26 Jun 22 - Half A Million & Going Strong

I started this Blog back on 24 Oct 13 after I bought myself a Canon 7D & 400 mm lens. A few years ago, I upgraded the camera gear to a Canon 7D Mark II & 100-400 mm Mark II lens. I'm a Birder, who takes photos for my enjoyment, but I don't have the skills, patience or interest in becoming a photographer.

The original aim of the Blog was to use it as a diary for myself where I could put my photos to avoid them being tucked away on my laptop & lost for ever. It's also allows me to quicky dip into some of the days out Birding or longer trips over the last eight & a half years and quickly relive the memories. While this was for my own memories, I quickly expanded the aims of the Blog to "showcase both the excellent birds & other wildlife in the UK as well as abroad".

When I started the Blog, I hoped that other people would also enjoying reading it and would be inspired to visit some of the places documented and enjoy the Birds and other wildlife I've mentioned. I had no idea whether the Blog will be popular or not, but I must be doing something right as I passed the half-million hits on the Blog yesterday. The Blog has been viewed from 165 countries or major regional territories.

The 165 Blog Flags

Over the last few years, the frequency of new Blog Posts have varied based upon my available time to process photos & also whether I've got interesting photos to post. Foreign trips have clearly been a big source of interesting photos and I've thoroughly enjoyed sorting the photos from a foreign trip & writing the Blog Posts. I get the most enjoyment out of foreign trips, by the research & planning that leads into the trip, the trip itself and finally, the post trip analysis of the species seen, including investigating some of the complex identification of some of the species seen.

Travel features highly as a theme and since starting the Blog, I've been lucky to visit many parts of the UK & abroad including: Holland (Nov 13); India including the Andaman Islands (Dec 13 - Jan 14); Morocco & Western Sahara (Feb 14): Israel (Apr 14): Croatia (May 14): French Polynesia and Pitcairn (Nov 14); California (Nov 14); Turkey (Jun 15); Finland (May - Jun 16); Colombia (Feb - Mar 18); Chile (Mar 18); the Atlantic Odyssey from Argentina to Holland visiting South Georgia, Tristan da Cunha, St Helena, Ascension Island & Cape Verde (Mar - May 18); a ferry from the UK to Santander & back (Aug 18). C19 severely impacted the travel plans since it's outbreak, but I've managed trips to Ireland in Aug 16, Mar 22 & Jun 22.

This is the 725th Blog Posts which cover a mixture of mainly Birding related subjects, but also Cetaceans, other Mammals, Butterflies, Dragonflies & other insect groups, Sea Turtles, Reptiles and Amphibians, Orchids and a few other groups. There are also the occasional historical Posts. Over 1150 species of Bird have been included on the Blog, along with another 400 other species of wildlife.

There are too many favourites to detail all the Blog Posts. Expanding the date index allows readers to scroll back to a particular period. More usefully, the Labels section on the right hand side allows readers to click on a species of interest & quickly find all the Blog Posts where that species occurs. To whet your appetite, here are ten of my favourite Blog Posts from the last few years.

I will start with a 2020 Blog Post covering finding the first Buff-breasted Sandpiper for St Aldhelms: my favourite UK Wader.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper: The first for St Aldhelms & one that was on the Self-found Wish List for many years (20 Sep 20)

One of my favourite travel Blog Posts including this gorgeous Tuamotu Sandpiper photographed on an expedition cruise to French Polynesia & the Pitcairn Islands group.

Tuamotu Sandpiper: This mst be the only Wader with a sweet tooth. Tenararo, French Polynesia (12 Nov 14)

I've enjoyed documenting memorable twitches & one of them was the Chestnut Bunting twitch to Papa Westray.

Chestnut Bunting: This Blog covered the private charter flight onto Papa Westray and has had one of the highest hits for a single Blog Post (28 Oct 15)

Another memorable twitch was a mini break to Holland with Dave Gibbs for a Hawk Owl that had taken up residence in the middle of the small town of Zwolle.

