MEGA!! Sooty Tern at the Ythan Estuary, Aberdeenshire!!

The summer holidays are always a tricky time when it comes to twitching, especially as Alex has six weeks of freedom while I’m stuck at work, and as such I always dread the mega alert going off during July and August…

Sooty Tern! Not the most expected of summer megas!

Typically, no more than 3 days (!) into the holiday the mega alert sounded in to action once again, this time signalling the relocation of the Sooty Tern that had been flirting with the east coast for the past few weeks, finally getting pinned down at none other than the Ythan Estuary, home of the long staying and famous King Eider that now calls the beaches and river mouth its home. Groan. On a Monday this was probably the worst time for a bird to appear, and meant I had 4 days to endure before I could make the trip up (while Alex went dashing up to the Ythan without me…) 

Alex's views of the Sooty Tern.... without me!

Originally spotted off Brownsman Island on the Farnes at the start of July, with a gap of two weeks before it was seen again flying past Inner Farne (and later landing briefly at Long Nanny in Northumberland for a few hours) the Sooty Tern had actually been seen fleetingly at the Ythan on the Friday evening, but with no sign at all over the weekend it wasn’t until 5pm on the Monday that it was re-found on the mussel beds, performing well all evening for those initial observers.

The mussel beds on the Ythan Estuary where the Sooty Tern set up home

Showing well all week since, treating onlookers at the famous tin hut to fantastic fly-bys and perching obligingly on the rocky shore, it was somewhat disheartening to see the “no sign” reports come trickling through on Friday morning, carrying on in to lunchtime. With a tricky decision to make and a potential dip on the cards after a long drive of 6+ hours, it may have seemed risky to press on with no sign, but it was a case of definitely NOT seeing a Sooty Tern sat at home as the only alternative, so leaving work at lunchtime, me and my Dad made the long journey north in what initially seemed like a bit of a doomed mission from the get go.

The weather was absolutely ATROCIOUS (this was not night!)

Arriving as darkness approached in absolutely torrential rain and with lightning so close it practically shook the car, there had still been no sign of the Sooty Tern all day. Never the less we made a quick attempt to scope out from Inch Road (standing in a tin hut in a lighting storm didn’t seem like the best of ideas) but with darkness soon closing in and the tern colony just a touch too distant in fading light, we failed to make out a Sooty Tern amongst the wheeling flock of white.  

Thankfully, despite heavy rain forecast all weekend, Saturday morning dawned with a refreshing break in the weather and dry skies, and on checking my phone the impossible seemed to have happened – the Sooty Tern was back. Luckily our hotel was only a ten minute drive from the Ythan, and after a rather tense wait of an hour or so when the bird had gone missing out at sea, thankfully the cry went up as one stately Sooty Tern came swooping in to view.

Waiting for the Sooty...the view from the famous tin hut!

Much larger than the assorted Commic Terns, with jet black wings and giving off a distinctive Skua-like silhouette, the Sooty was truly unmistakeable, and we watched as it gave further fly-pasts before continuing left down to Inch Road before settling down distantly on the algae clad rocks with a handful of Sandwich Terns.

Sooty in the rain....

Zoomed in....when I say distant I really mean distant!

Deciding that heading back to the car and driving to Inch Road instead of walking along the now soaking wet dunes would be the best option (it was now starting to rain quite heavily) we raced back to the car and nipped round to the car park at Inch, the Sooty Tern conveniently perched right in front of us and providing great views despite the now torrential downpour. Brollies in one hand and camera in the other I was able to reel off some record shots before the Sooty alighted once more, circling round to the tin hut and back before powering off up the river upstream and lost to view as a distant spec. Excellent timing and Sooty Tern well and truly in the bag!

Despite having seen Sooty Terns before at the Dry Tortugas islands off Florida and Michelmas Cay in Australia, I was still struck by just how large the Sooty was compared to our resident tern species (Common, Arctic, Sandwich, Little and Black were all present on the Ythan during our visit, making it a 6 tern day!) and it really was unmistakable when flying among the swirling masses of white.

