Rebooted Eagle 2nd November 2014

c Rich Bonsor

On Thursday the 31st of October a dark morph Booted Eagle was reported as having been seen over the village of Nettlebed in Oxfordshire and the next day it was seen over Remenham Hill some four miles south and just over the county border in neighbouring Berkshire.

The very few sightings of Booted Eagles in Britain have an unhappy history with the BOURC (British Ornithologists Union Records Committee) which decides which species are included on the British List and BBRC (British Birds Rarities Committee) which verifies the identification.To date none have been accepted as involving genuine vagrants.

The most contentious of these rejected records concerns an individual that was present in Ireland from March to August 1999 then moved across Britain to Orkney where it remained from October 1999 to February 2000. 

The reasons given by the BBRC for its rejection were as follows

Its abraded plumage suggested previous captivity

Its arrival in Ireland  was considered too early for a migrant from Africa

Its extended stay - the species winters in Africa and breeds in southern Europe

The long sea crossings involved in its moving from Ireland to Orkney

All these points are arguable, the last being nonsensical and many birders to this day feel it should have been accepted as a genuine vagrant to Britain and disagree with the joint verdict of the BOURC and BBRC.

Another record  of a dark morph bird that was seen and photographed at Cape Cornwall, St Just, on the 20th May this year (2024), on a day when over 500 Red Kites were seen migrating through Cornwall, might be a potential first for Britain. We will have to await the verdict from the BOURC and BBRC.

Booted Eagles are the smallest eagle to be found in Europe and northern populations are migratory spending the winter in sub Saharan Africa and migrating north to breed in Europe where it is widespread in Iberia and the European part of Russia with more scattered, smaller populations in France, eastern Europe and the Balkans. The European population is estimated by Birdlife International to be between 4000-9000 pairs with an estimated 2000-4000 of those in Spain. Their main prey is small and medium sized birds such as Starlings, Woodpigeons and Magpies although they will also prey on small mammals and lizards.

Anyway let us return to Friday when Mark (P) sent me a text

You not going searching for this eagle?

No. Going to wait and see how it goes. I replied

The Chilterns with its deep valleys and high escarpments is difficult terrain to adequately search and I held the view that  the eagle was obviously moving about so would be incredibly hard to pin down.It would owe more to luck than judgement on my part if I were to encounter it. 

Due to the interest in this latest sighting Sam Viles of Birdguides helpfully instigated a special Booted Eagle WhatsApp Group for anyone to join and liase with possible sightings, directions and questions.

I went to bed that night tired and aching from helping clear willow scrub from Shrike Meadow, one of my local Farmoor Reservoir's small reserves, and forgot all about the Booted Eagle

However my subconscious didn't

Next morning I awoke early and sent a post to my pals on our twitching WhatsApp Group

So do I spend the day sat on a hillside in The Chilterns not seeing a Booted Eagle? I enquired

Andy responded that he and Rich were going for it. Graham said he might depending on further news

I knew I was just postponing the inevitable

I looked out of the bedroom window at a grey and gloomy November morning. A lie in would be so nice but I knew the twitching genie was out of the proverbial bottle once more.Remenham was only an hour's drive from my home and the familiar amalgam of anxiety and excitement had taken its customary grip.

I was up, dressed and out of the door by 7.00am and headed south across Oxfordshire.

I had a vague plan to meet Andy and Rich somewhere near Remenham.It seemed logical as this was where the eagle had last been seen yesterday so why not start my search there? I was in a light hearted frame of mind as the Oxfordshire countryside did its utmost to postpone the onset of the winter blues and put some joy into this greyest of days, the trees glowing with  continuous colour, forming corridors of yellow, ochre, rust and gold  through which I drove on rural roads, the verges transformed temporarily into a fiery mosaic of already fallen leaves  

I passed through an awakening Henley, crossing the Thames here that marks the county boundary between Oxfordshire and Berkshire to follow a steep and rising road to Remenham Hill.The road eventually levelled out at an obvious summit, although I could see no birders cars despite the fact there was a convenient and large layby that would allow one to park and look across a considerable area of The Chilterns.It was an ideal vantage point with a wide grass verge on which to stand and scan the surrounding landscape despite being beside a busy road

Why was no one here?