Hawk Owl: This ticked a number of boxes including a successful twitch, foreign travel and an Owl: one of favourite Bird families. Zwolle, Holland (27 Nov 13)

One of the things I've enjoyed doing is pulling together an Index of all of the Blog Posts under a certain wildlife group. The Indexes can be found below the Blog's banner. Currently, I've created Indexes for Whales, Beaked Whales, Blackfish, Dolphins & Porpoises and Sea Turtles. Clicking on these Indexes, allows the reader to quickly find all the Blog Posts on a particular wildlife group. I will add some new Indexes in the future. I particular enjoyed the Blog Posts that allowed me to create the Sea Turtle Index.

Leatherback Turtle: At sea between St Helena and Ascension Island, Atlantic Odyssey (22 Apr 18)

One of the Blog Posts looked at the St Aldhelms Continental Swallowtail Butterflies in early July 14. After seeing them, I tried identifying individuals from the photos to work out how many might be involved. Examination of my photographs, along with those from other people, documented five different individuals. The assumption is a female arrived earlier in the Spring, laid some eggs which produced this short-lived group. That year, Continental Swallowtails were seen at a number of other locations in the South East of the UK.

Swallowtail: This was individual B. It's identification from the other four individuals are detailed in this Blog Post (2 Jul 14). A follow-up Blog Post on 11 Jul 14 confirmed there had been no wedding released Butterflies in the previous 3.5 years that the currently vicar had been conducting services at the chapel

One of my passions is to dig deep into the identification of some of the tricky to identify species that I have seen. Initially, this is to confirm what I've seen. In Spring 18, I enjoyed 7 weeks on the expedition ship Plancius travelling from Ushuaia, Argentina back to Holland, stopping at a number of Atlantic islands en route. The first was St Georgia and on 4 Apr 18, the ship entered the Drygalski Fjord, where I saw over one hundred Diving-petrels. The majority were Common Diving-petrels, but we were trying to pick out a handful of the very similar-looking South Georgian Diving-petrels. Like many Birders on the boat, I struggled to pick one out in flight with a complication of very subtle features on fast-flying 'equivalents' of Little Auks at a distance and no previous experience. I'm sure some of the other punters, just ticked a likely candidate after somebody else called it. But I wanted to be sure & spent several hours poring over my photos, along with Id articles and internet photos. Having come to some decisions on what I had seen, I wrote a Blog Post summarising the outcomes. This will be of use to me as I will get back to South Georgia at some point in the future and also I hope it will be of use to others trying to get their heads around this difficult pair of species.

South Georgia Diving-petrel: The separation of South Georgia Diving-petrel and Common Diving-petrel in the Drygalski Fjord, South Georgia, is covered in this Blog Post (4 Apr 18)

On the Atlantic Odyssey, I was lucky to see 26 of the 90 or so extant species of Cetaceans. While many of them were relatively straight-forward to identify, a number were far more tricky. Again the photos that a number of us took of those tricky species were really helpful to identify them. This allowed one of the expedition guides, Marijke De Boer, to subsequently document the records which will help to increase the knowledge on some of these rarely seen species. This was particularly true with some of the Beaked Whales like this Strap-toothed Beaked Whale. I plan to book up for a future Atlantic Odyssey trip once I feel comfortable about travelling abroad again and assuming that this superb trip continues to run in the future. It was one of the best trips I've ever been on.

Strap-toothed Beaked Whale: The distinctive black face & white beak is diagnostic for Strap-toothed Beaked Whale which is shown on this individual within a small pod photographed between Tristan Da Cunha and St Helena. Typically, the lower face would be a paler grey, but none of my photos show that area. I can't see a white tusk sticking up from the beak so I think this individual must be a female. One of the benefits of seeing a small pod is having identified one or two individuals, then it is possible to get photos of even more tricky to identify subadult individuals in the pod (16 Apr 18)

One of my favourite Blog Posts covers the visit to Ernest Shackleton's grave at Grytviken, South Georgia. Shackleton is my all-time hero explorer. However, it's not just Shackleton who stands out on his second Antarctic voyage, but also Frank Worsley & Tom Crean. Shackleton, Worsley and Crean were the three members of the crew who were involved in raising the alarm following the loss of the Endurance in the Antarctic, with their epic voyage in a small rowing boat from Elephant Island to South Georgia, the subsequent climb over the mountains & the dangerous toboggan down the slopes towards the whaling settlement of Stromness. Captain Frank Wild was left in charge of the rest of the crew on Elephant Island and his ashes are buried alongside Shackleton.

