2015 Birding Round up!

2015 turned out to be a stonker of a year, with a number of fantastic birds not seen for decades successfully unblocked while several others that were only previously recorded on distant and far away islands finally made it to the mainland. It was also a year that included the inevitable misses, with the one day first for Britain Acadian Flycatcher a particular stinger, while the out of the way Isle of Lewis Wilson’s Warbler, the Scilly Great Blue Heron and the Orkney Chestnut Bunting all proved to be just a touch too far to travel. 

Both the Harlequin Duck and Hudsonian Godwit in the first half of the year were the first truly twitchable birds for 19 and 32 years respectively, both fantastic birds to see and with hopefully a nice healthy gap between the next records! 

Harlequin Duck on the River Don, Aberdeenshire (11th January 2015)

Hudsonian Godwit at Meare Heath, Somerset (25th April 2015)

I also managed to see several notoriously hard to get birds during the course of the year, achieving great views of Serin, Penduline Tit, Blyth’s Reed Warbler and Red-throated Pipit. The latter in particular was a stunning male demonstrating the beautiful ‘red throated’ plumage, and while even though Blyth’s Reed can appear to be a dull brown job at the best of times, the excellent if brief views we got after working so hard to get just a glimpse of this elusive warbler over the course of two days in Norfolk transformed it in to something wonderful, proving that effort really does pay off.

Serin at Gunners Park, Essex (7th March 2015)

Penduline Tit at Darts Farm RSPB, Devon (21st March 2015)

Red-throated Pipit at Ludworth Moor in Derbyshire (3rd May 2015)

Not quite making it in to the top ten either were several species that showed amazingly well and exceptionally closely, with the Little Bunting and Ptarmigan especially coming to mind. The masses of Storm Petrels congregating around the boat at close quarters during the Scilly pelagics was also something not to be forgotten!

And so to the ten best birds of 2015….

Citril Finch chaos hits Norfolk - 10th May Holkham Pines

Seeing that something huge had clearly broken on the internet, but with no details as to what bird, I checked my phone in anticipation, expecting a Mediterranean warbler or a rare tern.

Ah.

Someone once asked me what the least likely bird from Europe to turn up in Britain again would be, and after a bit of thought I’d replied Citril Finch. Sedentary and living in the high mountains of the Pyrenees and over to the Black Forest, there has only been one previous record in the UK, of a male bird on Fair Isle back in June 2008 that stayed for around 5 days. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought there would be another one any time soon.

But here we were, over in Cheshire, with a Citril Finch remarkably flying around the dunes and pines of north Norfolk.

With the initial reports all being of flight views we were a little hesitant – would the bird stick around and would the vast majority connect? It was certainly a hell of a long way to go. A certain Christopher Bridge had already informed us that he was well on his way (always sneakily twitching the birds that matter!) and as countless others did the same, 2 or so hours after the initial report I finally managed to persuade Alex that we needed to set off and see this bird. Immediately.

After a relatively straightforward 4 hour drive to Holkham, we were encouraged by the fact that the bird had been showing well on the deck at intervals throughout the day – I had a good feeling about this one.

Arriving at the extortionately priced car park on Lady Anne’s Drive just before 4pm, we started the long 1 ¾ mile treck through the pines and to the western side of the trees. A steady stream of birders passed in the opposite direction, evidently having connected and heading home happy whilst we hurriedly walked on, hoping that the bird would still be around!

After what felt like FOREVER (but in reality was probably only 20 minutes or so), we turned a corner and a passing birder gave us some encouragement to spur us on – the bird was showing right now and it was only a few metres more along the path. Heading over the bank, we were greeted by a huge mass of birders, scopes and cameras, all firmly focused on the small hollow where this mega Alpine vagrant was clearly favouring.

Thankfully a kind birder let us look through his scope, and just like that, Citril Finch, in the UK. Mega. Peering through the foliage, we were greeted by great views of this delightfully bright finch, a beautiful spring male with sunshine yellow underparts and a fantastic sooty great shawl around the neck.

Enjoying brief views as he fed contently in the sand, all of a sudden: “It’s flown. In that tree, it’s gone”. The bird must’ve decided it had had enough for the time being, and had sadly disappeared, presumably off in to the extensive dunes to the west.

Exceptionally relieved we had managed to connect, 5 minutes later and we would have missed it by moments (one toilet stop could have ruined everything!), but I was a little sad that we hadn’t managed to get a record shot – very reminiscent of our initial encounter with the Red-throated Pipit the weekend prior!

After a search in the nearby dunes, me and Alex decided the best option would be to wait back at the hollow, as the bird had been following a pattern and had been returning throughout the day. Sure enough, after around half an hour or so, the cry went up of “It’s back! In the tree with the Chaffinch”.

The hollow the Citril Finch was favouring

Proving exceptionally hard to see and evidently very camouflaged amongst the sun dappled leaves of the Sycamore, it took an absolute age to get on the bird (I was very glad I’d already seen it at this point, many that hadn’t must have been going out of their minds!) and the majority of us couldn’t see it until after it had flown to the floor and begun to feed again.

Whilst the numbers had died down by the late afternoon, there was still a considerable crowd present

Enjoying great scope views for around 20 minutes or so, we watched the bird at length and I managed to take some record shots of this amazing little alpine finch as we watched it happily mooch amongst the weeds.

