2019: the rare bits

2019 was a year of change for me - a change of jobs in this case - which often results in a bit of a slow down on the twitching front as 'more important' things take precedence. But I still managed a few additions to my British list through a combination of effort and good fortune.

Tengmalm's Owl, Tresta, Sheland, 13th April

The roosting owl was just feet above our heads but there was room for only three people at a time to view it

The owl spent most of the time asleep but when it awoke we watched it eating a Redshank caught, presumably, the previous night

Team Tengmalm - Andy Mears, Dave Gibbs, Chris Turner and Chris Wilkinson

The year started inauspiciously as a Tengmalm's Owl on Shetland seemed hopelessly out of reach, despite turning up during a week off at February half-term. But I've never twitched Shetland and was sort of happy to keep it that way. The bird went off the radar after a few weeks but was rediscovered as Easter approached and we were heading north for a family holiday in Speyside which, as all students of Scottish geography know, is just down the road from Lerwick. Suddenly, the Owl seemed do-able, and with a little help from some friends and a wacky races style canter through the various modes of transport which the northern isles have to offer, I managed to catch up with my first new British bird of 2019 on 13th April, returning via the Northlink ferry the following morning and arriving back at the holiday cottage before the rest of my super-tolerant family had finished breakfast.

The Slimbridge Little Bustard, 23rd June: with some imagination, the black and white, 'v-neck' jumper of Slytherin House can be seen

A clear candidate for the @recordshotmyarse Twitter feed

My Brown Booby photos were another candidate for @recordshotmyarse

Note the all dark upperparts and diamond shaped tail...

...and the clear demarcation between dark breast band and white belly

The rest of the spring passed without incident on the rarity front but just as the summer doldrums were due to set in a male Little Bustard at Slimbridge set the pulse racing again. Fortunately it turned up on a Sunday afternoon and as I was out and about birding in Dorset when it was located, I was able to drop everything and head to Slimbridge where the elusive Bustard occasionally lifted its head through the long grass of the Dumbles.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Davidstow Airfield, 7th September

This charming bird rescued an otherwise grim day dipping on Britain's second Brown Booby

A great location for American waders

Chough at Kynance Cove

Marcus and Phil dipping at Kynance Cove

Other Kynance dippers, looking like a routed army from 'Lord of the Rings'

The end of August produced sporadic sightings of Britain's first confirmed sighting of a Brown Booby off St Ives. The bird was seen on alternate days for most of the week, but not on the Friday, but I gambled and went down to Cornwall early on the Saturday morning anyway, reacquainting myself with two of the Shetland team (Messrs Gibbs and Mears) and another pelagic birding pal Anthony Griffiths. When news of the Booby fishing off Gwithian Towans broke that morning, we were too far west down the coast to see it, but scoping the clifftop we could see the car park from where it was being watched. Bundling into the car, some moderately assertive driving saw us arrive just in time to see the bird well offshore heading back to where we had just come from! The bird famously sat on some inshore rocks at St Ives later that day but I arrived minutes too late to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime (in a British context) views. Although I saw the bird that still felt like a dip!

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Farlington, Hants, 14th September

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler

A week later and I returned with Marcus Lawson and Phil Saunders for an actual Brown Booby dip as the second British record at Kynance Cove most unexpectedly did an overnight bunk, scuppering my hopes of improving on my photos from the previous week. Close up views of Cornish-bred Choughs and an obliging Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Davidstow Airfield on the way home saved that particular day.

Paddyfield Pipit, Sennen, 6th November

Sonograms and DNA tests have proven it's a Paddyfield Pipit - but how did it get to Cornwall?

Nice to bump into the talented artist Richard Thewlis again, sketching this bird in the rain 

An extraordinary record and kudos to those with inquiring minds, including my friend James Lowen, who questioned the initial identification, and others who then sussed the true identity

Paddyfield Pipit

September also produced a new bonus bird for Britain close to home when an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler was discovered at Farlington Marshes just over the border in Hampshire. Not the prettiest or the rarest of the megas, but a welcome occurrence nonetheless as I had missed one on Portland a few years ago. I was actually tipped off to its presence before the news broke on the information services in a phone call from Dorset birder Roger Howell. Roger had a friend on site but due to a mis-transcription of the message, the news reached me as an Eastern Orphean Warbler. I was on the way there by the time I realised the error - but would have been happy with either!

An American Buff-bellied Pipit kept company with the Paddyfield Pipit - for a few weeks it was the best stinky field in Britain for rare birds!