Homage to Ernest Shackleton & his expedition: Shackleton grave at Grytviken, South Georgia (3 Apr 18)

I will end on my favourite Bird photo of a Rainbow-bearded Thornbill taken on a memorable Birdquest tour to Colombia with my late good mate, Brian Field.

Rainbow-bearded Thornbill: Hotel Termales del Ruiz, Colombia (25 Feb 18)

Thanks for following the Blog. I hope you have enjoyed it over the years & here's to the next half million hits.

18 Dec 16 - An Early Christmas Present (From The BOU)

This is the time of the year when the BOU often announce changes to the British List, but this year following the disbanding of the Taxonomic Sub Committee, I hadn't been expecting any interesting announcements. So I was a bit suprised to see an announcement that the BOU had added both the Dungeness Acadian Flycatcher & the Papa Westray Chestnut Bunting to the British List. With both being in Autumn 2015, I had been expecting both of these species to take a couple of years before a decision was made for either species. 

Acadian Flycatcher: Dungeness (22 Sep 15)

When news broke of an Empidonax Flycatcher at Dungeness, it didn't take me long to leave the house & I persuaded big Kent lister Marcus Lawson (who is now a Poole resident) to wait long enough to pick him up. I figured Marcus could help keep an eye on what people's thoughts were on the Flycatcher while I was driving. The good news was the first Birders didn't think it was an Alder Flycatcher, the only widely seen Empidonax Flycatcher in the UK & therefore it was a First for Britain. After checking the photos that evening & reading up on the identification, Acadian Flycatcher seemed the best option. This was confirmed within a day or two following review of the photos from the other side of the pond. I saw no reason why this shouldn't get onto the British List & ticked it at the time.

Chestnut Bunting: Papa Westray (28 Oct 15)

I took a more cautious approach with the Chestnut Bunting on Papa Westray. With a dubious record of eight previous individuals being rejected, then I wasn't immediately heading North even after the identification had been confirmed. However, after a bit of reading why the previous records had been rejected I was more tepmted to go. Six had been Spring/Summer records (an unexpected time of year) and the final two records were in September, which were considered to have been too early based upon movements through Beidaihi (North China) & Hong Kong. This was against a background of Chestnut Buntings being a regular cage Bird in those days. But the trade of Eastern Passerines is largely a thing of the past. The BOU report had said that a First Winter in October/November would be treated more favourably. This got me interested & I jumped when I saw an offer of a charter on the pager. This proved to be a great trip & is fully written up here. However, given the BOU's treatment of previous records, I decided to opt for pending the Chestnut Bunting. But now it had been added to the British List, it has been finally added to my British List taking me to 529 for (British & Ireland List) & 523 (British List). The Purple Swamphen & Dalmatian Pelican remain Pended for another rainy day (for the Swamphen & to avoid a likely removal for the latter species).

15 Nov 15 - The End Of The Taxonomical Sub Committee (For The UK List)

Birders were shocked today to hear the surprise news that the British Union For Ornithology, BUFO, have bowed to government pressure & disbanded BUFO's long standing Taxonomic Sub Committee, TSC. For many years the TSC had provides an independent assessment of Bird species & subspecies. Now in a stroke & with no explanation, BUFO's independent scientific committee has been shelved. A Birder was recently heard to quip, Fowl Play was involved, but this is no laughing matter. It is being quietly whispered that the government Home Secretary, Mrs May, had been lobbying hard to do away with the TSC after 2015 has repeatedly shown that the government's has failed to secure the UK borders against arrivals of immigrants. The Birding world have been shocked to hear it was pressure from Mrs May, especially given her ancestral links to the world of Bird taxonomy. It was her Great Great Great Grandfather & pioneering naturalist, Cape May, who first described this small American Warbler.

