Rarity Round-Up
July carried on where June left off, with an amazing wealth of extreme rarities
A tern for the... better. Another month of surprises
June 2021 brought midsummer madness, with an absurd rush of incredible rarities. No sooner was it over, though, then the first sensational bird of a ridiculously rarity-filled July appeared. It was a Pterodroma petrel, initially reported as a ‘Fea’s-type Petrel’ seen flying north by Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire (1st). As with a few other monstrously rare seabirds in recent years, it was tracked by seawatchers as it flew further north along the east coast, passing Long Nab, North Yorkshire, Whitburn, Co. Durham, and a few sites in Northumberland, including Newbigginby-Sea and Stag Rocks, Bamburgh.
A combination of video footage and photographs revealed details such as a complete breast band which strongly suggested that this was not a Fea’s Petrel after all, but a potential first for the UK: Soft-plumaged Petrel.
The very next day (2nd), East Yorkshire scored massively again, with a Rufous Turtle Dove (subspecies meena) in no less a locality than the Easington garden of Paul French, chairman of the British Birds Rarities Committee.
The ‘mega’ dove did the decent thing and hung around the area (though occasionally going AWOL) for a few days (to 7th). And many birders were able to combine a visit to the Spurn area with a pilgrimage to Bempton Cliffs (also East Yorkshire) where the Black-browed Albatross put on amazing performances for its many admirers, throughout the month (and into August).
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, an Elegant Tern had been found at Cemlyn Lagoon, on the north coast of the west of Anglesey. This unringed bird remained flirting with the Cemlyn’s Sandwich Terns until the 30th. It is probably only the fifth Elegant Tern ever seen in the UK.
Elegant Tern is a bird which breeds mainly along the Pacific coast of the Americas, but in the last couple of decades, at least three genetically pure
Elegant Terns have been visiting sites on the Biscay coast of France and even hybridising with the Sandwich Terns. This year, for the first time, a pair of ‘pure’ Elegant Terns had chicks in western France; and the species has bred on the Mediterranean coast of Spain since 2009, with two pairs for the first time in 2019.
Meanwhile, from June…
Also early in the month, news came of another very rare bird from June, a Baillon’s Crake, seen at Alkborough, Lincolnshire, for a few days to 7 June, which was well photographed. And while on the subject of incontrovertible suppressed sightings from June, video footage emerged of a Short-toed Eagle at an unnamed site in the Highlands on 20 June.
If you think back to June, one of the star birds was the Egyptian Vulture on the Isles of Scilly, mid-month. Well, a month later, it reappeared, not on Scilly or indeed the British mainland, but in Ireland (a first for the country), specifically Dunfanaghy New Lake,
Co, Donegal (14th), in the far north-west, presumably having passed over/through UK territory in Northern Ireland to get there…
By the 19th it was 180 miles south- east at Avoca, near Arklow, Co. Wicklow (and still a 55-mile crossing to get to Wales...)
Finally, while considering June’s rare birds, an adult Black Tern present at Long Nanny, Northumberland, since 18 May, was re-identified (from photographs) as an American Black Tern. Further photographic analysis showed it may also have been present last summer.
American wader fest
Undoubtedly July’s ‘ best’ (and most popular with visiting birders) rare wader of the month was an adult Western Sandpiper at Snettisham RSPB, Norfolk, from 23rd to 30th, showing exceptionally well at times. With only a dozen accepted UK records, Western Sandpiper is arguably the most desirable of all the North American ‘peeps’. Snettisham also hosted a White-rumped Sandpiper, seen on 22nd, 27th.
Also in north Norfolk during the month, a lovely summer plumage Pacific Golden Plover was at Hickling Broad (3rd and 4th), Cley Marshes (from 4th), before moving west through Titchwell and Snettisham (16th) and across The Wash to Frampton Marsh RSPB, Lincolnshire, on 19th. And it remained there into August.
So, that just about scrapes the surface of the best rare birds of July. One can only imagine what August will produce. See next month...