RARITY PREDICTOR

This is the place where we have a semi-educated stab in the dark about which ‘mega’ rarity may turn up during the month, this time in May. Remember, these are not regular or expected rare birds, but at the ‘mega’ end of the rarity spectrum. There will be guaranteed glory for anyone finding one of these three special birds this year. There have only ever been six accepted records of White-tailed Lapwing in the UK. The last was in 2010 (pictured right), with a bird first found on 27 May at Seaforth NR, Lancashire, before moving to Essex, Gloucestershire and Kent before its departure on 21 July. Luckily, it is not a hard bird to identify, with a striking wing pattern, plus very long yellow-legs and, of course, a white tail. Another extremely rare bird, the tiny Trumpeter Finch has reached the UK on only 16 occasions, with little influxes in 2005 and 2008 accounting for nearly half of these. Most records have been from coastal sites, especially (but not exclusively) in the south-east of England. Just 24 records of Little Swifts have been accepted in the UK, so it is another extremely rare bird. However, nearly half of these were found during May, and nearly all the rest in June, so now is the time to be scouring the skies looking for half-pintsized swifts with square tails and extensive white rumps. Little Swifts are widely distributed birds, with a resident population in sub-saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent and scattered breeding populations breeding in North Africa, southern Spain and the Middle East.