Cape May Warbler: It is widely believed that Mrs May personally intervened to grant a visa for this individual to visit the May ancestral home in the Shetlands two years ago. Baltasound (29 Oct 13)

A BUFO spokesman said off the record, we believe the government is trying to look tough about immigration. They believe that by disbanding the TSC, they will fool the general public into thinking they are taking strong action against immigration. By stopping the TSC, they think the public will believe no new species will appear in the UK.

But a different viewpoint comes from the UK's leading NGO, Rare Immigrant Alert. They have been monitoring the arrival of these immigrants for 24 years. Their spokesman Mr 'Golly Its' Mark said 2015 is a year that has seen unprecedented waves of immigrants. They have many arrival routes. Mr Mark said that the Immigration Services should be commended for making good progress in a historically weak area of Scillies & the South West. Few immigrants have made it through that route this year, an area that has seen a lot of success over recent years. He added, I think that is a really good news story, it's a sod of a journey from my home in Norfolk.

But action has been poor at other traditional points of weakness such as the South Coast. In Sep, a major breach occurred with the well documented arrival of an American Acadian Flycatcher at Dungeness. This was seen perching on boats on the beach. Perhaps even the one that landed it. Large numbers of left wing do-gooders & environmental enthusiasts rushed there to welcome it, but not one member of the Immigration Services was seen. Mr Mark said the government have focused their staff on the Eurotunnel & the Dover ferries & have taken their eye of the ball off the UK coastline.

Acadian Flycatcher: This left egg on the face of the UK Immigration Services. Dungeness (22 Sep 15)

Another area of clear under-investment by the Immigration Services has been the Northern Isles. Mr Mark said this whole region had been totally ignored. There have been unprecedented arrivals of Yellow-browed Warblers from Eastern Russia. They came from well outside the EU. It is widely suspected that other Scandinavian EU partner countries were allowing the fast transit through the region to the Northern Isles. Once there, they quickly dispersed throughout the UK. A government spokesman, who refused to be named, said this has been devolved to the regions & it was the failure of the Scottish National Independence Party (SNIP).

Yellow-browed Warbler: The spokesman said the UK government had helped a number of these Yellow-browed Warblers get onto ferries from Portsmouth & Plymouth, to encourage them to travel down to Spain, once they got South of the border. This is our payment for the Spanish & French authorities helping to dump large numbers of Killer Jellyfish on our beaches (read the full exclusive by the Daily Wail here). Gisla, Lewis (16 Oct 15)

But there were many other breaches of the immigration in areas under SNIP's control, with a Wilson's Warbler, a Chestnut Bunting, as well as, a number of rare Thrushes & Warblers arriving throughout the Northern Isles & that was just this Autumn. Mr Mark said, SNIP has failed completely to get on top of immigration in the Northern Isles.

Chestnut Bunting: Papa Westray (28 Oct 15)

But the problem isn't confined to Scotland. The Welsh government has also failed when a new Welsh point of entry shown up in 2015 on the North West Islands of Wales. Here a Cretzschmar's Bunting arrived fresh from Turkey. It stayed for over a week & only disappeared when a Welsh government boat was seen approaching the island. This is another species which clearly arrived into Greece & should have stayed & sought residence there. But instead it appears to have been smuggled on its way to the UK, via Bardsey Island.

Cretzschmar's Bunting: The start of a new Welsh smuggling route for immigrants? Bardsey (18 June 15)

Many Birders are worrying now about who will decide about future splits which might be allowed onto to the UK List. A government official said the UK Treasury has this in hand. The TSC is to be privatised in the next year. His Secretary of State, Mr Bornin-Oz, has been holding high level talks with a number of interested parties. Recent discussions have included meetings & a state visit from the Chinese President, See Dis-Pingu. Birders feel their lists might be devalued if Pingu the Penguin, Peking Duck and Mandarin Duck are fully admitted onto the UK List.

Ring-necked Parakeet or Green Squawker: Presumed to be the former. Bharatphur, India (27 Jan 14)

Another more recent state visit was from the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Moody. Birders were less sure about this. Many were critical that they will be expected to fully tick Ring-necked Parakeet & how to separate it from the near identical Green Squawker Parakeet. The latter has been claimed on a number of occasions in London, but so far hasn't been accepted onto the UK List. Birders have said, if Martin Garner hasn't figured this out on the excellent Birding Frontiers website, then what hope have we got.

