Brünnich's Guillemot: probably
the one bird above all others that I regret not going to see. Having no car and
not knowing any other birders at the time who could provide a lift, I had no
other option but to sit and watch as the images came flooding in of the 2013
Portland bird, the first twitchable individual of its kind and more than likely
seen by thousands of birders. Fast forward nearly 3 years, and it was therefore
a huge surprise on late Sunday afternoon to see the report flash up on my phone
– Brünnich's Guillemot: Anstruther, Fife – One showing well in the harbour.
Still being present in the
harbour the next day, it soon became apparent that this particular bird
wouldn’t be going anywhere far, looking to be in full moult and having significant
feather damage, possibly caused by oiling. Indeed, the photos showed a
particularly raggedy individual, often pictured with its eyes half closed and
looking in an extremely sorry state. Instead of hoping it wouldn’t swim off and
leave the harbour, it now seemed more of a question of whether it would last
the night!
With the bird’s longevity now
in jeopardy, I decided to book a day off work, me and my Dad heading up to
Cumbernauld on Tuesday night and making our way to Anstruther the following
morning. Arriving at the harbour in good time and having already received the
news that the Brünnich's was still there, before we had even got out of the car
we could see a small black and white shape floating in the water amongst the
boats – Brünnich's in the bag!
Spot the Brünnich's! The favoured spot between the boats |
Showing no fear as is the case
with many other high arctic species, the Brünnich's often came to within 6
feet, drifting over towards the assembled birders and seemingly oblivious to
the small crowd it had attracted.
Looking closer at the photos
and with the bird being at such close range, the poor condition of the feathers
was obvious, the wings reduced to small matted stubs and showing patches of raw
pink skin on the edges. The feathers also appeared to be coated in an oily
substance, and the normally white belly was stained a slight browny-yellow.
The dreadful condition of the wings was obvious whenever the Brünnich's flapped or preened |
Sadly however, come Friday
morning, news filtered through that the Brünnich's had unfortunately not
survived its visit to the Scottish coastline, being found dead first thing in
the morning washed up on the beach by the harbour. This fate, judging by the
bird’s poor condition, seemed inevitable, and its behaviour, demeanour and
all-round peaky look was reminiscent of the storm-wrecked inland Red-throated
Diver on Fairhaven Lake a few years ago which too met a tragic end. A sad end
to a super bird – RIP Brunny!
The Brünnich's looked quite peaky when floating on the water |
With Brünnich's usually
occurring up in the high arctic seas of Canada, Greenland and Iceland, there
have been 44 past records of these arctic alcids in Britain. Despite this high
number of occurrences, the Anstruther bird was only the second truly twitchable
record, with the majority of others being either one day birds, being found
washed up dead on the shore, or occurring off Fair Isle, Shetland and Orkney.
Anstruther Harbour - complete with Brünnich's |
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