Great Shearwater taken into care in Cambridgeshire
The extraordinary inland record came as quite a surprise on April Fool’s Day.
AGreat Shearwater was found exhausted and taken into care well inland in Cambridgeshire at the start of April.
The RSPCA received a call from a member of the public who had discovered a sick and injured bird in a residential area in Wisbech on 1 April. Despite the date, the unusual find proved to be genuine and quickly transpired to be a Great Shearwater – a species never previously recorded in the county.
It was collected by one of the charity’s wildlife casualty volunteers and taken to its East Winch branch, where it was cared for until it perished on 6 April.
There are precious few inland records of Great Shearwater from anywhere in Britain and Ireland, making the discovery quite extraordinary. Even more exceptional is the time of year at which the bird was found – typically, Great Shearwater is a late summer and early autumn visitor to European waters, and the occurrence of a bird in early spring is virtually unheard of.
However, there have been sporadic reports of a Great Shearwater lingering in the North Sea throughout the winter and, given the species’ rarity in British waters at this time of year, it seems likely that the Wisbech record involves the same, lost individual. Seen irregularly in Northumberland until 28 November, presumably the same bird was then noted off Gibraltar Point NNR, Lincolnshire, on 2 December, Sheringham, Norfolk, on 20 December and latterly Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire, on 2 March. ■
Great Shearwater: Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, 1 April 2022