RARITY PREDICTOR

Every month, we speculate as to which extreme rarity will turn up. These are not expected birds, but you never know...

HARLEQUIN DUCK

Scotland and the Scottish islands have seen just about every UK Harlequin Duck, at least in the last century or more. This is not entirely surprising though as the closest breeding population is in Iceland. Adult males are spectacular looking ducks, but vagrants tend not to be adult males…

IVORY GULL

A juvenile Ivory Gull flew past Papa Westray, Orkney, at the end of October, the first UK bird since late December 2014 into 2015 when a showy juvenile was on Skye and the Scottish mainland, near Ullapool. The real prize is a pure white adult, but juveniles are not too shabby, either, despite their unsavoury feeding habits.

MOURNING DOVE

On Boxing Day 2015, one of these rare North American Doves turned up at Lerwick, Shetland, and remained until mid-january 2016. All British records (which go back to 1989, if you count the Isle of Man; 1999 if you agree the first was on north Uist, Outer Hebrides) have been in Scotland or offshore islands.

HOW DID WE GET ON? BLACK BRANT

Not our most outrageous prediction, there were at least three Black Brants in the country during December.