The Farne Islands Bridled Tern back in 2014. Sooty Terns differ from the very similar Bridled Terns by their larger size and much darker, uniform black back and upperwings compared to a Bridled Tern’s lighter grey. 

Usually found in tropical seas around Australia and the Caribbean, this Aberdeenshire bird was realistically only the third twitchable record in recent years (following on from the widely twitched and popular bird that frequented the Skerries off Anglesey and Cemlyn Bay during July 2005 and the moribund bird found on a Northamptonshire gravel pit back in 1980) so I was especially keen not to miss this opportunity – who knows how long it will be before the next twitchable Sooty in Britain! 

Our views of Sooty Tern on Michelmas Cay last summer

Despite seeming like a no hope situation when setting off on the Friday, this was most definitely a case of “he who dares wins” and I’m glad I followed my usual mantra of persevering with a planned twitch even if negative news surfaces while en-route – thankfully this time the gamble paid off!

Mega!! Green Heron at Llan-mill, Pembrokeshire!

Another weekend, another transatlantic mega heron, this time in the form of a Green Heron found stalking fish at a garden pond in Pembrokeshire, deep in the heart of South Wales. 

Green Heron!

Like the American Bittern, I hadn’t been twitching when the Heligan Green Heron of October 2010 turned up, and curiously in a strange twist of fate, 8 years later the occasion of having both mega American herons in the UK at once mirrored 2010, when both species turned up in Cornwall together. 

With Alex making light work of the 4 hour drive through the rolling Welsh hills and quaint villages, Red Kites drifting lazily overhead in good numbers for the latter part of the journey, we were soon on site at Llan-mill and making the short walk up the track to the garden of the finder, MP Simon Hart, where the heron had temporarily set up residence. 

The heron's new home - a far cry from the swamps of America

Immediately upon arrival the heron performed brilliantly, perched right out in the open on a small branch at the front of the pool, rich chestnut and bottle green feathers shining in the sun with bright yellow eyes glinting and alert on the lookout for tiny fish below.

Lapping up the views for a further two hours as the heron made its way around the pond, these were some of our best views of Green Heron to date, having previously seen birds on several occasions in America either distantly or partly obscured by reeds. Only the 8th record for Britain, this is the latest in a flurry of birds since the turn of the millennium, and despite this being the 5th bird in the last 17 years alone, it’s still a great bird for the UK and one we were both pleased to make the journey down for.

Alex's great little video of the Green Heron

With a supporting cast of a nice Dipper zipping up and down the brook running alongside the house, huge thanks to the finder for putting out news and allowing hordes of birders to utilise his back garden in order to view.

Spot the heron...

Tricoloured Heron next weekend anyone?

Mega!!! Rock Thrush at Pwll-du, Gwent, South Wales!

There are a number of birds that Alex has on his British list over me that are going to be pretty hard to topple – Marmora’s Warbler, Common Yellowthroat and Cream-coloured Courser all spring to mind as being the ones that will try and see it out to the bitter end. Having not gone for the female Rock Thrush that turned up at Spurn back in spring 2013, despite there being a fine spring male on the Scilly Isles back in April earlier in the year, this was still a species I had not yet managed to grip back. 

Fast forward to a wet Thursday in the middle of October when the welcome news of an adult male Rock Thrush broke, having been found at Pwll-du Quarry in the heart of deep south Wales. With photos emerging later that day and a number of happy twitchers connecting, my opportunity to grip back on this mega Mediterranean stray suddenly looked set to be a real possibility. 

Common Rock Thrush at Pwll-du, South Wales

With clear skies and a strong Redwing passage later that evening, it was touch and go as to whether the bird would indeed stick around, but sure enough, after a slow start on Friday morning and again on the Saturday, the reports of it still being on site came trickling in.

