Having to work on a Saturday for one of only around 3 times
during the whole year, and with June having a habit of throwing up monster
birds (Short-toed Eagle anyone) a mega was bound to turn up, and sure enough,
news came out of only the 9th Hudsonian Whimbrel down in West Sussex on the
Tuesday, swiftly followed by a Cretzschmar’s Bunting spotted at Bardsey bird
observatory in Wales on the Wednesday! Nightmare! With a blank on Thursday, only
a brief sighting of the bunting again at Friday lunchtime and with limited
boats making the crossing, the Whimbrel seemed the best option – that is until
a Black-eared Wheatear was discovered at Acres Down in the New Forest late on
Saturday morning! Could this get any worse!!
Deciding the Wheatear was a more pressing matter due to the
fact that the Whimbrel seemed settled and was already well in to its 5th
day, we made the 3 and a bit hours drive down to the beautiful New Forest on
Saturday afternoon. Arriving at the site and negotiating through the forest and
heathland landscape, we immediately locked on to this gorgeous eastern vagrant
at the opposite end of the field, flitting from tree trunk to fence post and
back again, busily hovering and feeding on the clear abundance of insects
present.
|
Record shot at distance of the Wheatear |
With beautiful contrasting black and white colouration, this
was a completely different plumage to the Black-eared Wheatears we had seen in
northern Spain last April, with a complete absence of any orange or russet
tones to the breast and neck.
|
The western race of Black-eared Wheatear that we saw in Spain |
Even though there have been 58 accepted records of
Black-eared Wheatears in Britain, this has been the first twitchable mainland
record since the 2002 10 day bird in Cornwall, with significantly fewer records
since the new millennium. Originating from the eastern Mediterranean and Turkey, this
form is a potential future split, with the last record of an eastern race being a
male on Scilly back in 2009.
|
The lack of a thick black tail band is obvious in flight |
Looking extremely out of place from its more usual rocky
habitats and busy feeding up through the evening, it came as no surprise when
the reports came out of no sign the next morning, and with an eastern
individual recorded in Holland as the 4th Dutch record just 4 days
later, it is more than likely the same bird, miraculously re-found nearly 300
miles away!
With the Husonian Whimbrel only an hour away, we carried on
towards West Sussex, and after finding the small car park at Church Norton near
Pagham Harbour, we made our way through the churchyard and along the trail to
the mudflats.
The Hudsonian Whimbrel was (although distant) immediately on
show, and thankfully flew closer towards us as soon as we got our scopes on it,
demonstrating the cinnamon coloured underwings and the distinctive lack of a
white wedge on the rump - the main features that distinguish this American race of Whimbrel from our own.
|
Record shot of the Hudsonian Whimbrel |
Only very recently
split by the BOU in 2011, this is only the second record in the five years since the decision was made, with
another bird present on Shetland for 3 days back in 2013. Whilst there is some
debate as to whether the two should indeed by separated (it is not recognised as distinct species by the IOC) and whether they will be lumped back together in the
future, it was still great to observe the differences from our own European birds first hand in the field.
Feeding amongst the salt marsh grass, the longer bill and
paler and more well defined head were both clear as it fed on various molluscs
and crustaceans in the sand, the central crown stripe and supercilium standing
out even at range. As the tide gradually crept higher and higher, we were treated
to much better views as the rising water eventually became too much and the bird took
flight – again giving away the diagnostic features of the darker underwing and plain
brown rump.
|
Record shots of the cinnamon coloured underwing |
|
Clearly no white wedge on the rump |
Still present and seeming settled, the bird may well choose
to over-summer here now (like the Greater Yellowlegs seems to be doing at
Titchfield Haven) and as the Walney Island bird did in 2007, which remarkably
stayed from mid-June to the end of August. Huge thanks to Alex who did an absolutely mammoth drive back to Cheshire at 2am, and with both Hudsonian Godwit and
Hudsonian Whimbrel seen this year, 2015 is shaping up to be a truly fantastic year!
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