Birdwatch

Colossal garden record is first for Britain

John Bowler sums up the ecstasy of coming face to face with a new British and Western Palearctic species in his own garden.

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Afast-moving depression whipped across the North Atlantic and struck Tiree early on Sunday 13 September 2020. Conditions looked ideal for bringing a North American bird or two across ‘the pond’ and I even fantasised about finding an Empidonax flycatcher. However, checks of my local patch at Balephuil later that day produced nothing new of note other than a Lesser Whitethroa­t and a small influx of Lesser Blackbacke­d Gulls.

A fresh juvenile Common Rosefinch popped up in our garden briefly the following day, and with the winds slackening in a ridge of high pressure, my bird-finding thoughts switched back towards drift migrants from the east.

First thing on Tuesday morning, I casually opened the curtains of our lounge windows, with cup of tea in hand, and was dumb-founded by what I saw! In exactly the same willow where the rosefinch had been the previous day, a boldly marked flycatcher eyed me from just three metres away. Rich olive-green above, with a complete bold eyering, an orange lower mandible, a distinct yellow suffusion on the throat and down the breast, and very striking whitish wing-bars and edgings to the tertials and secondarie­s – it was an Empidonax flycatcher! I grabbed my camera and took a few record shots to make sure I wasn’t hallucinat­ing.

Identifica­tion was fairly straightfo­rward: the shortish tail, large head with a ‘cute’ expression and rather compact structure narrowed it down to being a Least or Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (thus avoiding the far trickier Willow/Alder/Acadian Flycatcher species grouping), while the yellow suffusion below and rich green upperparts, plus immaculate condition of its tail and flight feathers, quickly pronounced it to be a first-winter Yellow-bellied Flycatcher – the first for the Western Palearctic – a species I have seen before on migration in Mexico and Belize.

With the identifica­tion sorted, I simply enjoyed watching this exotic-looking bird foraging happily in the trees that I have planted over the years in our sheltered garden for just such an occasion. Island-based birders live for moments like this, but this was big news to break to my wife. Together with a few others, we mulled over what to do with the news, particular­ly in the light of the worsening coronaviru­s situation on the mainland and the absence of the disease on the island, which has a large vulnerable elderly population. In the end, news of the bird somehow found its own way out, as was perhaps inevitable, and we were faced with a potentiall­y large twitch the following day.

With great help from Hayley Douglas, the Tiree Ranger, my wife Janet and our very accommodat­ing neighbours, we were able to manage a successful socially distanced twitch following Scottish COVID-19 guidelines over the next three days, during which time some 120 birders got to see the bird in the two

neighbouri­ng private gardens. However, with mounting concerns on the Tiree community’s social media channels with regards to coronaviru­s and the ongoing influx of birders to the island from all over Britain, we were forced to close access to the gardens from midnight on Friday.

A small trickle of birders continued to arrive and try their luck each day until the bird finally left, with most managing to connect with it from the adjacent track. The flycatcher finally departed on the night of 23 September after a nine-day stay, during which it fed voraciousl­y on a wide range of insects including our neighbours’ honeybees and showed no concern at all for the close attention it received.

All visiting birders were very well behaved and together raised at least £1,800 for the Tiree Community Trust, which was much appreciate­d and should help to quell any lingering concerns about the twitch on the island. I would also like to take this opportunit­y to thank the BirdGuides team for their very sensitive handling of what was, given the current climate, an extremely difficult situation to deal with.

A lifetime ambition was achieved and, with that dazzling American flycatcher still fresh in my mind, I’m tempted to hang up my binoculars now – but I know that I won’t! ■

 ??  ?? Yellow-bellied Flycatcher: Tiree, Argyll, 15-23 September 2020
Britain’s first Yellow-bellied Flycatcher generally performed well for those who travelled to Tiree to see it.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher: Tiree, Argyll, 15-23 September 2020 Britain’s first Yellow-bellied Flycatcher generally performed well for those who travelled to Tiree to see it.
 ??  ?? A small twitch was present on each day, with all birders behaving in exemplary fashion and exercising social distancing, raising at least £1,800 for the Tiree Community Trust.
A small twitch was present on each day, with all birders behaving in exemplary fashion and exercising social distancing, raising at least £1,800 for the Tiree Community Trust.
 ??  ?? The willows that the flycatcher spent much of its time frequentin­g
John’s Tiree garden.
The willows that the flycatcher spent much of its time frequentin­g John’s Tiree garden.

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