenby Observer (@tenbyobserver) May 5, 2021
For a second week running, we need to start close(ish) to home in Holland where, on 5th-6th, a mega was lurking – a Rufous Bush Chat at Nordhollandisches Dunenreservat. Additionally, Holland also held onto the recent drake Baikal Teal at Zevenhoven on 5th-7th.
Another drake Baikal Teal cropped up this week – in Norway, at Hellesjovannet on 4th. Norway also scored a Steppe Eagle at Rost on 4th.
That segues neatly again to Poland, where another Steppe Eagle was found this week, at Wasosz on 9th.
Back in Scandinavia for a moment, in Sweden a drake Stejneger’s Scoters lingered at Hornefors on 4th-8th; the Greater Sand Plover was again seen at Sysne on 4th and then, on 5th, it or another bird was found at Rånnesta.
In Denmark, the lingering Sandhill Crane appeared again, this time over Skagen on 8th.
To Germany’s Heligoland next, where on 10th an Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler was found – a first record for Germany.
In France, the Trumpeter Finch remained at Phare de la Gacholle on 4th.
A small movement of Western Reef Egrets seems to be happening in southern Europe – following one in Greece on 28th at Kastoria Lake, news came this week of birds in Italy on 4th at Genoa and Porto Tolle.
Speaking of small movements that just might augur well elsewhere in Europe, a couple of White-tailed Lapwings were found in recent days – one in Romania near Bucharest on 7th, and two on Cyprus at Famagusta on 8th.
Out on the Azores, a Great Blue Heron was seen on Pico on 4th.
Finally, in Israel, the country’s first Chinese Pond Heron remained in Jerusalem Botanical Gardens on 4th-7th.
A modest arrival of migrant passerines into the northern isles in the latter half of the week just gone included, in its number, a few Pied Flycatchers, a timely monochrome reminder were one needed that we’re now in absolute prime time for their rarer counterpart. The middle of May is peak season for a cracking Collared Flycatcher to make landfall somewhere on the east coast.
The coming week boasts no fewer than nine past records, including Britain’s first, shot on Whalsay (Shetland) on 11th May 1947. Since that first bird we’ve racked up 55 accepted birds nationally over the years to the end of 2019 – and it’s a species that’s being found more frequently in the past couple of decades. The week ahead owes us another one, surely…
Jon Dunn
11 May 2021
Many thanks to all this week's contributors for your photos and videos
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