Great Blue Heron, Bryher 22nd April 2015

The second UK record of Great Blue Heron was found by the same local observer, Ashley Fisher, as the first record of this American vagrant in December 2007, on St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly on the evening of Tuesday 14th April 2015. Over the next few days the bird was seen intermittently at various locations. Many of the initial group of twitchers failed to score & heard news of its reappearance on The Big Pool, Bryher, as they arrived back in Penzance. With much more positive news from the Monday 20th & Tuesday 21st sightings, I decided to make the long trek south on Tuesday night.

I departed home 11pm Tuesday night & arrived in Penzance 6am Wednesday morning. After some breakfast in the café I boarded The Scillonian with a day return ticket & sailed at 9.15am arriving St. Mary's at midday. There were quite a few birders on board & I spent a very pleasant journey chatting with a Norwich resident I hadn't seen for many years, catching up on all the latest news of various denizens of that most bird-centric of cities. Also saw several Manx Shearwaters, 4 Great Skuas, several Gannets, Fulmars, Kittiwakes as well as Swallows, a warbler & incredibly, a Hoopoe, which I unfortunately didn't get onto, d'oh!

With no definite news on the bird upon arrival in Hugh Town, I dithered on the quayside about whether to go on the boat to Tresco, as did a few others. The decision was made when the boat sailed... The remaining birders, including myself, made for Lower Moors & then onto Old Town. As we wandered around to Porth Hellick the group had whittled down to three: myself, Hadyn from Home Counties & Malcolm from Suffolk. We were in one of the hides at Porth Hellick when news reached us of the Great Blue Heron being on seen Bryher. We hastily made our way back to Hugh Town where we found a group of a dozen birders awaiting the arrival of "Falcon" which they'd chartered to take them to Bryher. Unfortunately, the craft was only licensed for twelve passengers! So, we chartered it ourselves but obviously had to wait until returning at 3.20pm. Due to the tide "Falcon" didn't return until near 4pm. By this point we'd resigned ourselves to missing the "Scillonian" sailing back to Penzance at 4.30pm & staying overnight B&B. After all the time & effort involved so far, with the bird definitely there/on view, it would seem pure folly to not avail ourselves of the opportunity.

At the quay on Bryher there were birders waiting to return to St. Mary's. They confirmed the bird was still present. We made our way to the Hell Bay Hotel. Walking down towards the Big Pool & looking back to the right I immediately saw the bird. Fantastic views as it crept about hunting for prey. The monster bill seems even larger in real life! After a while the Great Blue Heron moved to an adjacent grassy area before disappearing in a smaller pool further to the right, where it was invisible from our position. It then lazily flew over the bank to Popplestone Cove. We then had to leave to sail back to St. Mary's.

After a lengthy & tiring search around Hugh Town for B&B we eventually found somewhere. One of the guys had a pedometer on his iPhone & informed us we'd walked 12 miles that day! After having no sleep the previous night, some food & a couple of pints in the "Bishop & Wolf" with Hadyn & Malcolm, saw me safely off to the Land of Nod.

Next day we had until 4.30pm until the "Scillonian" sailed. I took a leisurely stroll around St. Mary's, something I hadn't done since 1995. So little had changed over the last 20 years, it seemed like just a short while since my last visit. My wanderings took me to Porthmellon, Porthloo, Holy Vale, Carn Vean, Porth Hellick Down, Porth Hellick, Higher Moors, Old Town, Lower Moors, Rosehill. We sailed back at 4.15pm arriving Penzance at 7pm. I arrived back home at 4am Friday morning after a bit of motorway madness around Sandbach.

It's great how you can hang out with a couple of people you've never met before for a very pleasant couple of days, purely through a shared interest.

Video by Pete Hines

Great Spotted Cuckoo, Cwm Cadlan 16th April 2015

News of a Great Spotted Cuckoo at Cwm Cadlan (near Penderyn) in Glamorgan, found by local birder Martin Bevan, broke late on Wednesday 15th April 2015. After positive news the following morning I arrived on site mid-afternoon.

After the uphill walk along the path to the area below a derelict building I found three birders on site, but no sign of the bird. We gradually wandered around to the area behind the derelict building. One of the guys had seen the Great Spotted Cuckoo, but it had moved. Suddenly, a very brief view of grey pointed wings dashing through the bushes towards where the other three birders were ahead of me. They were already on to it & we then had prolonged views of it perched for about 20mins. It then flew past us back down the hill giving great flight views. We were now in the ideal position for viewing with the sun behind us & the wind in our faces. The bird then spent most of the time on the ground hunting for morsels to eat. It disappeared in the hummocks for a short while before flitting up to one of the hedgerow bushes & again giving prolonged views. At this point I departed the site.

