On the first day of my visit to Shetland, the first port of call was Sumburgh Head Lighthouse where a Western Bonelli's Warbler had been in residence in the compound since 14th September.
The bird was mostly inhabiting a small area of thistles, giving excellent views. Only the second time I've seen Western Bonelli's.
We also found two Yellow-browed Warblers in Sumburgh Hotel garden. A nice bonus.
News broke just before 4pm of a Hoopoe at New Brighton. Only a few minutes away by car, I was the first birder on site following the news, hence the lack of cars, birders, tripods, etc. I had a wander along where I thought the instructions meant, "near gorse slope" which to me seemed to be west of Yellow Noses south of Coastal Drive, before spotting another birder. Upon meeting it turns out this was the finder, local birder Joe Bellis. Joe had seen the bird fly east towards Portland Court, so he went back up the bank & I sauntered along to the west as far as Sea Road, where Joe had originally seen it.
At Sea Road I bumped into John Jones & we both headed back east. A few paces later & the Hoopoe flew west past us along the ridge & alighted on the corner of Sea Road. We then had close views of the bird poking around sandy areas in the path coming down from the ridge. After about 15mins it flew off to the east. The bird returned about half an hour later giving brief views on one of the paths leading down from the ridge before again taking flight.
Speaking to the few birders who had now arrived, it turns out the Hoopoe had been seen a few hours previously by visiting birder John Evered, but he was unable to put the news out.
The second time I've seen a Hoopoe on the Wirral, the previous one being in Wallasey market gardens late October 1997.
A juvenile Red-backed Shrike was discovered late this afternoon off Park Lane in Meols by local birder Allan Conlin. A rare visitor to Wirral, this is the first record for the Leasowe Lighthouse area.
As I arrived on site, a small group of birders were watching the Red-backed Shrike perched on a Hawthorn bush in what used to be the fields adjacent to the road, but which is now a small lake after the recent flooding with the River Birkett breaching its banks.
Everyone present obtained good views before the shrike glided from its perch & disappeared amongst the reeds & grasses about half an hour later. A first for Cheshire & Wirral for me.
A first-summer Caspian Gull was found by local birder Pete Kinsella about five weeks ago on the beach between Formby & Ainsdale. The last week or so the bird has been seen regularly at Ainsdale. I tried for it last week at Formby Point, but with no joy, so I decided to give it another go this morning.
I arrived at Ainsdale beach car park late morning. As was the case last week, I'd chosen a beautiful sunny day & this was reflected in the holiday makers on the beach, although not as many as at Formby last week. A couple of birders were on the beach, so I made my way over to them. One was Pete Kinsella, who informed me they had seen the bird earlier & were waiting for it to return. Almost immediately Pete spotted the Caspian Gull flying towards us. We watched as the gull flew over the car park a few times before heading over us & landing on the beach.
For the next hour or so we watched the bird flying about, landing on the water as the tide came in & generally taking no notice at all of all the bathers frolicking about on the beach. Eventually, the gull moved further north about 200yds to roost with a small flock of Lesser Black-backed Gulls.
News of an adult Sabine's Gull at Pennington Flash, near Wigan, had me hot-footing it over there this morning.
I arrived on site late-morning, having covered the 25 miles in about an hour. Heading for Horrock's Hide, it soon became apparent the Sabine's Gull was being viewed from the path just before the hide. The bird was mostly quite close to the shore weaving its way back &
forth across the water feeding constantly, oblivious to the gathered
admirers. A second-summer, the bird was on view the whole time I was there, apart from a brief flight to the left providing good views of the characteristic wing pattern. It soon returned.
A fantastic opportunity to see this normally sea-faring gull on an inland body of water. Usually encounters with this species are on the coast following gales, or on pelagic trips from far-flung islands.
The sixth record for the UK (the first outside northern Scottish islands) & first record for Wales, of Cretzschmar's Bunting was found on Bardsey Island, Gwynedd by visiting birder Elfyn Lewis on 10th June 2015.
The initial twitch failed to locate the bird. Since four of the previous five records remained only a few days, the exception being the first record on Fair Isle in June 1967 which stayed 11 days, it was a surprise when the first summer male Cretzschmar's Bunting was relocated on Sunday. This eastern Mediterranean vagrant was not only still present, but was repeatedly coming to seed in the Lighthouse compound. Since I was in Norfolk over the weekend, a bit knackered from my travels & no boats on Wednesday due to weather conditions, I didn't make my first trip to Bardsey Island at the end of the Llŷn Peninsular in North Wales until Thursday.
My deliberations before the weekend & dithering after were also due to the uncertainties over being able to make it over to the island with only one boat, skippered by Colin Evans of Bardsey Island Boat Trips, licensed to land & a capacity of twelve passengers. Images of birders camped out through the night on the quay at Porth Meudwy like queuing overnight for Zeppelin tickets in the 70's, sprung to mind. However, the situation improved considerably when booking became possible from the comfort of one's armchair by phone via Lee Evans. One call later, from aforementioned armchair, I was booked on the second boat at 6.30am Thursday morning. It's always fun visiting islands & especially new ones.
It was still dark when I departed from home to make the 2hrs 20mins drive. As we set off from the quay at Porth Meudwy Colin informed us the bird was still present.
Upon landing about 30mins later we were guided by Bardsey Bird Observatory staff around to the lighthouse where a group of birders were gathered, poised with 'scopes & cameras at the ready.
We waited for an hour until just before 8am for the bird to drop in from the left. The grey (concrete) area in the centre, level with the drainpipe, was the area seeded & this is where the bird landed & spent a few minutes feeding before flying away the same way it arrived. A further wait of 1hr 30mins until the bird returned at about 9.30am, landing on the wall & perching for a short while, giving excellent views, before again briefly feeding on the seed & exit stage left. I exited stage right & sauntered down to the quay to catch the 10am return boat.
Many thanks to the Observatory staff for being so helpful, Colin Evans
for working so hard to get us all over to Bardsey & Lee Evans for
making it easier.
It had been many years since I'd been out birding with old friend Pete Walton, so we headed over to Blakeney Point on Sunday morning to see the Blyth's Reed Warbler. Pete had also been on Blakeney Point the previous day to see the Paddyfield Warbler, so we were both making the same trek on consecutive days. Fortunately, the Blyth's Reed Warbler was located a little closer at Halfway House & the tide was out, so we could walk along the lower beach from Cley beach car park much more easily than struggling through shingle.
When we arrived on site there was a small group of birders waiting for the Blyth's Reed Warbler to appear.
This involved patiently waiting for the bird to briefly show sporadically as it made a little circuit of the suaeda.
Pete looks quite pleased? He's seen a few Blyth's Reed Warblers in Norfolk previously. Bit of a bonus with an adult Laughing Gull drifting west past Cley beach car park as we arrived back from the Point.
