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. 

Cliff Swallow - Minsmere RSPB, Suffolk - MEGA!

Remember remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and…. Cliff Swallows? Not the traditional Bonfire Night rhyme but one highly fitting to this year’s date as late on Friday afternoon the mega alert buzzed once again with news of a possible Cliff Swallow seen flying around the Visitor Centre at Minsmere RSPB in Suffolk. The ID was confirmed by the time I’d walked home from work, and with the Cliff Swallow apparently going to roost on the reserve at just after 4pm, this would be our best opportunity to date to catch up with this mega American hirundine.

Having not gone for the Scilly bird at the start of the autumn and with records of Cliff Swallows few and far between in Britain, I certainly wasn’t expecting another twitchable bird this soon, and we had everything crossed that it would stick around in to the weekend so we could connect.

News surfacing that evening of a stonking male Eyebrowed Thrush photographed earlier that day at a country park in Northumberland somewhat complicated matters however, and we soon had a tough choice on our hands as to which bird to go for. Luckily we made the right decision waiting for news the next morning, and with nothing further on the Eyebrowed Thrush and with reports filtering through that the Cliff Swallow had indeed left its roost to the delight of all those that had made the journey over for first light, it was all systems go for the 4 ½ hour trip down to Minsmere.

Arriving just after lunch with reports that miraculously the Cliff Swallow was still on site, having been delighting the crowds with aerial flybys and acrobatics overhead all morning, we rushed over the fence and up the hill of the Stone Curlew field to join the crowd of assembled birders, apprehensively eyeing the oncoming black rainclouds billowing ominously over the horizon.

The assembled crowd...

Talking to those with scopes already set up we were met with the news that every twitcher dreads, we’d missed it by 10 minutes and the bird had disappeared off over the heath – nightmare! With the first few spots of rain hitting our cheeks, we could only hope that the heavens wouldn’t open and that the Cliff and accompanying Barn Swallows wouldn’t consequently disappear off under cover.

Thankfully though, after around 20 minutes of desperately scanning the treeline, the cry went up that we’d all been waiting for “Cliff Swallow – its back! Heading straight for us!” Searching desperately in the direction people were pointing in and frantically moving from swallow to swallow, a snatch of a pale rump cutting through the air and I had it, hurtling towards us at speed and banking over the fields just over the tips of the blades of grass. Success and relief! Incredibly, the swallow continued on its trajectory, ignoring the line of 50 or so birders in its path and swooping right in front of us at eye level, giving absolutely incredible views and proudly displaying its dark cherry red throat, pale rump and yellow-cream collar that distinguished it from the more familiar Barns.

The line of trees at the end of the Stone Curlew field the Cliff Swallow had been favouring

Seconds later it had gone, zipping over the trees and away over the heath. Fantastic, and a great bird to grip back after September's Scilly bird was just a touch too far to travel.

Aged as a first winter, it’s highly possible that the Cliff Swallow had come in with the strong westerlies earlier in the season, perhaps on the west coast of Scotland before tracking down south and reaching the east coast, associating with the Barn Swallows and joining them on their migration southwards.

Sticking around in the hope the Cliff Swallow would return for some photos, our wishes were granted as it continued to perform right through the afternoon, never coming too low down like the earlier flyby but showing considerably well enough for some record shots as it banked overhead. Continually associating with the 8 Barn Swallows that were also present on the reserve, after getting our eye in we were soon easily able to pick it out from its counterparts, looking slightly bulkier than the Barn Swallows with shorter wings and the diagnostic square ended tail.

With the cold getting the better of us and the light fading, we retreated to the café for a much needed bite to eat before our long journey home, getting one last look at our American vagrant as it darted around the car park as we were leaving.

Cliff Swallow - the gold at the end of the Minsmere rainbow

Sadly for those that couldn’t make it on the Saturday or put all their eggs in the no-show Eyebrowed Thrush basket, after leaving the roost very early on the Sunday morning the whole flock of hirundines were flushed by a Sparrowhawk, and despite the reappearance of the Barn Swallows later in the day, the Cliff was not amongst them and didn’t return.

With the Minsmere bird representing just the 11^th record for Britain and with a distinctly Scilly based bias in terms of location (5 birds in total) this was a great bird to get back so quickly and one I definitely wasn’t expecting any time soon!

MEGA!! Purple Swamphen at Minsmere - should it get accepted on to Category A?

There is no arguing that Purple Swamphens in Britain have a very chequered history – the records are littered with unscrupulous escapees and the possibility of a genuine vagrant reaching our shores always seemed a very remote possibility indeed. Fast forward 6 years from the last twitched individual (an escapee that took a liking to a muddy ditch in Saltney) and Sunday afternoon saw phones bleeping and twitter coming alive in the birding community as reports surfaced of a Purple Swamphen at Minsmere spotted lurking amongst the reeds surrounding the pool near South Hide.

