WELCOME BACK!
Albert the Black- browed Albatross has returned to the chalk cliffs of Bempton
For the third month running (and we have only covered three months of rarities in 2022, so far), the rare bird scene was pretty much a case of ‘as you were’. Most of the key players were still around (some more showy than others). That said, the month was saving its best till last, when on 30 March a familiar bird was once again on British soil. Arguably the country’s most popular rare bird of 2021, Albert, the Black-browed Albatross, was back among the Gannets of Staple Newk, Bempton Cliffs, East Yorkshire.
It wasn’t until late June that this wonderful bird was first seen, last summer, but no one is complaining that this year it is three months earlier. Whether it stays the summer and into the autumn again remains to be seen, but at the time of going to press in the second half of April, Albert was still regularly being seen from the usual viewpoints, even at times appearing to try (at least slightly) to flirt a little with the local Gannets.
Much less obliging than the North Sea’s star albatross was a male Pine Grosbeak, seen (and crudely photographed) at the unlikely site of a garden in Woolacombe, Devon on 15th. Pine Grosbeaks in the UK are rare enough, but English ones are particularly uncommon. Some of you may remember the fuss over (and the twitch for) a ‘male’ seen at Gilston Park, Hertfordshire in summer 2009. You may also remember that its ‘owner’ eventually piped up to reveal that it had escaped from their aviary and that it wasn’t a male at all, but a ‘colour-fed’ female (extraordinary stuff, which is not really for this magazine about wild birds…).
Cool new rare birds during March also included the likes of a male Desert Wheatear
on the south coast, at Goring Gap ( West Sussex) on 20th. Famously, a bird most frequently seen in the UK in late autumn, this wheatear was only the second spring record for Sussex (the last being in 1966).
Rare ducks
Also appearing late in the month, a female Blue-winged Teal found at Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire, would be a first for the county, if accepted. However, after it had been looked at more closely and more analytically, questions started to be asked about whether this blue-winged duck was indeed a Blue-winged Teal after all. Various structural and plumage details didn’t quite add up, and speculation was made about whether it could instead have been a hybrid Blue-winged Teal x Shoveler, or indeed a Cinnamon Teal. The latter is a bird which is not on the British List, but several birds have seen over the years, all presumed to be or known to be escapes from collections.
More convincing as a genuine female Blue-winged Teal was a duck which appeared at Berry Fen, Cambridgeshire on 30 March.
This individual stayed well into April, often in the company of drake Garganeys, and was even seen mating with at least one of them. Perhaps some odd hybrid dabbling ducks of the future are on their way…
Incidentally, those Garganeys were part of an exceptional influx of the species this spring, with good numbers scattered around, and not just the usual handful seen at selected breeding sites each spring: more than 1,700 individuals were logged in a week.
More lingerers
While on the subject of dabbling ducks, we may as well start the summary of long-staying very rare birds with mention of the two drake Baikal Teals. The Greylake RSPB (Somerset) bird stayed until 14th, while the Swine Moor (East Yorkshire) drake stayed in place until early April. Perhaps, their departure times will serve them better than the ‘rejected’ 2019 drake of East Anglia and north- east England, which was deemed too late-staying by hanging on until July that year!
Lincolnshire’s White-tailed Lapwing was last seen at its favoured 2022 site of Halton Marshes on 6th. Luckily, though, it was relocated at Frampton Marsh RSPB (in the south of the county) on 9th, where it remained until well into April.
As in previous months, Lancashire’s Belted Kingfisher went missing for a spell (at the beginning of March) before reappearing along the River Ribble at Brockholes LWT, Lancashire on 11th, then back on the River Darwen at Roach Bridge, Samlesbury on 14th. And it stayed more or less there until April.
Over in Ireland, ‘megas’ include the Double- crested Cormorant, American Coots, Semipalmated Plover, and most exciting of all, the Egyptian Vulture, at Lough Funshinagh,
Co. Roscommon, for 10 days or so.
And finally
There were still very good numbers of Ring-necked Ducks around, with up to 40 present in the country at times. Glossy Ibises also had another very decent month, with a peak of 11 together at Dungeness, Kent, on 18th. The first Night Heron of spring was at the Nanjizal Valley, Cornwall on 31st. Roll on April!