Rarity Round-Up
October had a truly sensational array of rare birds, including some real stonkers!
The ‘best’ of the rare birds seen in the UK during October
October 2020 will go down in history as a legendary month in UK rare birdwatching. September was sensational, but October’s well of riches seemed bottomless. Indeed, there were too many great rarities to cover in this summary. But do not despair, as most, if not all of those missed out will pop up in the following pages in our unique site-by-site UKBS news review.
The star bird for many, in this month of stars, was the Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin at Stiffkey, Norfolk, which appeared on 17th. This bird of many monikers (Rufous Bushchat, Rufous Bush-robin, Rufous Warbler etc) had become the stuff of legend, and there had not been a ‘twitchable’ individual since one at Butlin’s, Skegness, Lincolnshire, in September 1963. There have only been eight accepted records, and three of those were in the 19th Century, and none in this Millennium (yet).
This particular bird was a bit tired looking and raggedy, and of the eastern subspecies (with more contrast between the sandier back and the rufous tail than the more rufous, western birds), but performed its charismatic rufous tail cocking for allcomers to admire. And there were plenty of visitors, which even led to at least seven police officers being on the saltmarsh on its first day, warning of on-the-spot fines for those not correctly social distancing!
Technically even rarer (in absolute UK numbers) than the scrub robin, but unarguably duller in appearance and less attractive, was the UK’s third ever Indigo Bunting. The previous birds were on Anglesey (May 2013) and Ramsey, Pembrokeshire (October 1996), and this October’s bird followed the pattern of arriving on a western island, being on St Agnes, Scilly (25th to 27th). Adult Indigo Buntings (which are North American relatives of the cardinals) are mind-blowingly colourful, but the Scilly bird was as drab and sad-looking an LBJ as imaginable. Of a similar ilk ( prettier), but not quite as rare, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak was on Gugh, Scilly (24th).
Falling into the same category of extreme rarity is Short-toed Eagle (with probably just three previous individuals