MEGA!! Brünnich's Guillemot at Anstruther Harbour, Fife!

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.

Safe in the knowledge that the Portland Brünnich's (which also hung around in a harbour) stuck around for the last 6 days of December, I was relatively hopeful that the Fife bird would follow suit, doing the decent thing and making itself accessible for anyone that wanted to visit.

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

Heading over to the opposite wall and setting up the scope, we were treated to excellent views of this arctic alcid, bobbing quietly in front of the moored boats and most definitely looking a bit on the peaky side. Staying this way for the first half an hour, it was therefore a surprise to see it come alive in the afternoon, scooting over to the jetty surrounding the harbour and constantly diving down in the hunt for fish and other crustaceans.

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

Despite its shortcomings in the looks department, it was still fantastic to see the bird so close up – always my favourite way to see a new bird and something we’ll remember for a good while yet!

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

While the ID of this particular bird was in doubt by some birders, mainly due to the extensive white above the bill, a number of other features all pointed firmly to Brünnich's; the thick short bill complete with white gape line – a diagnostic feature of Brünnich's, the dark pattern on the head extending past the eye and the general body shape and structure. Several experts in the arctic more familiar with Brünnich's, particularly during plumages unfamiliar to us such as in moult, were also happy with the ID, but now the body has been recovered testing can be undertaken to rule out the (relatively slim) chance of hybridisation and eliminate any doubts.

The white gape line on the bill was obvious, as was the lack of flank streaking, the pronounced gonydeal angle and the white coming to a sharp point on the foreneck. The pale tip to the bill is also a pro Brünnich's feature.

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

A fantastic bird to finally grip back after the Dorset individual, and a bird I’m extremely glad I took the day off to go and see! 

Little Auk makes landfall at Connahs Quay!

Having sadly missed the influx of Little Auks to the East coast last November and with Little Auk being one of my top targets for last year, I thought I had missed the boat when it came to seeing one of these tiny arctic visitors. When an alert popped up on my phone in the middle of January telling me a Little Auk had been seen at Connah’s Quay Nature Reserve in North Wales, I opened it up expecting the report to be just a fly-by – the typical view of Little Auks over on the West coast. I was therefore shocked to read there was one apparently swimming around the inland pools outside Dee and Middle Hides!!

I was determined that I wanted to see my first Little Auk up close as opposed to a distant dot flying over stormy waves, and knowing that it could fall victim to a marauding crow or gull at any moment, we left Alex’s house in record speed (I’ve never got ready so fast). With Connah’s Quay being a permit only reserve, I had luckily bought Alex a key for Christmas – money that was now definitely well spent!

Despite a few setbacks where the Sat-nav kept insisting on directing us to a random field, we were soon on site, just missing this dainty alcid by moments with it having just that second swam around the bend. A small chase of cat and mouse then ensued, where we attempted to follow it from hide to hide before eventually pinning the elusive Auk down to Middle Hide – relief and my first UK Little Auk, a much wanted bird for some time!

Little Auk swimming along the channel at Connah's Quay NR

We watched as the tiny Auk swam swiftly along the back of the pool before powering off to the left hand side of the channel and out of sight – a much speedier swimmer than I’d anticipated! Heading back on to the road and over to where it looked to be heading, we were surprised to find it had beat us to it and had completely disappeared - seemingly vanishing in front of the assembled birders eyes – presumably taking shelter in the large rocks that lined the banks.

With no sign for a good hour or so and with the bird having either taken shelter in the bank or forced its way through the small weir blocking the access in to the estuary (unlikely!) we headed over to Burton Marsh to enjoy the views of Short-eared Owls, Hen Harriers and Bewick’s Swans that were present. With reports just after lunch that the Little Auk was back in front of the hide again, we made the decision to head back to Connah’s Quay – it’s not every day you get to see a Little Auk so close after all!

Arriving at the hide to find the Little Auk had climbed on to the grassy bank at the side of the water, it was clear that this particular individual was not in completely good health, having seemingly injured one of its legs. 

Watching it for some time and following it down the channel again when it eventually swam off, we enjoyed fantastic views just metres away as it powered past us towards the weir again, and unable to pass, it once again positioned itself in the rocks out of sight to rest.

Little Auk is an excellent record for North Wales, with birds occasionally seen as fly-bys on sea watches during the winter months, and it was even more exceptional that it was found on the pools at Connah’s Quay instead of the harbour.

The small channel the Little Auk kept favouring

With our Little Auk making a final appearance just before dusk, again showing exceptionally closely before swimming off back up the channel and out of sight, we can only hope that under the safety of darkness it managed to make a getaway and head back out to sea. A report of a Little Auk flying west past Hoylake subsequently had the optimist in me hoping that this was our little bird and that he made it to safety! A truly fantastic experience and one I certainly won’t be forgetting in a hurry.