A message from Andy on  Sam's WhatsApp Group informed one and all that he and Rich were at nearby Aston, some two miles back towards Henley and with a good elevated view over a wide valley and its surrounding escarpments.I forsook Remenham and drove back north to join them

We stood here for half an hour and were joined by a few other birders responding to Andy's post.Of course there was no sign of any eagle but the Red Kites, that are prolific around here, were well into their routine of laconic cruising and loud whistling above the parkland and large gardens that were spread out below us. Every distant kite looked like a potential eagle -well of course they did but obviously they were not. A couple of Ravens flew across the valley, their black shiny bodies disappearing against a backdrop of dark conifers and only their regular croaking signifying their continued presence. Rose ringed Parakeets, never knowingly discrete, ripped the still air with their harsh excited shrieks as they flew high over our heads

Rich and Andy decided they wanted to get something to eat and refuel their car so left for Henley a mile or two down the road. I hung on with another two birders, all of us in agreement that it was probably going to be a long and more than likely unsuccesful day.I stared into a misty, mizzling distance, the ridges and trees blurring with the decreasing visibility.Tired from yesterday's exertions I was slipping into that morose half awake half asleep state of mind that comes as a consequence of getting up too early and the initial excitement and expectation fading rapidly as I stared at an eagle free sky.

Then everything changed

We learned via Sam's WhatsApp group that the eagle had been seen, the news bringing an instantaneous somersault of emotions and mild panic 

We were in with a chance

It was 0930 or thereabouts

And where was it?

Why of course it was at Remenham Hill!

I cursed myself for my lack of faith in my instincts.Why had I not followed my convictions and stayed there? Too late for recriminations now. The only thing to do was get back to Remenham as fast as humanly possible.Our cars were parked haphazardly  on a very narrow steep lane at Aston in front of various farm gates.First we had to reverse the cars in order to retrace our way back up the lane to the main road.It seemed to take an age to turn the cars and negotiate the long winding lane, praying that no car was coming the other way, for passing places were few and far between. 

As I drove I wondered what would the parking be like at Remenham now.Would the layby be full of birders cars? The answer was not quite, there was one space left and in I went.

My bins were already round my neck and there was no time for a scope.The priority was to see the eagle and I would view it more easily just with my bins. But where was it? Had it gone already?  The hedge on the opposite side of the road looked bulky and impenetrable but I could see several heads just about poking above it on the other side, looking at a group of low flying kites. How on earth did they get there?

The answer came as I watched a birder run across the road and in blind panic literally dive into a hole in the bottom of the hedge

It was the only way through. On hands and knees I followed, squirming through to find myself confronted by a line of legs and bodies constrained in a narrow gap between the hedge and a barbed wire fence guarding the field in front.Somehow I managed to stand upright in a crush of bodies and between two heads could just about see out to the field and some trees at the far side.

There was no time to gather myself before there came a shout. 

There it is!

It's with the kites 

It's low down flying between the two trees on the far side of the field.

It's the lowest bird someone else helpfully added. 

With bins raised I could see little as heads and bodies obscured any meaningful view. A gash of sky appeared between some heads and I saw several kites. I looked at the lowest bird. Was that it? 

No time to decide  as someone in front told me

It's gone behind the largest tree.

It was gone from view. Damn, so near and yet so far. Maybe I had seen it, probably not. Who was I kidding. I had seen several kites milling around and the lowest bird was presumably the eagle but how could I be sure with such a brief and restricted view.

This was hopeless.I decamped from the scrum and wriggled back through the hedge, crossed the busy road and joined half a dozen birders looking out and across to the trees from that side.They had seen the kite but they told me it had moved to the right and further down behind Rosehill Wood, a small area of mature trees, where it possibly had roosted overnight. Some crows were going mad in the treetops, flicking wings, craning necks and cawing anxiously.They could obviously see the eagle but we could not

We raced down the verge to get level with the wood thinking the kite might move further beyond. Andy was well ahead of me while I was about fifty metres beyond a large oak tree by the road and under which other birders were standing waiting for something to happen.