Making good time down the motorways and arriving in the welsh valleys after lunch, a quick ten minute stride up the muddy track later and rather surprisingly we were instantly watching our prize - one fine male Rock Thrush perching proudly in a bare tree right in front of us, just one happy photographer stood below it rapidly clicking away.

With the crowds of birders on site rapidly descending on the tree the bird soon flitted across to a nearby slope where it immediately began to probe the soft mossy tussocks, providing great scope views for all assembled. Whilst nowhere near in the same league visually as the earlier male on Scilly, the Pwll-du Rock Thrush was still every bit as charming, hints of chestnut orange coming through on the belly and flanks, whilst also sporting a back flecked with numerous delicate white speckles.

Having lapped up the views for around 20 minutes or so, the Rock Thrush suddenly took flight, flying strongly over the hillside and down the other side of the valley, apparently flushed by two people breaking the skyline on the top of the hill behind it we later heard.

The views from Pwll-du!

Despite extensive searching on the slopes and in all three quarries for the rest of the day, the Rock Thrush sadly couldn’t be relocated, and we felt extremely lucky that we’d arrived when we did – one more service station stop and we could have been facing a very painful dip and a return visit the following weekend!

Alex's great little video of the Rock Thrush

With 28 accepted records at present this was by no means a “mega mega”, but it was still a great bird that I had been wondering when I would get another opportunity to see, especially having never even seen one abroad in Spain. 

Having so far been around for a good two weeks, the Rock Thrush is still present now, having seemingly set up home on the welsh mountainside and developing a taste for the abundance of mealworms that have been laid out for it by opportunistic photographers - although whether this is doing its health any good is another matter entirely. 

Being just a few miles away from both the Blorenge Marmora’s Warbler and the Newport Yellowthroat, who knows what other treasures and grip-backs this little corner of Wales can deliver – an adult Cream-coloured Courser perhaps parading on one of the hillsides would certainly be most welcome……

MEGA!!!! Scops Owl in Ryhope, Durham!!

Scops Owl is a species I’ve always wanted to see in Britain, coming in at number 9 on my top ten most wanted species. Having always loved owls, this quirky, angry looking miniature bird of prey has always been a firm favourite of mine when visiting falconry exhibits, and the only birds I’ve seen in the wild are a pair that were flying around a park in northern Spain several years ago, in the pitch black and just managing to make them out through the inky darkness as they sat perched in the trees, “bong”ing away in that characteristic and bizarre manner.

Scops Owl in Britain!

It’s been over ten years since the well-known Oxfordshire bird back in 2006 (bar a few records on the northern Scottish Isles and Scilly in between), therefore when the message popped up on my phone of a Scops Owl found in Ryhope near Durham I nearly did a double take, even more so when it transpired that this was actually the real deal and not another ‘car alarm’ false start as has been reported in the last few years.

Photos of the bird sat roosting soon began to flood social media as expected (all with ‘that leaf’ obscuring the top of its face!) and it became extremely hard to sit back and watch as scores and scores of birders connected.

Luckily the Scops stayed put and we eventually found ourselves making our way up north in order to try and see this remarkable little owl for ourselves - thankfully still in the same Elder bush it was first found in when we arrived and showing well for the small crowd of birders that had gathered round to admire it. Scops Owl in Britain – result and relief!

Sat relatively out in the open half way up the bush we were treated to excellent scope views of what can most certainly be a difficult bird to see well – I definitely wasn’t expecting to connect with one on British soil any time soon that’s for sure, and especially not showing so well! 

Phone-scoped shot of the Scops

A roosting Scops Owl during the day on mainland Britain is the best it’s going to get as far as this often cryptic and well-hidden species is concerned, and luckily this individual stayed around long enough for the majority of those who wanted to see it to connect. Luckily the Scops had chosen to roost in a tree that couldn’t be approached too closely, thankfully alleviating the risk of someone getting too close for comfort and flushing it.

