The American Robin in Sussex 10th February 2022

I was only saying two weeks ago to Mark (R), my twitching buddy, that it has been some time since an American Robin has been twitchable in Britain. The last one was at Exminster in Devon as long ago as 2010 although others have been seen subsequently on both South Uist  and The Isles of Scilly in 2013 and Lundy in 2018 but for various reasons they were not twitchable.

Then on Tuesday, the 8th of February, one was discovered  in the unlikely location of Eastbourne, a well known seaside town in East Sussex.

There have been 24 previous occurrences of this rare transatlantic thrush in Britain.and this bird is the first to be found in Sussex. Their normal range is throughout America from Alaska and northern parts of Canada south as far as southern Mexico. Northern populations migrate to winter in southern Canada and the southern states of the USA and also Central America. They are widespread and the commonest garden bird in the eastern USA, with a total population of around 320 million nationwide and seemingly occupying a similar ecological niche to our Blackbird. For such an abundant, conspicuous and colourful bird it is hardly surprising that it is the state bird for Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The name American Robin is somewhat misleading as the species is a large thrush, approximately the size of a Blackbird.The bird acquired its name from the first European settlers to arrive in North America, who on seeing a conspicuous bird with a reddish orange breast noted its superficial similarity to a European Robin and named it accordingly. 

The thrush was frequenting an unremarkable area of closely packed houses, sprawling, via a maze of  roads, over a considerable downland slope, the thrush competing with the local Blackbirds for the remaining berries on a couple of ornamental bushes in the front gardens of two houses at the very top of the slope. When not consuming  berries it spent some time feeding, in true thrush style, in a grassy horse paddock, hopping about very much like a Fieldfare, searching for worms and invertebrates.

I have been fortunate to have already seen two American Robins in Britain, the first a female at Grimsby in Lincolnshire which was found on the 1st of  January 2004 and succumbed to a Sparrowhawk on the 8th of March, while the second was at Bingley in West Yorkshire which remained from early January to mid February 2007. Having not seen one of these highly attractive birds for fifteen years I  definitely was of a mind to go and see this one.An added incentive was that the area of Sussex  where Eastbourne is situated is well known to me from the time when I lived nearby, more years ago than I now care to remember. It would be a journey bringing a mixture of pleasure and not a little sentimentality.

I spoke to Mark (R) about meeting up and going to see the thrush but he couldn't make it until Friday whereas I was unable to go on Friday but could go today, Thursday. So this time we agreed to do our own thing.

I planned to get to the location of the thrush reasonably early, which required me to leave my home  at just before seven am and make the three hour, long and tiring drive to Hill Road, which lies in that part of Eastbourne called Old Town. As often happens I awoke far too early at 4am  and knew from experience I would not get back to sleep so wearily went downstairs to make a coffee, got dressed and loaded the car with the necessary. I was out of the house by 4.45am and took the currently silent and dark rural road  that leads out of our village. I was going on a twitch to see a charismatic and beautiful bird but instead of experiencing excitement and anticipation I felt an anxiousness and sense of gloom. The many minor worries that currently beset me being magnified by the early start and lack of sleep but I knew  that driving would take my mind off them.Who would have thought that twitching and all it entails could act as a form of therapy but that is what it does and possibly explains why I do it.

Thankfully most of the way was on motorways but even at this early hour I never cease to be amazed at the amount of traffic already on the roads. It is always the same on any early hours twitch on a weekday and I really should not be surprised anymore but every time it still sends a shudder through me as I recall how I too used to be one of these anonymous cars racing to work at some ridiculously early hour.

Dawn broke, grey and rather miserably somewhere in the middle of Sussex, as I followed a cross country route on secondary roads to Eastbourne, courtesy of the satnav. It logically was the shortest route but not the fastest and I regretted not overiding the satnav and staying on the major roads. It began to drizzle to add to my downbeat emotions.

I entered the outskirts of Eastbourne at just before 8am, amid a full on rush hour with the obligatory long queues of cars but thankfully all heading out of Eastbourne. I was destined for what is called The Old Town which lies on the western fringe of Eastbourne. Soon I found myself in an area of many houses and cars of presumably the householders, making the roads that were never designed to accommodate lines of parked cars on either side, even narrower and more hazardous. The roads were steeply inclined, rising ever upwards and Hill Road was appropriately named as it rose and terminated in a cul de sac come parking area for the residents in the houses that encircled it. This was the American Robin's favoured location, the bird from previous reports I had read, rarely straying far from here. 