Indian House Crow: Some Twitchers were pushing for the Indian Birding Club to take over the role of the TSC, hoping they will go soft on any future Indian House Crows records. Port Blair ferry, Andamans, India (23 Dec 13)

A few years ago, the obvious Atlantic partner organisation would have been the American Ornithological Union. But following a recent & bitter bidding war, the AOU's Taxonomical Committee was recently sold to the Disney Corporation. This has been watched with interest by members of the UK government who couldn't decide if they preferred the rival bid by the Fox Corporation or whether they would prefer to see the Fox bid hunted to extinction. Birders expect to lose out, if the privitised AOU Taxonomical Committee take over the UK List. This would be a double whammy, with the loss of species such as Green-winged Teal, but also having to pay huge costs of taking the family to see Donald Duck, following the recognition by the AOU of the offshore UK dependency of Disneyland, Paris.

Teal (left) & Green-winged Teal (right): One of several potential losses to the UK List as the AOU Taxonomical Committee can't tell the difference (once the specimen has been shot & cooked). Brands Bay (31 Dec 14)

Many Birders feel the obvious choice for maintaining the UK List (if the TSC couldn't be saved), would be the Association of European Records & Rarities Committees, AERRC. But it is widely believed that Tory back benchers have already nobbled this option, as it is one of the government's demands over the future of the UK in Europe.

But perhaps Birders biggest fear is that the role of the TSC will go to the lowest bidder. Many Birders feels this could be sold cheaply to 'Bare' Lee Credible who is Life President of the IQ40 Club. Mr Credible has been lobbying hard for this in recent weeks, including a recent statement on Twitter of "It is crazy that an out-dated committee is making decisions of what listers can tick. That is a job I should be doing". There are rumours of a secret pact between Tory back benchers & Nigel Farfetched, the leader of UKIQP, the political wing of The IQ40 Club. This has increased the fear that the role will go to the IQ40 Club to 'buy off the Tory back bench rebels'. Birders on recent twitches having been overheard discussing this worrying scenario.

Crag Martin: Why aren't Birders on BF calling this an escape? It's a worrying time. Chesterfield Zoo (14 Nov 15)

A Birdforum spokesman said, there has been so much worry about the disbanding of the BUFO TSC on BF, that we had to upgrade to faster servers. He added, there has been a near total absence of anybody stating the Crag Martin was an escape. A year ago we would have expected the escaped Crag Martin theory to be a big discussion point on BF given the crazy date, ridiculous location, the end of the Autumn & the long dark nights. We even tried adding our own inflammatory statements to encourage people, but we have been unable to get Birders to say they wouldn't go to the end of their own road to see a Crag Martin. This is unprecedented for a top ten rarity. That's how much Birders are focused on the replacement to the TSC. What is clear is Birders will be spending the Winter months worrying about the future credibility of their Lists.

28 Oct 15 - Checking The Bunting

On 22 Oct, the pager beeped for a Chestnut Bunting on the small island of Papa Westray, Orkney on the previous day, but it hadn't been seen that day. Some photos emerged that produced further online speculation as to its actual identity: but the photos weren't great. Either way it seemed an academic discussion for most Birders (but not the finders obviously) as the Chestnut Bunting had been & gone. But on 24 Oct, the pager mega'ed to say it had been relocated a few hundred metres from where it was originally found. This prompted a number of Birders to explore ways of getting there for the next day: a Sunday. Having looked at the complexity of getting onto Papa Westray, which involved a drive to Northern Scotland to take the ferry to Orkney & then trying to get onto a charter flight onto the island: a long drive, complex logistics & very expensive. Had I not just had a few days on the Western Isles, I might have used it as an excuse to have a short break on the Orkneys. But after the concerns of its identification & with the previous eight records all on Cat E List (i.e. not tickable), I decided to stick with the committed plan of doing my WeBS count that afternoon.