There is always some speculation about rare finches and whether they may be escapees – it was only after a lot of research in to feather isotopes that the Fair Isle bird was accepted, having proved to originate from the Black Forest area in Germany. However, the absence of any rings and the fact that our bird was in the most natural habitat as possible that mirrored the alpine forests of its usual range (not a feeder in someone’s garden or anything dodgy!) really strengthens this individuals credibility of being a wild bird.

Indeed, whilst Citril Finches are largely sedentary birds and are often described as only short distance migrants, studies have shown that birds do move between breeding and wintering ranges, with the longest distance travelled by an individual bird measured at a remarkable 615km.

As Norfolk is only 732km from the Black Forest (the closest Citril Finch population to Britain) it is more than likely that this individual, like the Fair Isle bird, also originated from there, having got caught up in a weather system, Indeed, a female was similarly trapped in Finland during the spring of 1995 having been travelling amongst a flock of Siskin.

The distance from the Black Forest in Germany to Norfolk

Having seen a Citril Finch briefly feeding on the ground on our trip to Northern Spain last April, I never would have imagined that we would be seeing one here in the UK just over a year later! A great bird for those who weren’t able to get up to Fair Isle 7 years ago and proving that you never know what can turn up!

Citril Finch from Northern Spain

Present until dusk and seen very briefly around 6am on Monday with no further sign since, the bird has sadly probably now moved on. With Britain’s only record of Red-breasted Nuthatch also coming from Holkham Pines, having overwintered there in 1989 through to the May of 1990, it’s anyone guess what the next mega to hit land there will be – White-crowned Black Wheatear anyone?!

Northern Spain Trip Report - Day 4

Day 4 - Wednesday 16th April 2014

The next morning saw us head further north still through the beautiful alpine villages to reach our destination of the Astun Ski resort, where Snow Finch and Alpine Accentor are regular visitors throughout the winter months. 

A walk around produced several Crag Martins nesting underneath the rooftops of the buildings, and they provided great views as they swooped along the banks collecting mud and returning to the nest sites. 

A cracking summer plumaged Water Pipit was great to watch foraging on the banks heading towards the slope – colours I’m not used to seeing them in being just a winter visitor to the UK. April was slightly too late to observe any Snow Finches or Alpine Accentors in the car parking area however, so a trip up the mountain was on the cards. A slightly hairy moment when me and Alex didn’t realise we had to put the ski-lift safety barrier down on the way up the slope was in all in vain however, as there was no sign of either species at the halfway café.

The trip back down resulted in us having to then climb all the way back up the snowy slope by foot after Chris thought he had picked up the song of an Alpine Accentor whilst in the ski-lift on the journey back. Closer reflection and it turned that what he had actually heard was the squeaking of the ski-lift as the chairs passed over a joint.

Later in the afternoon we headed off to a site I found through google whilst waiting on the mountainside, the Monasterio de San Juan de la Pena, which has a good reputation for Black Woodpecker sightings.

Stopping off to admire the simply amazing views the twisting roads offered, a warbler singing in the surrounding trees eventually revealed itself to be a fine male Subalpine Warbler. Flitting from branch to branch, despite its close proximity, it took a good ten minutes to nail the ID of this skulking individual, the white moustachial stripe and red eye separating it from the similar Spectacled Warbler.

Driving up the heavily pine forested road to the monastery, we noticed several small birds feeding on the tarmac, mostly Chaffinches and Greenfinches, before a small yellow bird on its own caught our eye. Excited exclamations from the back of the car and shouts of “It’s a Citril Finch!” from Chris confirmed that it was indeed this hard to come by Alpine finch – completely unexpectedly and totally out of the blue. 

We watched it busy feeding before it flitted up and away in to the canopy – magical. We had spent some time earlier in the week searching at another location for these charismatic finches, but after drawing a blank we had resigned ourselves to not catching up with one on the trip!

Testing out my long buried Spanish skills at the monastery’s visitor shop (Donde estan los picos negros por favour?!) we headed up the steep slope to the viewpoint where I was told they could be found. Here more Griffon Vultures soared overhead, framed by the brilliant, cloudless blue skies and some individuals flying exceptionally low around us – our elevated position putting us at their level. Soon the shout went up of Lammergeier, and our second individual of the trip made its way over our heads, showing the distinctive diamond shaped tail and orangey belly that separates it from the other vultures.

In the distance, we could hear the call of a Black Woodpecker that came steadily closer as the time went by, leading to an absolutely phenomenal spot by Chris as he located it half hidden behind a trunk and completely obscured by branches in the valley below – whether this was by eagle eyed eyesight or by pure luck, I was still blown away that he had managed to locate it.

A tense few seconds ensued when despite the scope pointing directly at the bird, I just couldn’t see it, showing just how completely camouflaged it really was! I eventually caught sight of a large yellow eye peering back at me framed by jet black feathers, with that vibrant vermillion red crest on the top of the head standing out against the foliage. 

The three of us after woodpecker success

Europe’s largest woodpecker species, this was one of the highlights of the trip for me, and even though we only saw the top half of the birds body as it clung silently to the trunk, it was a truly amazing thing to be watching this magnificent woodpecker. Incredibly still and clinging close to the trunk, I appreciated just how lucky we were to see it – a Black Woodpecker needle-in-a-haystack amongst hundreds and hundreds of trees!

Panoramic view of the area

Completely satisfied with our day and two tricky targets seen, we headed back to Zaragoza, thankfully avoiding the drums and cloaked figures of our previous stay!