HUSH, LITTLE BABY...
...don’t say a word, Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird. And other rare bird stories...
With the nation’s birdwatchers chomping at the bit to go out to enjoy the start of spring migration, lockdown restrictions were lifted slightly during March. For most of the month this meant more freedom to exercise, and later on, restrictions on movement were lifted considerably. This meant there was a bit of an increase in the number of rare birds seen and indeed reported (as there should be in any March).
One bird which many birders had been itching for a chance to see for themselves was the Exmouth (Devon) Northern Mockingbird. Luckily for them, the extremely rare North American mimid stayed in its favoured Devonian gardens throughout the month, including the period when English birders were given more or less a licence to drive where they liked. In fact, it remained until the end of the first week in April, but where it went to next is a story for next month’s rarity roundup…
In the third week of March, some ‘less welcome news’ came, especially to birders in Kent, that an Eyebrowed Thrush had been present in the county from January until early March! This ‘first’ for the county was apparently present for a period of just shy of 50 days (49 to be more precise). Judging from the odd photograph which leaked to social media, it was not the shyest of rare thrushes, a fact that will doubtless annoy those locals who were not ‘in the know’, even further.
With fewer than 25 accepted UK records, this Siberian thrush is a massive rarity, though there were three in the Northern Isles during an exceptional early October last year. Perhaps that was when the Kent individual arrived, but went ‘unseen’ until January.
‘ Big’ rarities
Other ‘ big’ rarities during March included a brute of a first-winter American Herring Gull at Newlyn, Cornwall, which provided a little extra ballast for newly released birders visiting the South West for the first time this year (combining the mockingbird and the gull). Not in the same league of rarity as the mockingbird, American Herring Gull is still only just about an annual vagrant to the UK, and a handy long-stayer was very welcome. This year’s Cornish individual was present to mid-April at least.
Other rare gulls of particular interest included the first-winter Ross’s Gull in Co. Down, Northern Ireland, which was relocated at Killough harbour on 9th. A second-winter Laughing Gull was at a few sites in Dorset, including Lodmoor RSPB near the end of the month (29th).
Remarkably, on the same date, a female Desert Wheatear was also found at Lodmoor RSPB, the first of its species in the country, this year. Other tasty passerines included a Two-barred Crossbill trapped and ringed at Crossbury Common, Surrey; and a Dusky Thrush at Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, only the fifth ever Scottish record of this Asian species. Three Penduline Tits were also very welcome at Weston Airfield, Somerset from 6th. On the same date, an early Hoopoe (not a passerine, but still a pleasant ‘land bird’) turned up on St Agnes, Scilly. Back to passerines, the Rustic and two Little Buntings continued to winter at their favoured home of Thursley Common, Surrey.
Other news
A Pied-billed Grebe at Bantons Lake, Dolphinholme (from 4th), was only the third ever of its species to appear in Lancashire. And while still on the water, it was another good month for Ring-billed Ducks around the country, as well as King Eiders.
A drake Baikal Teal appeared at Ripley Farm Reservoir, Hampshire (15th-16th), part of an influx of a decent handful of this species to western Europe around that time; with others seen in Poland, Sweden, Belgium and France (the latter bird possibly being the Hampshire drake).
One ‘water bird’ which was unexpectedly found at several sites far inland in mid-March was Long-tailed Skua. They popped up from about the 11th and 12th and some were still around a few days later, including an obliging individual in South Yorkshire. Some nine Long-tailed Skuas arrived between 11th and 16th, with nearly all at inland sites.
Next month, we look at April’s rare birds. With the lockdown being further relaxed, and the spring rare bird (ie migration) season getting into full swing, perhaps we will finally be making progress in the rare bird year! Watch this space.