A glorious bird in a glorious location. I forgot to take any scenic snaps, but the views across, up & down the valley in lovely spring sunshine were marvelous.

Surf Scoter, Hoylake 10th April 2015

An intrepid piece of fieldcraft by local birders Allan Conlin & Kenny Dummigan resulted in the first Surf Scoter for Cheshire & Wirral being found off Hoylake on Wednesday 25th March 2015. The full account can be read on the Lighthouse & Wirral Birding Blog. Since then as many as 7 Surf Scoters have been seen including 4 adult males, 1 imm male & 2 females.

I made the journey out to the tideline around low tide this morning in glorious sunshine & managed to see two males. Although they were on view most of the time I was there, they did dive together & disappear from time to time. I managed to get an extremely poor phone-scoped record shot of one of the males (on the right of the photo above), but the only one where I was certain there actually was a Surf Scoter in the picture!

Shame it couldn't have been more like this photo!!!

Black-winged Stilt, Abbotsbury 6th April 2015

The first of this year's Black-winged Stilts arrived at Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset on Friday 3rd April. I arrived mid-morning a couple of days later in glorious Spring sunshine. Although the bird was on view most of the time, it was quite distant from the vantage point along New Barn Road & looking into the sun. Consequently, I was unable to snap any phone-scoped record shots. In the photo below, the Black-winged Stilts was located in the small pool at the far left of the picture.

Penduline Tit, Darts Farm 25th February 2015

On Friday 5th December 2014 two Penduline Tits were found at Darts Farm RSPB reserve in Devon. Over the following months several birds were seen in the area. After not hearing any news for the previous week, three birds reappeared at Darts Farm.

Upon arrival mid-morning there was no joy at first, but after about an hour or so of waiting with a few other birders on site, the shout (whisper) went up & they'd suddenly appeared, two of them as if out of nowhere, in the reeds approaching the hide. Compared to other birds flitting around the reed bed, they were pretty tough to latch onto, with seemingly perfect camouflage.

Harlequin Duck, Aberdeen 23rd February 2015

On Saturday 3rd January 2015 an immature male Harlequin Duck was found on the River Don at Seaton Park, Aberdeen. I took the long trek north some weeks later to see this long staying Icelandic vagrant.

Upon arrival at Seaton Park, I continued along the road towards the River Don & followed the southern bank westwards. A couple with tripod informed they'd seen the bird & had it in the 'scope. After a quick look at part of a small shape moving behind the rocks at what turned out to be below Papermill Drive, I found my way through the housing estate & back down to the river. I edged around to the area by the fence coming down to the river, but there was no sign of the bird. As I looked around, downstream a small dark object dived. When it surfaced a few moments later it was unmistakably the Harlequin! The bird then spent some time on a small island before flying back to the rapids & continuing to feed. I departed Wallasey at 4.30am & returned at 10pm. Phew!

It's unusual for a Harlequin Duck to be so accessible. They're usually on some far flung northern island in coastal waters! While I was on site I saw only two other birders & had the bird to myself most of the time.

Video by Pete Hines

BBC Winterwatch 2015 - Harlequin Duck, Aberdeen

Laughing Gull, New Brighton 7th February 2015

On Tuesday 3rd February 2015 a first-winter Laughing Gull was discovered on the pontoon used by roosting gulls & waders on New Brighton Marine Lake by visiting birder M. Brown. I strolled along the promenade from my house the following Saturday & had great views of this very accommodating bird. This was my first attempt at phone-scoping a record snap.

Although being the 6th record of this American gull for Cheshire & Wirral, it's the first twitchable bird. The previous five records being:

1977 New Ferry, adult, 3rd August (Dr R.J. Raines).
1978 Hilbre, first-summer, 16th May (T.R. Cleeves, J.B.O. Rossetti).
1985 Latchford Locks, Warrington, second-winter, 21st November (S.W. Kennedy); presumed same, Woolston Eyes, 30th (D.S. Bowman, B. Martin).
1997 Houghton Green, adult, 12th January (K. Foster).
2001 West Kirby, first-winter, 2nd October (C.J. Butterworth, L. Greenstreet).