Cliff Swallow

November rarities often come right out the blue, and such was the case with this Cliff Swallow at Minsmere, Suffolk. Found on a miserable Friday afternoon, it was clear that the bird wasn't going far that evening and as such it was with a high degree of confidence that up to 300 or so birders gathered on the reserve at dawn the following morning.

Some, myself included, were duped by a message of it reportedly roosting in reeds by Bittern Hide and spent the first 45 minutes of daylight there. No swallow, but great views of an Otter fishing just in front of the hide as well as a couple of fly-by Bitterns and a spectacular flock of Starlings.

The bird was first seen shortly after seven but proved a bit of a nightmare for the first half hour, almost to the point that we thought we'd dipped given that it had been seen gaining height over South Hide. Happily it came back, settled down and showed very well with up to eight Barn Swallows in bushes just north of the reserve's north wall. At times it was just overhead, though it spent most of the morning sat in hawthorns, presumably warming up, until we left a little while before 08:30.

American Cliff Swallow, Minsmere, Suffolk, 5 November 2016

Swamp donkey

Adult Western Swamphen, Minsmere, Suffolk, 1 August 2016

A Western Swamphen was found at Minsmere on Sunday 31 July. I didn't actually hear about the bird until the evening as I was playing cricket and didn't have my mobile to hand. As such I visited early on Monday morning, and enjoyed fine views for much of my stay from 07:45-10:30. That said, the bird was always over the far side of the pool and thus rarely any closer than about 100 metres.

In my (and many others') opinion, this bird meets all the criteria you'd hope for in a wild bird. An unusual northward dispersal has been occurring in France this year and it's easy to fit this bird in to the pattern observed there. You can read much more about this influx in an article by Hugo Touzé and myself on the BirdGuides website:

• Touzé H & Jones J. 2016. Western Swamphen in Suffolk — a new British bird? [online] BirdGuides.com. Available at: birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=5831

The bird's last showing at Minsmere came on Friday, resulting in a six-day stay. There has been no sign since. I'd argue that the relatively short stay is another factor in favour of this bird being wild - though the most northerly swamphen in France (in Morbihan) is still present at the time of writing, having been found back on 20 July. Others, further south in France, lingered for up to a week or so.

The jury's of course still out and it may be that some damning evidence comes to light that renders it unacceptable as a wild bird - though I doubt that'll be the case, and I suspect (hope) that it rightfully finds its way on to Category A.

Pacific Swift

Pacific Swift over the Suffolk countryside - a long way from home

Given the run of sightings, I guess I wasn't alone in thinking that 2013 might finally be the year in which Pacific Swift was 'unblocked'. But such belief still required the bird to do its bit and actually linger somewhere long enough for a large-scale vigil to take place. But, at last, [one of] the Pacific Swift[s] gave itself up in Suffolk yesterday (and still today as it happens).

I mentioned on Thursday that an animated call from Rich Bonser last weekend had me going for a bit, but alas it was regarding the Long-tailed Duck that he'd just found. That said, there was no mistaking the panicked tones in Rich's voice as he rang at 10:45 yesterday to tell me that "the Pacific Swift is at Trimley". As it happened, I was heading westwards on the M4 with my mate Chris - we'd planned to visit a couple of orchid sites in the Home Counties to get some fresh air and enjoy a stroll outside the capital. I'd just passed the M25 junction as it broke, but was able to pull a quick U-turn at junction 5. The M25 looked pretty clogged up so we tediously battled back in to London and around the North Circular before eventually getting a fairly clear run up the A12 towards Colchester.

We arrived on site about 12:40 and soon met up with Rich and various others tackling the three-mile walk to the reserve in brisk fashion. And, forty-five minutes later (after a nerve-wracking message about the bird flying off over the river!), there it was, hawking around low over the lagoon - a bloody Pacific Swift! Significantly different in structure to the Swifts by which it was surrounded, it was more elongated with an obviously forked tail, and had longer, slimmer and more scythe-shaped wings - not to mention to obvious pale scaling on the underparts and white rump and throat. Just look at that profile!

 The Pacific Swift displaying just about everything you'd need to identify it - note the deeply-forked tail, long, scythe-shaped wings and of course white rump

In the strong winds, the bird spent much of its time feeding low over the lagoon. We felt that the bird's flight pattern was different to Common Swift, being a little more Alpine Swift-like in many respects. It was also a paler shade of brown to Common Swift.

 Comparison between Pacific (right) and Common Swifts

Though more often than not on the distant side for photography, it would occasionally battle the wind towards the seaward side of the lagoon. This meant it did just about get within range for some half-decent record shots, several of which can be seen below. What. A. Bird.

It proved a fantastic few hours in Suffolk. The crowds were surprisingly small and there was a lack offensive behaviour or conflict, just huge swathes of relief and elation as those arriving connected. Great to see so many friends there too. All in all, a brilliant day, despite the almost biblical storm along the A12 on the way home - cars were pretty much at a standstill due to quantity of rain; aquaplaning was proving a real problem. We saw at least seven seperate car crashes (of varying severity) on the way back to W London, four of which were on the North Circular alone!

Eastern Subalpine Warbler, Suffolk

I've had a busy weekend, moving house over both days and playing cricket with James' team on Sunday afternoon (63 runs in my first innings for five years). Photos emerged of a Subalpine Warbler at Landguard on Friday evening that clearly depicted it to be of the Eastern race (albistriata) - not a split but a new form for me in the UK. Surprise news after a clear night saw the bird still there on the Saturday morning and so I sneaked away from packing/unpacking boxes in time to arrive in Felixstowe early evening. Enjoyed great views to just a few metres (bird often too close to focus on with my 400mm) with Marc, Kev et al over the following hour or so; what a stunning creature - a nice adult by the looks of things. The bird was restless and I never really managed the glorious shots I had envisaged taking as I made my way to the site, but some decent results nevertheless.

Even managed to get home at a reasonable hour to get on with further packing before retiring to bed. Off to Italy this weekend coming, hoping for some Brown Bear/Rock Partridge/Cat C action. Hopefully have some decent shots to post...

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll

Didn't anticipate that we'd get another chance at an accessible mainland bird so soon after the Norfolk individual. And what a bird - it really has to be seen in the flesh to be appreciated. Big size, stunning plumage and unbelievably tame - I had it to 1.5 metres at times. The call is striking too; a kind of slurred 'chuup' almost like a Bullfinch or a Snow Bunting.

Great day out with James Lowen. A speculative stop at Copdock also saw us pull out 45+ Waxwings there.

Click on the shots below for bigger, better versions in lightbox.