Cosmic: Britain's first Siberian Accentor

Sometimes you're in the right place at the right time. And, on Sunday afternoon, after nine days on Shetland, we were just about that. Minutes away from checking in for our flight back to Aberdeen, we were sat outside the terminal when John's pager started wailing and his increasingly hysterical voice just about managed to squeeze our "Siberian Accentor ... Shetland ... at Scousburgh ..!"

There wasn't any need for thought. We piled back in to our hired minibus we were in the process of returning and bombed off in no time. Fifteen minutes later and we were watching Britain's first Siberian Accentor happily feeding away in an unsuspecting quarry on the western slopes of Mossy Hill. Oblivious of the carnage unfolding around it, the accentor performed to within a few metres, feeding with the voraciousness of a newly-arrived migrant. I was utterly thrilled to simply be part of the crowd that evening - I can only image what Judd Hunt must have thought when he first clapped eyes on this perfect rarity.

I'll update the blog in the coming days with a more general Shetland review - for the meantime here's a few shots of the accentor.

 Siberian Accentor, Mossy Hill, Shetland, 9 October 2016

 The bird's favoured quarry complete with appreciative crowd.

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.

Caspian Gull, 19th August

I still feel knackered after Birdfair - I woke up aching this morning - some sort of of delayed reaction to the toil of standing up all weekend. Is that normal at 23? This sounds all very clichéed, but it was genuinely great to catch up with lots of old friends as well as put names to many a face over the weekend - thanks to all those that came to (re-)introduce themselves at the BirdGuides/Birdwatch stand. Sadly, as I was the only BirdGuides representative over the weekend, I didn't get the free time that I'd have hoped to have a proper mooch around and catch up/meet many more. I also didn't find a Two-barred Crossbill, despite a reasonable amount of effort in various Northants woodlands. Still, a great weekend nonetheless.

I had yesterday morning off work - news shift from 15:30 meant I had a little bit of time to play with. The initial plan of a lie-in failed miserably due to our overexcitable springer spaniel, who thought nothing of charging up to my room and licking my face at half seven in the morning until I was forced from beneath the sheets. On the way back to London, I called in at my old gulling haunts in Peterborough. The hallowed turf of Dogsthorpe Tip was a sad sight - no tipping, the landfill capped off and, as a result, no gulls. Tears began to fill my eyes, so I hastily moved on. A marginally better situation at Tanholt saw just a couple of hundred LWHGs on the old pit. A welcome adult Yellow-legged Gull was one of the first birds scrutinized and, shortly afterwards, squinting directly in to the strong late morning sunshine, I clocked this rotter floating around (here portrayed during a cloudier moment):

Though challenging in many instances, sometimes you come across Caspian Gulls that are refreshingly conspicuous. You've got a bunch of gulls in front of you, and the bird in question just sticks out like a proverbial sore thumb - a bit like this one. Not only is it a big old bird (approaching Great Black-backed size), but the white head contrasts with the long, dark bill to create a distinctive and contrasted appearance. Obvious Caspian Gulls have an immediately recognisable facial expression - snouty, with a small-looking eye. You then start moving down the body for more clues: the obvious shawl on the hindneck, the clean underparts, scapular pattern, largely dark brown tertials and, though not shown in the photographs, a clean white uppertail, undertail and rump, with sharply-defined black tail band. Compare it to the Herring of the same age just meandering in to view at the left-hand end of the photo above. Further ropey records, illustrating the features mentioned, are shown below:

Having a drink...

 ... giving good 'face'...

... and dwarving the local Herrings and Lesser Black-backs - note how clean the undertail is.

Incidentally, this was the first bird that I've solely digiscoped in quite some time. It has demonstrated one thing: I desperately need a new tripod. I might as well have mounted my 'scope on a blancmange - the head is all over the place! Perhaps I should have shelled out at Birdfair after all...

1cy Caspian Gull

This first-winter Caspian Gull showed well on the River Thames foreshore late morning until flushed by loud youths on bikes. A further two birds - both adults - were seen on the tip in addition to 15 or so Yellow-legged Gulls.

Note that, in contrast to some messages that have been broadcast, the majority of gulls are NOT at or by the stone barges. I've encountered three independent lost birders on my last two visits to the site. The best place to see gulls is by walking east along the riverside footpath for 300m from Coldharbour Lane. Birds commute between the tip and the River Thames here, and good views can be had of birds either bathing on the river or on the foreshore itself.

Mid-September Caspian Gulls

Today, I spent about 90 minutes in Butts Hide at Rainham, during which I saw the juvenile Baillon's Crake for about 3 seconds as it ran across a gap in the reeds. Nice bird, but I must admit I felt a huge sense of relief on seeing it. Why? Because it meant I could get back to the landfill site and look at the gulls, of course!

In two 90-minutes sessions today (mid-morning and early afternoon), I had at least five Caspian Gulls, with at least three 1cy birds seen. Interesting to see how worn all three were, being well advanced in their moult towards first-winter plumage.

Bird one was a really bulky-looking beast with a hefty bill. Note that the vast majority of the scapulars have been replaced, and also how worn the coverts are:

Bird two was perhaps the 'best'-looking of the lot, initially picked up flying around over the tip when the pale underwing could be seen with ease. A classic in all respects, this one is less advanced in its scapular moult than bird one, but note structure (long legs, parallel bill, rounded head etc). It looks really similar to this one I had in Peterborough last year.

Bird three was probably the most advanced of the bunch, with a whitish head and almost all scapulars replaced. Although superficially similar to bird one, there are differences in the moulted scapulars, and the bill is both a different shape (more pronounced gonydeal angle) and shows a more obvious pinkish wash to the base. Check out how long and spindly the legs are!

The other two birds were both 2cy, with one much more advanced than the other. Here is one of them, through the heat haze:

Also had this bird. At first, I thought it might be a Caspian Gull, but some features don't really fit - the bold anchors on the newly-moulted scapulars, the shortish legs, the dirty(ish) underwing etc. I guess it is likely a Yellow-legged Gull. Or perhaps even a Lesser Black-backed Gull. Thoughts and comments welcome.