From the Archives - The Alder Flycatcher in Cornwall 9th October 2008

With acknowledgement to the unknown artist

Empidonax Flycatchers are a genus of flycatcher that are found in North America and consequently are very, very rare in Britain. There have, to date, only been four found here, two Alder Flycatchers, one in Cornwall for two days in October 2008 and a second in Norfolk that remained for three days in September 2010, an Acadian Flycatcher in Kent for only one day in September 2015 and very recently a Yellow bellied Flycatcher on Tiree in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland that stayed for an exceptional nine days this September.

I have been fortunate to see all three species here, only not seeing the Alder Flycatcher in Norfolk which I declined to go for as I had already seen the first one in Cornwall two years earlier and did not fancy making the arduous four mile yomp in the rain across the unforgiving shingle to Blakeney Point, which is where the Norfolk bird decided to hang out for three days 

Here below is the story of my first Empidonax Flycatcher twitch to see the Alder Flycatcher that visited the Nanjizal Valley at Land's End in Cornwall  from 8th-9th October 2008

At about 1030am on Wednesday 8th October I checked Birdguides for news of any rarities and was startled to see an unconfirmed report of a possible Alder Flycatcher in the Nanjizal Valley near Land's End in Cornwall. If confirmed this would be a first for Britain and only the second to be recorded in the Western Palearctic.The first record being from Iceland.

I called a birding friend, Ads and told him about the flycatcher and suggested we consider going for it if the report was confirmed, which it was an hour or two later and we agreed to meet at my Company's premises at midnight and drive to Cornwall. We duly met up and after a cup of tea and a chat we set off at just before 1am.There was plenty of time to make the long and tedious four hour drive to Cornwall as dawn would not be until around 6.30-7.00 am.The drive, as always, was a bit of a slog but we pressed on, driven by a combination of excitement, adventure and anticipation laced with a good measure of anxiety as the night sky was clear and cloudless, ideal for a migrant such as this flycatcher to continue its journey. Fortunately Ads stayed awake so we shared the driving on virtually deserted roads.We arrived at the general area around 5.30am and parked in a layby next to two other cars, obviously containing sleeping birders and we too tried to sleep as we awaited the dawn. I cannot say I got much sleep but I did manage to doze fitfully although in an upright position which was not really the ideal way to start the day.

When dawn arrived we found we were in fact some  way from where we really needed to be, which was a field quite a bit further along the road that had been especially set aside for birder's cars, on Arden Sawah Farm at a place called Higher Bosistow. Firing up the Audi we followed the other, by now numerous birder's cars heading that way and duly parked in the field along with everyone else. Gathering ourselves and our gear together we stood for a few minutes with many other birders and then, as if by unspoken signal, en masse we all set off towards Nanjizal Valley.

It was some way to go, across fields and over stiles then past two isolated houses, descending all the time and when we got to the valley where the bird had last been seen yesterday evening my heart sank at the sight of so many birders present.There must have been around two hundred and fifty ranged  along and down a small descending track, looking across a short distance to the opposite slope of the small and shallow valley.

The slope was covered entirely by bracken and to a lesser extent other low growing plants with a small wire fence running along the bottom of the slope and with virtually no bushes to be seen anyhere.This had been the Alder Flycatcher's temporaray home for all of yesterday.

We stood and waited, tiredness and the slow evaporation of optimism causing me to feel more and more downhearted. The sense of tension from all the assembled birders was tangible. I must have stood with Ads for around half an hour while nothing appeared apart from a Robin and a Dunnock. We were just preparing to face what now was appearing to be the increasingly likely fact that the flycatcher had departed during the night when suddenly there was a discernible movement and murmuring from further down the throng of birders and everyone commenced moving rapidly down the track. The flycatcher had been located - surely? I felt very very tired but found the energy to move rapidly down the track with everyone else, jostling for  a position where I could get an unrestricted view across to the opposite slope.

Tripods whirled in the air, birders stumbled on the uneven ground and buffeted each other in their haste to get to where the bird was apparently visible but eventually everyone settled down.

The inevitable personal panic and anxiety about seeing such a rare bird and that is part of the territory with high stakes twitching, seized me along with many others. I could see birders looking intently at the slope opposite as I set up my scope, trying to follow the direction all the other scopes were pointing in, frantically scanning with my bins for a glimpse of the bird so I could train my scope onto it.  

Some of the birders lucky enough to be already watching the bird shouted out 'There it is!' Others would respond, 'Where?' Comments such as  'It is just by the bright green patch', or 'It's just below the tiny bit of yellow gorse' or 'See that rock on the skyline, well it's down from there about halfway and just to the right' were hardly helpful and only served to raise the stress levels. 

Others would shout 'Thanks - got it!' which only increased my frustration at not being able to pick it out.My tiredness did not help and as I always do, I told my self to calm down and that I always do this and I always get to see the bird.

It took me what seemed an age but was only a minute or two to get my eye in and find the bird. Assisted by the generous guidance and indulgence of a neighbouring birder I finally achieved a brief view of a small pale brown bird flying and flicking around in the bracken. 

It was incredibly small and hard to locate against the slope and moved rapidly from one low perch to another, never returning to the same perch. All I can recall of this initial sighting was the two very distinctive large white bars on each wing.

This then was my initial sighting of the first Alder Flycatcher for Britain. I then promptly lost sight of it in the scope due to its rapid and erractic movements. Frustratingly, while other birders related that they were still watching it, I could  not refind it but then when everyone else seemed unable to see it, by luck I got it back in my scope and hung onto it this time whilst trying to guide others to it. Such is twitching.

Finally relaxed and free of tension I now, of course, managed good views of it as the light slowly improved.The bird was always distant and kept to the top of the slope and it was at times also very elusive as it would often remain hidden below the canopy of bracken, even moving out of sight and under cover to another perch which made it hard to follow. At other times it would obligingly perch in the open on top of a bracken frond. Eventually it disappeared over the top of the slope for around forty five minutes but then re-appeared much futher to the left, slowly coming much lower down the slope and consequently closer, perching more openly, even on the fence at the bottom of the slope, giving great views.

I chanced changing the lens on my scope to a zoom lens which gave me better views and allowed me to see much more detail of its plumage.

In all the prior confusion I managed to lose sight of Ads but decided to enjoy this probably once in a lifetime experience and find him later.  

In the meantime a report came through of a probable Yellow throated Vireo in the nearby Nanquidno Valley and this prompted a mass exodus of birders. In the end there were no more than fifty of us left but with a steady stream of birders still arriving to see the flycatcher. After about two hours I decided I had enough and retraced my path to the car to  find Ads waiting for me. So at 9.30am ended a great early morning, successful twitch. We went to look for the vireo of which there was no sign.The general concensus of opinion amongst my fellow birders was that it was an ill timed hoax.