The view from under the oak where I was shortly to see  the Booted Eagle flying above the trees in the middle distance.The edge of Rosehill Wood is on the right of  the picture

I was halted by a shout from the birders still under the oak tree

It's here !!!!!

I shouted to Andy and hurtled back to join the birders under the oak. Everyone of them glued to cameras,scopes or bins looking across the road

It's the lowest bird just above the trees, flying around with the kites Sam told me

A panic seized me at first as I could not get on it. I realised I was looking too far to the right.I had selected the wrong tree.I moved my view left and there it was.

Bingo!

At last!

You on it now? Sam enquired

Abso - bloody - lutely! 

Cheers

c Rich Bonsor

It was buzzard sized, compact and looked superficially similar but with squarer wings and a longer tail, flying back and fore over the trees, gently circling. It looked chunkier than the larger, slimmer kites and appeared dark all over except for a distinct pale band of wing coverts on the upperside of each of its wings and pale uppertail coverts. When it flew towards us the celebrated 'landing lights'. a pale patch on the leading edge of each wing where it joins the body were just about visible. It was on view for around ten to fifteen minutes before dropping below the ridge, only to appear briefly further left before moving away northwards and becoming lost to view in my bins.

I ran to the car to get my scope and moved much further down the road, finding a small gap in the hedge to myself and scanned the sky to the north, the direction it had flown. I  picked up a pair of large birds  at great distance high in the sky having a tussle. I could see a corvid vigorously mobbing  another larger bird.Corvids do not bother with kites around here as they are so familiar with them.It had to be the eagle and the scope views confirmed its profile and shape.Constantly harassed by the corvid it moved ever further north and west. By now it had to be right over Henley which is in Oxfordshire.

Should I claim it for my Oxfordshire list?

Later I learnt other observers had seen it moving over the northern outskirts of Henley in the mid morning and it then moved further into Oxfordshire being seen late morning between  Lower and Middle Assendon. After that it was not seen for the rest of the day despite people searching all over The Chilterns.

I was surprised how relatively few birders took a chance to come and see the eagle first thing today. I estimate no more than fifty of us saw it. Of course once the news came out of it being sighted at Remenham many more birders arrived but they were too late. Quite a number of birders came to Rosehill Wood in the late afternoon anticipating it would return to roost there but there was no sign of it.

Surely this bird has every chance of being accepted and if so could possibly become the first accepted record of a genuine vagrant Booted Eagle in Britain if the dark morph bird in Cornwall is rejected.Could they be the same bird? There is also a slim chance that there will be a change of opinion about the 1999 record from the BBRC, in light of this year's sightings in Cornwall, Oxfordshire and Berkshire.. 

I went back to Remenham the next day, Sunday to meet Adrian who was driving from Essex and found many more people had made the effort to come and try to see  the eagle after the excitement of the day before.Matters became ever more chaotic and slightly hair raising alongside the busy road as many more people than yesterday broached the hedge and upwards of seventy cars parked on the wide grass verge by the road.I stood under the familiar oak tree with some of my Oxonbirder chums but there was no sign of the eagle nor were there nearly as many kites as yesterday.

A Peregrine perched in the tree the eagle had flown over yesterday and a Sparrowhawk flew high over the road. Fieldfares and Redwings began to appear in the open sky above the autumnal trees but did not stop.

Someone claimed a brief view of the eagle from the oak tree vantage point but no one else saw it and the general concensus suggested a misidentification of a dark Common Buzzard although the observer remained convinced he had seen the eagle.

I gave up at noon and headed for home.The eagle was not reported all day. 

I wonder where it is now?

Is it still in The Chilterns or has it moved on to be discovered somewhere else in Britain?

Maybe it has headed south to Africa although it was last seen going northwest.

With my grateful thanks to Rich Bonsor who has kindly allowed me to use his images of the Booted Eagle for my blog as my camera is currently being repaired

Turtle Doves on Shetland 14th October 2024

Our last day on Shetland arrived, having had three weeks of full on birding.In a way I was glad as both Mark and myself were feeling the pace. You could say we had birded ourselves to a standstill but not quite, for today we went in search of a Turtle Dove in a garden at Sandwick, images of which had been posted on Facebook the night before.