Purple Swamphen - Minsmere

Originally put out as ringed on the RSPB Minsmere Twitter feed before some hasty backtracking, it soon became apparent that this was the best candidate yet as a genuine vagrant, and most definitely had the potential to achieve what all British Purple Swamphens before it had spectacularly failed to accomplish – gain acceptance on to Category A of the British list.

Unringed, with full wings and most importantly being of the Western race of Purple Swamphen (‘Purple Swamphen’ as a species was split last year in to 6 full species, with Western Swamphen occupying Iberia and the Western Mediterranean), the chances were high that this could indeed be the real deal.

Digiscoped shot showing the full wings

Booking a day off work for the Thursday, Alex drove the epic 4+ hour journey to Minsmere from Cheshire, setting off at an ungodly hour in the morning and still managing to experience the joys of the M6 in all its glory (lorry fires, rolled over lorries, exploding lorry tyres and the inevitable motorway closures that come with it) eventually arriving on site at just after half 10. Approaching South Hide, I was surprised to see a relatively large crowd of birders and scopes present for a weekday, and we joined the waiting assemble to try and get a glimpse of the much talked about ‘Purple Chicken’.

The view over the pool at South Hide - the very same pool that held a Black-browed Albatross last year! 

After keeping us on our toes for around 45 minutes having disappeared in to a channel, the cries soon went up that the hen was back on show, and sure enough, we soon got a glimpse as it slowly worked its way through the reeds and crept through the shallows. At more than twice the size of the nearby Moorhens and being bright purple, it stuck out like a sore thumb, looking extremely out of place in a British reed bed and at one point positively startling the Mallards that had been dozing peacefully on the water’s edge.

With over 40 records of Purple Swamphen in Britain in the past and with all considered to be escapees, what's to stop the Minsmere bird joining them in the realms of escaped Swamphen purgatory? One huge point to consider is that the majority of records in Britain refer to the Grey-headed form of Purple Swamphen - found throughout Asia and the most commonly kept type in captivity. The Minsmere bird being of the Western type therefore immediately elevates it to the top of the list of likely wild candidates, with vagrancy potential from the Mediterranean and Iberia much higher than from across Asia and the probability of it being an escapee being significantly less.

Grey-headed Swamphen - more often to be found in captivity than Westerns

Whilst mainly found across Iberia, Western Swamphens have very recently colonised Southern France as a breeding location, and 2016 has seen an unprecedented number of birds disperse much further north than ever before – to date 8 records have surfaced of 9 birds found across Drôme, Rhône, Saône-et-Loire and even as far north as Morbihan. Granted, Suffolk is much further (and contains the added hurdle of the English Channel) but following the French records in a line north leads straight to East Anglia, perhaps displaying a natural path of dispersal.

Map showing the Northerly Purple Swamphen records during 2016.

Accepted as being genuine records in France if of the Western form, not all French birds have complied however, and a bird seen in 2014-2015 in Gironde relates to an African Swamphen of unknown origin and almost certainly an escapee, proving that not all records can be taken as gospel of being non-captive. 

Whilst at first glance the English Channel may pose as a stumbling block in the path of a Wild Purple Swamphen, it actually transpires that this species has made open water crossings before, with records from islands such as Malta, Menorca and Sardinia. The closely related American Purple Gallinule also has various records of long distance vagrancy (across the Atlantic Ocean no less) under it's belt, while other species of crake and rail have similarly shown instances of extreme distance flights, dispelling any myths that this family of birds are poor flyers. 

American Coot and American Purple Gallinule - two species that have made the epic crossing across the Atlantic and dispelling the myth that rails are poor flyers

Often thought of as non-migratory birds, many species of Crakes and Rails do indeed move, often in the summer months, and it is entirely plausible that what at first glance may seem unlikely, is in fact a very real possibility.

However, one question to consider surrounding the Western Swamphen’s ability to travel long distances revolves around the large die off of Western Swamphens in France during the harsh winter of 2012, when several hundred birds were killed due to lack of food and starvation as their ponds froze over solid. If the conditions were so tough to the point of death, then why didn’t the Swamphens simply move elsewhere in order to survive?

Whilst most records of Purple Swamphens can quickly be attributed to being an escape, often traced back to a specific collection, two other great candidates for being Britain’s first genuinely wild Purple Swamphen have occurred in the past, yet have both been rejected; a bird found in Cumbria in 1997 that was rejected on the basis of being thought to be a hybrid between two races and therefore deemed to be of captive origin, and a promising individual at Sandbach in Cheshire back in 1971. Thought by many to be of the Western form, the record was rejected presumably on the basis that it couldn’t be proven that it wasn’t an escapee, especially with no pattern of previous natural occurrence in Britain. If the Minsmere bird does eventually get accepted, then surely this record must also be reviewed.  

Western Swamphens in their native Iberia

All in all, the chances of the Minsmere Western Swamphen getting accepted as the first wild bird for Britain look very good - rumours of a recent escapee in the area were put to bed after the bird in question was found to be of the common captive Grey-headed race, and with the unprecedented numbers of Western Swamphens dispersing in Northern France,  realistically it was only a matter of time before one made the leap over the channel and ended up on British shores.