Birdwatching in Beijing and in Newhaven - snow buntings versus robins
An incredibly rare visitor generated huge excitement among birdwatchers in China earlier this month. Record crowds of photographers assembled in the grounds of Beijing zoo, shunning the giant pandas, golden monkeys and Siberian tigers in favour of something far more exotic.
Their long lenses formed a bristling circle around an unassuming shrubbery, poised for the slightest glimpse of the star attraction: a European robin.
This might seem bizarre - after all, it’s a bird we can see on a daily basis without really trying - but a robin has only ever been recorded in Beijing three times, and its most recent arrival made the local headlines.
It’s a welcome reminder that there is something special in the everyday, and maybe we should look a bit closer next time a robin visits the bird table.
Of course, we’re not adverse to a bit of ‘twitching’ here in the UK either.
This label is applied to ‘the pursuit of a previously-located rare bird’ and when the word gets out that Bird X can be seen in Location Y, the most dedicated twitchers will travel hundreds of miles to catch a glimpse, take a photo and tick the species off their list.
Our most recent twitch-worthy visitor arrived towards the tail end of 2018, and in a bizarre twist of fate it arrived here from Asia.
The diminutive Hume’s leaf warbler is a common sight in the mountain woodlands of China and Mongolia but caused quite a stir by appearing in scrub near the Newhaven incinerator on the day after Boxing Day, where it hopped about for a good couple of weeks – a long way from its usual wintering grounds on the Indian subcontinent, and only the seventh time this species has ever been seen in Sussex.
We’ve also been treated to a snow bunting in Goring-by-Sea, which arrived in mid-December and shows no sign of leaving any time soon.
This Arctic specialist has the most northerly range of any passerine (perching songbird) in the world and doesn’t often venture as far south as Sussex.
It may be surrounded by fewer cameras than the Beijing robin but its celebrity status is well deserved.