The Scops bush....

....and its admirers

With no sign in recent weeks the question remains as to whether it finally has moved on to continue with its migration south to Africa for the winter, or if it is merely keeping a low profile out of sight in an as yet undiscovered roost - either way this was an absolutely top notch bird and one I’m extremely glad I got the privilege to see so well on mainland Britain. With 84 accepted records in Britain to date this is by no means a “mega mega” but it was still an absolutely superb bird that was most definitely worth travelling for and a bird on my personal wish list for Britain. 

Mega!! Elegant Tern at Pagham Harbour, West Sussex!

After a relatively poor spring in terms of mega migrants, we thought a trip up to Glasgow so Alex could attend a concert would hopefully not result in us missing anything major on the birding scene…. We should really have known better, as right on cue with just 3 days to go after a spring of silence, it seemed the fates were against us and the birding Gods were punishing our naivety as the mega alerts wailed in to action **MEGA – Elegant Tern in Hampshire!!**

Pulses racing, our excitement was short lived as in the brief hour the Elegant Tern was present on the sandy spit at Hayling Island, only 6 observers managed to connect with it before it flew off out to sea, with nothing further until the Friday night when it was seen flying off towards West Sussex late afternoon after a 10 minute visit to Sandy Point.

Thinking it was unlikely to be pinned down to a site and with many of the Sandwich Tern colonies along the Hampshire coast situated in inaccessible locations, the fact that the mega alerts went off once more signalling the Elegant Tern had been refound at Pagham Harbour in West Sussex 10 minutes before we were due to set off for Glasgow didn’t cause too much alarm, as it surely wouldn’t hang about long enough for the twitching masses to connect with, its departure 20 minutes later adding weight to our misplaced hopes. 

How wrong we were, as the entire journey up to Glasgow and the evening therein after consisted of a constant stream of mega alerts telling us the tern was still present and showing well to its steadily increasing crowd of admirers, all happily ticking this potential first accepted record for Britain. 

The Elegant Tern was a definite crowd bringer!

Colour ringed and DNA confirmed as a pure Elegant Tern in France where it usually hangs out, this was the best chance in history to get this species on our British lists – and we were heading off in the opposite direction up to Scotland!

There was only one thing for it, and with alarms set for 3:40am after a short snatch of sleep after the concert had finished, we were soon on our way back down a deserted M6 and heading for the south coast – a trip from Glasgow to Cheshire with the small matter of a diversion to West Sussex well underway!

465 miles and 8 hours later we arrived at the RSPB Pagham Harbour car park, the parking attendant’s walkie-talkie crackling in to life as he directed us to a parking spot informing us that the tern had just this second flown off – horrendous timing. However, with the Elegant Tern having developed a pattern of heading out to sea to fish for periods of time before returning to “Tern Island” to rest, we set off on the 30 minute walk to where the bird was spending its time hopeful that it would soon return.

Blue skies over Pagham Harbour

3 hours later we were still hoping - there was still no sign of the Elegant Tern coming in to the harbour despite religiously checking every single Sandwich Tern that sped past us. With the sun having long since departed there was also now a definite chill in the air, bringing up goosebumps on a number of short-sleeved bare arms in the crowd of waiting birders. 

Plenty of Sandwich Terns..but no Elegants amongst them!

Our morale at this point was decidedly low, surely, after our mammoth effort the tern hadn’t done the dirty and moved on after seeming so settled? With our hopes slowly diminishing, eventually the cry went up that we were hoping for – someone had just seen the Elegant Tern in flight over the island! Hurrying over to the point of the muttering and the source of the cry amongst a jumble of birders and scopes, a hectic few minutes followed, as directions were bandied around and I just couldn’t get on the single orange billed individual amongst a hovering mass of swirling Sandwich Terns. Having only the one scope between us proved particularly difficult; binoculars useless in being able to distinguish the bill colours in the fast moving and distant tern flock and I was definitely starting to panic that our tern would get flushed or hunker down unseen in the vegetation.