This was not my first Turtle Dove on Shetland as I had gone to see another on the 27th of September at the rather wonderfully named village of Toogs, not that far from Scalloway.Mark had stayed at home but I joined a few other birders to shelter by a wall and watch the dove flying to feed in a garden of one of the houses.It was pretty wary and you could not approach it closely but we all saw it well enough.

Today was a miserable day of low cloud, rain showers and strong wind but we made the pilgrimage to Sandwick and found the house and garden which lay right by the road, just down from the SPAR shop which we had visited a number of times when opportunity allowed, me to purchase the occasional four pack of Tunnocks Caramel Bars and Mark his favourite chocolate coated Brazils. 

We joined a small huddle of birders standing forlornly on the pavement by the garden wall and it was obvious that the Turtle Dove was not co-operating. The images posted yesterday had indicated it was feeding on the lawn that lay on the other side of the wall but today there was not even one of Shetland's ubiquitous Starlings to be seen. 

A large and rather dense conifer tree was at the bottom of the garden and as we stood hunched against the wind it became apparent that,  in its densest midst, it was sheltering a couple of Collared Doves, which had revealed themselves as they shifted their perch.Closer scrutiny revealed others in there too, parts of their bodies visible through the thick green of the conifer.This engendered some hope. Could the Turtle Dove be amongst them?

Various false alarms came and went as the barely visible parts of the Collared Doves sheltering in the conifer suggested they might be the target bird but all proved groundless although some were convinced they had already seen the Turtle Dove hiding in the tree.

Mark grew impatient and went to the SPAR shop for you know what.I hung on by the wall chatting to some of my fellow birders.

Five minutes elapsed when, for no reason I could fathom, the Collared Doves, many more than suspected erupted from the conifer in alarm and flew at speed over and away from the garden.I thought I saw a smaller dove with them but could not be sure.

Another five minutes elapsed and the Turtle Dove was found on the top of a large drystone wall on the other side of the garden.How it got there unseen no one quite knew but such questions  were for another time as everyone looked at the dove, remarkably well camouflaged on top of the haphazard stones that comprised the wall and quite content to remain in its exposed position. It stayed there for a long time,its head sunk into its shoulders and looking rather miserable, as so it should. for it really needed to be on its way to warmer southern climes by now.

I called Mark on my mobile to tell him the dove was now visible and he left the shop and walked back to join me.The dove meanwhile stirred itself and then dropped off the wall down into the garden picking at bits and pieces in the grass and coming closer and closer until it hopped from the grass onto a small retaining wall that bordered a concrete path running down the centre of the lawn.

I could see the dove was a juvenile, as one or two brighter coloured second generation adult feathers were coming through on its median wing coverts.How it got here and why is anyone's guess but it was perfectly healthy and I could only hope it decides to resume its migration south as it certainly has a long way to go to get back on course

I have not seen a Turtle Dove in Britain for over three years and the irony of seeing a second Turtle Dove on Shetland in the space of two weeks was not lost on me.We used to have them breeding on my local RSPB Otmoor reserve in Oxfordshire but they disappeared three years ago.I never thought for one moment I would see my next one, let alone two, on Shetland. Well who would?

