Rarity Round-Up
June almost felt like fantasy birding, with a daft number of extreme rarities appearing
The best of the rare birds seen in the UK in early summer
Egyptian Vulture, Red-necked Stint, White-tailed Lapwing, River Warbler, Roller, Blackbrowed Albatross, Pacific Swift, Little Swift, Green Warbler. This list reads like a list of the most desirable, fantasy species possible in a UK birding year. All it needs is a bird new to the UK which no one has ever heard of, and you know you are just stuck in a silly midsummer night’s dream… A bird like a Sulphur-bellied Warbler, perhaps?
But, this is not a dream, this is just a list of some of the incredible birds seen in the UK June 2021. Let us start with that strangely named Asian warbler. It was discovered on the island of Lundy, Devon, when it was singing a simple song at Millicombe Valley (8th). Initially thought to be a Dusky Warbler (which would have been an island first), it was soon reidentifed by sharp- eyed, sharp- eared birders on the internet as a first for the UK (second for the Western Palearctic, after one in Denmark in May 2016).
Incredibly, several birders were even able to make it from mainland Great Britain to see the warbler that evening. But there was no sign of it the next day (or subsequently). It is impossible to say whether there will ever be another UK Sulphur-bellied Warbler in our lifetimes!
A bird which has been multiple lifetimes in the waiting (in a UK context) is Egyptian Vulture. The only ‘accepted’ records were from the autumns of 1825 and 1868 when immature birds were shot in Somerset and Essex, respectively! On 14th, reports of an Egyptian Vulture over St Mary’s Scilly, turned into something remarkable, when the unringed adult vulture was relocated on Tresco, perching in a pine for an hour and a half ( bringing back memories of last year’s young Lammergeier, which chose the odd pine perch in its out of context stay in the fens of Lincs and Cambs). The Egyptian Vulture wandered back and forth between St Mary’s and Tresco over the next day, but then vanished. Where next for this bird which feels like a new species for the UK list (assuming acceptance)?
Kicking things off
Both these ultra-rarities were in the second week of the month. But the first week had already turned up some incredible birds. These included the UK’s eighth ever Red-necked Stint (and first ever in June), found on the Blyth Estuary, Northumberland (5th).
It did the decent thing in lingering until 7th, allowing some incredible views and astonishing photographs.
That week also produced our seventh ever White-tailed Lapwing, at Stodmarsh NNR, Kent (2nd). It came hot on the heels of several records of its kind seen across Europe, including sightings as close as Sweden and Finland. Sadly, having been seen off south by nesting Lapwings, the Stodmarsh bird was lost to view.
Also brief in nature, was a Little Swift seen over St Mary’s Scilly (2nd) and then over St Agnes, mainland Cornwall, the next day. It is presumed that this was the same individual, and possibly the same Little Swift that was over St Ives, Cornwall, some 10 days later (13th).
More obliging than these other ‘megas’ was the River Warbler found singing at Ham Wall, Somerset on 4th. This bird showed exceptionally well at times, and stayed until 18th, giving arguably the best ever views of this species in the UK.
That first week of June also saw the exceptional appearance of three Collared Pratincoles together, at Dungeness, Kent. But even such an exceptional occurrence was lost among the absurd flood of extreme rarities. The second week not only produced Lundy’s warbler and Scilly’s vulture, but also a Pacific Swift at East Chevington, then nearby High Hauxley, Northumberland (12th), while presumably a different Pacific Swift also appeared off the cliffs of Fall Bay, Glamorgan, on 27th.
The eye of the storm
The third week of June was almost like a time of rest, with flocks of Bee- eaters, the continuing Rose- coloured Starling invasion and an incredible summer-plumaged male Red-flanked Bluetail (Blakeney, Norfolk) to keep birders’ minds blown, before a resumption of madness in the fourth week. This week saw the appearance of a bright Green Warbler on the ‘Green Warbler hotspot’ of Fair Isle, Shetland (23rd); the discovery of a splendid Roller in Suffolk (first at Lackford Lakes, SWT on 23rd, then at Icklingham to 1 July.
This was also the week when the( presumed returning adult) Black-browed Albatross was seen heading to Bempton Cliffs RSPB, East Yorkshire and did the decent things in roosting on the cliffs there on several nights into mid-July, at least. What an incredible bird to finish an incredible month of rarities.
For the rest of June’s rarities, read on through the county reports which follow. And as for July’s rare birds, see our Autumn issue, coming soon.