The patch of vegetation the Elegant Tern favours - in-between the two bungalows

"Tern Island"

Eventually however, after a good ten minutes of mental anguish, the cry went up that it was hovering over the island again, and getting my eye to the scope I was finally able to clasp eyes on a huge orange billed tern hovering over the coastal vegetation, facing towards us before turning and showing off the monster carrot coloured bill in all its glory, a pale orange in shade and with a slight curve to the tip. Success, relief and Elegant Tern and a British mega safely in the bag!

Proving exceptionally elusive in the afternoon we were there and with Alex wanting better views, we only saw the Elegant Tern once more in the next two hours, only realising that a small group of birders were watching it from the top path above the steps as we were leaving the site. Peering through their scopes revealed the Elegant Tern settled happily amongst the vegetation on the island, partially obscured behind the foliage but displaying its large orange bill on occasion as it preened and raised it in to the air. 

Perhaps the worst record shot ever seen. The orange bill is noticeable though! 

With time marching on and the prospect of a long drive back ahead of us after such an early start, with the tern once more disappearing into the green we decided to call it a day (our hope of only being on site for a couple of hours a distant memory after being at Pagham for around 5 hours!), making the long walk back to the car park and pleased that our efforts of driving from one end of the country to the other in pursuit of this mega tern had paid off! 

Elegant Terns in Britain and the Western Pal:

Elegant Terns have danced with acceptance onto the British List for a number of years now, with presumed individuals seen in Devon and Wales in 2002, along with another bird found in Dorset back in May 2005. An orange-billed tern species fitting the profile for Elegant Tern was also photographed off New Quay in Ceredigion in 2015.

However, despite 5 birds being accepted in Ireland from 1982 onwards, none have been officially recognised on the British list due to apprehensions of them possibly being the result of hybridisation with Sandwich Terns, which has so far been impossible to rule out on visual appearance alone. Recent studies in France however have well and truly disproved this theory after 3 individual Elegant Terns found breeding in Sandwich Tern colonies along the French coast were caught, rung and had their DNA analysed, with the results proving beyond doubt that the 3 birds concerned were indeed 100% Elegant Tern. As opposed to Mitochondrial DNA analysis which incorporates genes from the maternal parental lineage (and in turn wouldn’t be able to rule out a Sandwich Tern father) multilocus barcoding from nuclear DNA was used in the French studies, meaning genes from both the mother and father birds were taken in to account and thus establishing a definite species parentage. A fantastic article by Birdguides looks at this study in depth, as well as the full occurrence of Elegant Tern in Western Palearctic waters. 

Coupled with an additional two unringed birds also seen off the French and Spanish coasts in recent times, there is the distinct possibility that an impressive 5 Elegant Terns (at least) could be frequenting our Western Palearctic waters. This is made even more remarkable by the fact that two of these birds have paired up to breed since 2009 at L’Albufera (one of these birds is a rung and DNA assured pure Elegant Tern), signalling that there could well be a pure pair of Elegant Terns breeding in Europe. 

Distribution of Elegant Terns in Europe

Usually inhabiting the Pacific coastline of Western America and enjoying quite a limited breeding range, it is fascinating as to how 5 Elegant Terns all ended up in Western Pal waters, even going so far as to breed together. It’s possible that the birds were blown off course from the Central Americas or while travelling around the South Atlantic Ocean, ending up in South African waters before heading up north to Europe each breeding season. Indeed, sightings of ringed birds off Cape Town and Namibia during the winter months indicate that the European Elegant Terns do overwinter there.