The Orkney Islands coming into range: Papa Westray is one of the two most Northerly of the Orkney Islands, but it lies to the West of North Ronaldsay: which is closest to Fair Isle. It's still off the top of this map

On 26 Oct, much better photos emerged of the Chestnut Bunting from the first mainland twitchers, both confirming the identity & that it was considered to be a First Winter male. I found more information about the previous records of Chestnut Buntings & why they had been placed in Cat E (see BOURC 37th Report). Six had been in May to July, which the BOU considered this was outside of the pattern for other accepted far Eastern vagrants. The other two records were in Sep, which the BOU considered were too early to have been genuine vagrants, based on their movements through Beidaihi (North China) & Hong Kong. Additionally, most individuals had been adults. The report also stated that First Winter individuals in Oct or Nov would be considered seriously. This was suddenly looking a lot more hopeful. If any record was going to get accepted onto the British List, then it should be this one. This was supported by a number of accepted records, or likely to be accepted records, scattered across the Western Palearctic, included a First Winter individual on Ouessant island on 25 Oct 14: the Brittany equivalent of the Scillies.

Getting closer: EGEP is the ICAO airport code for Papa Westray airport

At this point, I saw places on a charter from Yorkshire being offered on the pager for 28 Oct, which was still two days away. A few phone calls later, I was sixth on the list for the charter, but it was only a five seater plane, but there might be two planes. By the following afternoon, the Chestnut Bunting was still there & I was on the single plane that was going, as three of the people ahead of me on the queue had managed to get over a day earlier (thanks guys). I was all set to pick up two of the passengers over night on the way to Yorkshire. I met the plane organiser, Vaughan Watkins, another ex-Southampton Birder, who I hadn't seen for 28 years at Chieveley services on the A34. A couple of hours later, we were picking up Chris Gooddie, near Derby. After a good journey, we arrived with enough time to go & find a quick breakfast near the airfield. We had all agreed we weren't planning on leaving from Yorkshire, until we knew the Chestnut Bunting was still there. As I was driving the final few miles to the airfield from the cafe, Vaughan received a message from the incredibly helpful Paul Higson on Orkney, to say one of the local Birders on Papa Westray had been out at first light & it was still there. The message ended with "Scramble, Scramble, Scramble". A couple of minutes later, I was pulling into the airfield to see our other two companions, Matthew Deans & Mark Sutton, who had just heard the news.

Matthew Deans & Mark Sutton (right): This photo suggests there was more room in the plane than there seemed to be in reality

Myself & Vaughan Watkins (right): Definitely tighter in the back seats

Our pilot was keen to get going, but was concerned we might not be able to land on Papa Westray, due to low cloud. The plan was to leave & see how the weather developed, with Plan B being a landing at Wick to wait & see, if the weather was poor. So all loaded we were quickly on our way. Fortunately, as we were flying, our pilot said the weather forecast for Orkney was improving & he planned to go straight to Papa Westray & see if we had enough visibility to get in. As we descended, we started to see the neighbouring island of Westray & then Papa Westray.

Papa Westray: It was overcast, cold & windy on the island, but at least it wasn't raining 

All set for the landing, which went perfectly. We were asked if we saw the Chestnut Bunting if we could be back in a couple of hours as the blustery winds were due to increase to a Force 7 wind that afternoon. It was only a ten minute walk from the airstrip to the track which the Chestnut Bunting had been frequenting.

Papa Westray is a small island & only 3.5 square miles in size

Looking West as I was walking to Hollard Farm: I saw few trees on bushes on the island, although there were some around Holland Farm 

No other Birders present, but we had been told to look at the end of the long track or walk around just into the field at the end. We got to the gate, but no sign from there.

Its favourite lane

A good search in the field & no joy either after fifteen minutes of looking. Fortunately, Vaughan & Chris walked back up the track & found it grovelling in the grass at the edge of the track. I suspect we had walked too fast down the track & had managed to boot it without realising & it had then flown behind us on the track.