Unsure of the situation and not wanting to test the goodwill of the residents at the cul de sac where the thrush was lurking, I diplomatically parked some way before and made my way on foot, up the still rising road to get to the top and the aforementioned cul de sac. I had no idea how many birders would be here and expected just a few but on getting to the top saw at least fifty birders  ranged around the cul de sac looking towards some trees growing on a steep grass paddock beyond the houses.

I had no time to ask about the thrush before someone pointing, said 

There it is!

The thrush came flying above the houses, passing over us, to land in another tree on the other side of the cul de sac from the paddock.A surge of birders, most toting cameras, went towards the tree but the thrush flew back and perched in the highest bare tree in the paddock, which appeared to be its favourite location. 

Here it remained for quite some time before once more flying towards a bush in front of some houses and by some garages, where obviously there were still a few remaining berries. Everyone politely positioned themselves across the tarmac of the road to take its photo while the thrush perched, partially hidden in the bush and looked unsettled but thankfully declined to move. It gobbled down a couple of berries before a territorial Blackbird flew at it whereupon it flew onto some railings and then onto a steep grass bank in front of the houses but not for long.

It was patently obvious that it was troubled by so many birders standing in the road watching it and flew off again, back into the tall bare tree it favoured. This kind of situation is now commonplace in twitching or indeed viewing any bird where a crowd forms. One can clearly see what the required behaviour should be that would be of benefit to both bird and therefore birders but there is nothing one can do if not everyone understands or is willing to co-operate.

Fortunately the bird's short performance in the bush and on the grass had satisfied quite a number of birders and more than half left which meant there was far less of a crowd and those of us that remained would be less likely to alarm the thrush if it returned. 

Various residents came out to go to work or take children to school and were invariably friendly, asking about the bird and its welfare. In turn we respectfully moved back to allow them to reverse their cars  and drive off down the road.

Fifteen minutes later the thrush flew back and over the houses above us on the bank to settle in another tall tree behind the houses and was just about visible above the roof of one of the houses. Here it remained for another short spell and then dropped down into a pyracanthus bush laden with bright red berries in the front garden of one of the houses.

This was the moment everyone of us had been waiting for and with exemplary behaviour we formed an orderly semi circle, kept our distance and prayed the bird would remain in the bush and not be scared off. It went perfectly and for ten minutes we enjoyed watching and photographing this beautiful bird feeding on the red berries in the bush.

Their plumage is a very attractive combination of primarily grey upperparts and brick orange underparts.The head is charcoal black with irregular white markings around the eye and the white throat is streaked with black. Judging by the plumage of this individual I would say it is a first year male

In their behaviour they are closely similar to our familiar Blackbird and in size they are also similar.

For no apparent reason, after eating a number of the small berries it looked up and then flew straight and purposefully away from the bush, back to the tall bare tree where I had seen it earlier, then it flew down behind the houses and was lost to view. It was still only just after 9am.

One of the residents told us it had been here for at least three weeks and presumably it will remain until the berries run out, which judging by the amount still on the bush will not be in the near future.

I had got my photos and enjoyed close views of the American Robin, so to my mind there was little point in staying as 'the crowd' was beginning to swell again which would predictably deter the thrush from returning to the berry bush.

A brief excursion to the more affluent western end of Eastbourne brought a measure of frustration as I tried to see a wintering Hume's Warbler that, although very vocal refused to grant me anything more than the merest of glimpses as it flitted at high speed through some evergreen trees and holme oaks by the seafront promenade.

There was one other bird that I wished to see that was just a few minutes drive from Eastbourne. A Hooded Crow, that for some unaccountable reason, has decided that the busy Polegate Services right by the A22 is the ideal place to spend its time rather than in its normal range in the north of Scotland. Possibly it has come from Scandinavia or northern Europe where they are migratory. Happily the services lay on my route home and having parked in the Coop I  got out of my car and there was the crow, handily perched in splendid isolation, high in a bare tree between McDonalds and the Ambulance Station.