Sightings of each of the three ringed birds are well recorded, along with their breeding successes each season, and any hybrid chicks are ringed and monitored. As the hybrid young don’t visually display Elegant Tern characteristics (instead having black bills with a small yellow blob on the end) the chances are that if any orange-billed Tern seen in British and Irish waters looks like an Elegant Tern, then it most probably is an Elegant Tern.

The Pagham Harbour bird has thankfully been identified from its colour ring combination as one of the DNA tested pure Elegant Terns (known as bird C), removing any possible doubt as to its parental credentials and hopefully assuring it a safe passage straight on to Category A of the British list. The recent DNA analysis should hopefully also allow the previous records in Britain in 2002 and 2005 to be reviewed with a view to acceptance, based on the fact that they are highly unlikely to be hybrids.

Residing in France during the breeding season at Banc d’Arguin, Bird C – a male – was first seen in 2002 and was rung a year later, breeding in subsequent years intermittently from 2005 to 2013 with a Sandwich Tern. Bird C was also seen down in France up until mid-May, before it ventured north up into British waters. Whether it now stays to breed amongst the Sandwich Terns at Pagham Harbour is another matter, although it was reportedly seen to engage in courtship behaviour with a Sandwich Tern on several occasions. 

PINEY! Male Pine Bunting at Dunnington, Yorkshire!

Male birds are 9 times out of 10 more striking than their duller female counterparts and Pine Buntings are no different, with the bright coloured heads of the males a far cry from the drab and often tricky females! Despite getting reasonable views of the Venus Pools female in Shropshire earlier in January, the discovery of a fine male bird frequenting the Dunnington hedgerows a few weeks ago saw us wanting to complete the Pine Bunting set, and with a free Sunday we made the short journey over to Yorkshire in the hopes of connecting.

Piney

Notoriously tricky birds to successfully twitch as of late (the Kent bird has also been proving to be elusive) several people had left unfulfilled having dipped the Dunnington bird after hours of waiting, some even having missed out even when the bird had shown due to the sightings being all too brief.

The assembled Pine Bunting crowd

Joining the crowd expecting a lengthy wait and with hundreds of Yellowhammers constantly flitting in and out of the hedge to search through, we were surprised when after just over half an hour eagle eyed Alex expertly picked out our male Pine Bunting, having watched the tiny bird fly in from afar. Perched in the silver birch trees in the hedge before flying closer into the large oak tree on the right hand side of the hedge north of the paddock, the strikingly marked bunting remained on view for only a couple of minutes at max, just long enough to really study the distinctive facial features and fire off a few record phonescoped shots, before dropping down in to the hedge and out of sight.

True to its elusive nature, it didn’t make a reappearance while we stayed on site and it wasn’t until late in the afternoon that it came on view again – lucky I got up early otherwise we would have had a very cold and unfruitful day!

With a bright white central moustacial cheek, grey central crown stripe and rusty brown tones there was certainly no mistaking this particular individual, and it was great to get a good look at it perched still and unobscured, especially as the flock was extremely flighty with birds coming and going on a constant basis. The flock itself consisted of a mix of hundreds of Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings, with a handful of Chaffinches, Bramblings and Tree Sparrows thrown in for good measure – and it was good to see these farmland species were doing well here having suffered large declines elsewhere.

After this autumn’s phenomenal influx of Pine Buntings, it was only a matter of time before further wintering birds were unearthed hiding amongst our British Yellowhammer flocks, and this is a species that anyone has a chance of finding while searching through their local wintering flocks. Indeed, with birds turning up on a weekly basis on the European continent, there is a high possibility that more of these charming little buntings will come to light in the next couple of months.

Remaining quite elusive, there are certain areas where the Pine Bunting seems to show fairly reliably after a wait. As of late, it has favoured the right hand hedgerow and oak tree as viewed from the paddock, as well as the ground around the obvious fallen dead tree and surrounding hedgerows a few fields to the right as viewed from the public footpath to the east of the field.

The Dunnington hedgerow north of the paddock that the Pine Bunting is making its current home