Chestnut Bunting: It spent a lot of time partially obscured & grovelling in the grass

Chestnut Bunting: It is a Juvenile Male plumage, as they don't moult until reaching the Wintering grounds

Chestnut Bunting: An all too typical view based on my photos

Chestnut Bunting

Chestnut Bunting

Either way, we were soon all watching it in the grass at the edge of the track. By staying still or moving slowly, it was quite happy to feed in the grass about ten or fifteen metres from us. Despite, being fairly short grass, it was very adept at keeping out of sight or partially obscured. Eventually, it quickly crossed the central bare earth track, which allowed some photos in the open. A little later, it quickly walked back across the track. Finally, we carefully walked a bit closer so we were about eight metres away.

Chestnut Bunting

Chestnut Bunting

Chestnut Bunting

As it was feeding on the edge of the track, it tended to move in one direction. Chris decided to take advantage of this & jumping the wall & then using it as cover, he moved to the far side of the Chestnut Bunting. The plan was he was going to slowly move it towards us, but it seemed more happy to feed & walk towards him.

Chris Gooddie: Enjoying it slowly walk towards him

At one point, it stopped to have a drink from a small puddle on the track & then sat in the open for a minute or so.

Chestnut Bunting

Chestnut Bunting: Note the pointed tail feathers

Chestnut Bunting

Chestnut Bunting

Soon after one of the islanders on a walk came past & it quickly flew onto the wall, before disappeared further along the track. As we had all had plenty of time to watch it & get photos, then we decided on a quick look around Hollard Farm on the way back to the plane.

A trip photo after we had all seen it: (L to R), myself, Mark Sutton, Matthew Deans, Vaughan Watkins & Chris Gooddie

Looking South from the Chestnut Bunting track

Holland Farm: Site of the last UK Ovenbird. Had it stayed for a few days, I might have already visited Papa Westray. Having a tractor parked outside your house will be a lot more sensible than a car

Back at the plane

The windsock shows how strong the wind was

We had a refuelling stop at Wick both for the plane & with fish & chips (just chips for me) & about 2.5 hours later we were looking to land again in Yorkshire. Again there was a worry from the pilot as to whether we would be able to land, given there was a lot of mist in Yorkshire, but fortunately, it clear over the airfield (but with a fog bank only a mile beyond the airfield). Had we not been able to land, then it would have been a diversion to Teesside airport & a taxi back to our airfield. We were all relieved to be able to start the journey South again (& not to have had to go via Teesside airport).

Taking off over the Chestnut Bunting lane

The Chestnut Bunting stayed for one more day & then disappeared after the first clear skies night for at least a week, when there was a clear out of Thrushes from the area. Further reading up has shown that Chestnut Buntings, in line with several other closely related species migrate in their juvenile plumage & then moult on their Wintering grounds. So I guess it is fairer to call it a juvenile male in its First Autumn, rather than a First Winter. Young Birds are prone to make navigational errors on their first migration, so that would look good for it being wild. The date looks good. I also saw a map of the breeding grounds for White's Thrushes & Chestnut Buntings & there was very good overlap. I'm sure few Birders doubted the authenticity of the White's Thrush that was found on Shetland on 23 Oct: just two days after the Chestnut Bunting was first seen. But obviously, there is a more established pattern of late Autumn White's Thrushes in the UK.

The Southern end of the island has a beach & a lake

Personally, I think if this Chestnut Bunting doesn't get accepted, then it will be hard to admit any records onto the UK List. But I also think the BOU have made a good analysis of the previous UK records & can't see any of them getting accepted after the event. One of the other factors affecting those records, was the species was being regularly imported into Europe up to about ten years ago, but apparently this trade has been stopped following the avian flu epidemic a few years ago. All the previous records were before the ban. It is interesting to see the usual band of naysayers on line pointing out how approachable this Chestnut Bunting was. Well it was happy to feed about ten metres away while we were there, but did quickly flush when the islander tried to walk close to it. I have seen a photo of somebody standing close to it, but certainly no closer than Birders have got to a number of other approachable Buntings in the past on the Northern Isles. But given its Cat E classification, I will be waiting to see if the BOU accept it as a Cat A vagrant before ticking it. I think the supporting evidence looks good, but will have to wait & see. In the meantime, it will go down as another of those memorable twitches in my books with a great bunch on the plane.