Buff-bellied Pipit

My fifth of this species having seen one at Farmoor, two at Staines and one on Shetland previously

Buff-bellied Pipit

Drake Lesser Scaup at Helston boating lake was another bonus on the way home from the Paddyfield Pipit

Despite enjoying several weeks off between jobs during the peak rarity-hunting season of October, I was unable to add to my British list during the month - though November saved the day with the incredible record of a Paddyfield Pipit in Cornwall, a first for Britain if the record is accepted. Assuming so, I will end 2019 having seen 476 species in Britain (BOU) plus what I suppose we must now call a 'Fea's-type' Petrel off Scilly in 2015. That brings a step closer the major milestone of 500 which I ought to reach before retirement. Especially if they keep moving the retirement age up :-).

Tengmalm's Owl - bird of the year for many British birders - including myself

All over the place

A busy schedule, a disorganised hard-drive and a terrible memory have caused me to neglect to post details of our travels over the Easter break. So to make amends, here is the first of two posts with some photographic highlights of an unseasonably warm week in Cornwall and Devon:

Chough near the Lizard

Chough, the bird which appears on the Cornish coat of arms, returned to breed on the Lizard several years ago after a long absence. The Cornish population continues to increase steadily

Fulmar also breed on the cliffs at the Lizard

A Common Sandpiper was on an ornamental lakes at our cottage on the Bonython Estate

An early morning visit to Church Cove on the Lizard produced a few migrants, including this Willow Warbler

A vigorous songster

A common enough bird, the Rook, but still deserving of the occasional appearance on this blog

Hard to believe that when I started this blog, the one on the right was much shorter than the one in the middle, and the one on the left was still in a pushchair!

Green-winged Orchid near Mullion Cove

Icelandic banker

Our recent half-term whistle stop tour of Cornwall saw me squeeze in some birding between visiting my god-daughter in Bodmin and friends in Falmouth, admiring the excellent National Maritime Museum at the latter among various other sights the county has to offer. One of the highlights was checking out a huge flock of gulls following the tractors of Polgigga as they made busy in the potato fields. Up to four Iceland Gulls had been reported in the area so I thought it would be a banker, but while I only caught up with one, at least it treated me to a close fly-past.

Iceland Gull at Arden-Sawah near Polgigga

I think a 2nd winter bird

Flying right overhead - note pale iris

Here with one of the tractors

It wasn't all as successful though. While at Bodmin, I nipped out to Dozmary Pool to see what I thought would be another banker - the long-staying, oft-returning drake Lesser Scaup. As you can see from the picture below, I couldn't see the pool, let alone the Lesser Scaup. A two hour wait by a hedge in the Nanjizal Valley looking for a Little Bunting was similarly unsuccessful, though at least there was no fog. Passing Choughs, a stunning male Hen Harrier and my first butterfly of 2017 - a Red Admiral - kept me entertained as I waited.

The sweeping vista of, er, fog at Dozmary Pool

Chough - one of a pair over Nanjizal

A male Hen Harrier hammered through Nanjizal

As is often the case it ploughed on without looking back

Red Admiral at Nanjizal

A bit of a rematch with another banker, the Hudsonian Whimbrel at Boat Cove, was successful, though it wasn't as close as on my visit this time last year. A few other waders were on the beach along with the mobile Whimbrel - soon to be downgraded from full species status as a result of changes to the British list.

Hudsonian Whimbrel at Boat Cove

Revealing the diagnostic all dark rump in flight

Grey Plover at Boat Cove

Curlew at Boat Cove

A couple of distant Red-throated Divers off Boat Cove

On the way home, after a bit of luck seeing an American Wigeon at Exminster without too much searching, there was just to time to take a short detour to look for a Little Bunting near Axminster. A couple of locals were looking for the Bunting when I arrived, and although it had been seen not long before, tales of them multiple dipping on this elusive bird did not leave me feeling very hopeful. The light was also fading, but with the rest of the family playing games on a variety of mobile devices in the car, I thought I would give it the last hour of daylight. After just half of this, a flock of previously unseen Reed Buntings flew up from the long grass, and as they alighted in the trees around me, one gave the distinctive ticking call of a Little Bunting. While it didn't exactly pose for a photo, I managed a couple of shots of it partially obscured by vegetation to cap off a good trip.

Little Bunting, Trinity Hill LNR near Axminster

It would not sit out in the open for me in a couple of brief views

This Reed Bunting was more obliging