THE END

Birds seen on our Shetland Trip

Red throated Diver; Black throated Diver; Great Northern Diver; Slavonian Grebe; Northern Fulmar; Northern Gannet; Cormorant; European Shag; Cattle Egret; Grey Heron; Mute Swan; Whooper Swan; Pink footed Goose; Greylag Goose; Eurasian Wigeon; Eurasian Teal; Mallard; Northern Shoveler; Common Pochard; Tufted Duck; Common Eider, Long tailed Duck; White winged Scoter; Common Goldeneye; Red breasted Merganser; Goosander; Eurasian Sparrowhawk; Common Kestrel; Merlin; Peregrine; Red Grouse; Common Pheasant; Water Rail; Corn Crake x 2; Eurasian Oystercatcher; Ringed Plover; European Golden Plover; Northern Lapwing; Knot; Sanderling; Purple Sandpiper; Common Snipe; Bar-tailed Godwit; Eurasian Curlew; Common Redshank; Turnstone; Arctic Skua; Great Skua; Black headed Gull; Common Gull; Lesser Black-backed Gull; Herring Gull; Great Black-backed Gull; Kittiwake; Sandwich Tern; Guillemot; Razorbill; Black Guillemot; Rock Dove; Wood Pigeon; Collared Dove; Turtle Dove x 2; European Nightjar; Skylark; Barn Swallow; Olive backed Pipit; Pechora Pipit; Meadow Pipit; Rock Pipit; Grey Wagtail; White/Pied Wagtail; Wren; Robin; Bluethroat; Whinchat; Northerm Wheatear; Ring Ouzel; Blackbird; Redwing; Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler x 2; Lanceolated Warbler x 2; Paddyfield Warbler; Barred Warbler x 9 ; Lesser Whitethroat; Garden Warbler; Blackcap; Greenish Warbler; Arctic Warbler; Eastern Crowned Warbler (First for Shetland and Scotland); Pallas's Leaf Warbler x 2; Yellow browed Warbler x 23 ;Wood Warbler; Common Chiffchaff; Siberian Chiffchaff; Willow Warbler; Goldcrest; Spotted Flycatcher; Red-breasted Flycatcher; Pied Flycatcher; Golden Oriole; Red-backed Shrike; 'Steppe' Grey Shrike; Jackdaw; Rook; Hooded Crow; Common Raven; Common Starling; Rosy Starling; House Sparrow; Chaffinch; Siskin; Linnet; Twite; Lesser Redpoll; Common Redpoll; Common Rosefinch; Lapland Bunting: Snow Bunting; Little Bunting.

Mammals

Otter

Grey Seal

Common Seal

Not quite a Common Nighthawk 9th October 2024

Mark had decided to have a lazy morning today so I went off alone in the car in search of a Greenland White fronted Goose that had been reported further south at Sandwick. We agreed that if anything of major interest was reported I would return immediately to the house

I was only half way to Sandwick when my phone pinged with a message from the Shetland Rare Bird News Group.The news it conveyed was pretty sensational. A Common Nighthawk had been discovered on Yell. 

The message read 

COMMON NIGHTHAWK flushed from the side of the road at Crossroads,Burravoe,Yell.

Seen very well in flight, but not relocated yet.

I turned the car round immediately and headed back to Scalloway as quickly as possible

My phone rang

It was Mark

There's a Nighthawk on Yell

I know I am on my way and will be at the house in fifteen minutes.Book us onto the next available ferry to Yell 

Common Nighthawk would be a first for Shetland and immensely popular. It is the North American version of our European Nightjar and very rare in Britain with only 27 records to date, two of which are from Scotland - in Argyll and Orkney.

Both Mark and myself saw the one last year that spent an unforgettable day asleep on a fence in Wantage Oxfordshire no more than thirty minutes from my home so this one on Yell would not be a British tick for either of us but still an excellent bird to see.

Mark was waiting at the gate when I got back and took over the driving to the ferry terminal at Toft.It was just as well we did book the ferry as arriving at Toft there was a long line of cars, birders cars, in both the booked and unbooked lanes.We duly took our place in the booked lane and when the time came to board, unusually the man checking us on board had a list of car registrations to ensure the booked cars got priority. I have only seen them do this once before on a ferry to Fetlar when we were all going to try and see a Rufous tailed Robin - we failed of course but that's another story.

Once off the ferry we drove in a convoy of cars heading for Burravoe. The parking situation would be interesting as it is not a big place and parking opportunities are limited.A request had already been put out to not park in the school's small car park which lies next to the crossroads

Burravoe incidentally is where we twitched a Tennessee Warbler see here and we passed the very house and sycamore tree it was in as we searched for a place to leave the car

We were forced to park quite a distance from the crossroads where we had seen many birders milling around and not doing much. 

I assumed the nighthawk had yet to be re-located and everyone was waiting to see if it would eventually be re-found. It was only when walking back up the road to the crossroads that I learnt the supposed Common Nighthawk had been re-found and re-identified as a European Nightjar and was currently tucked snuggly in a sheltered corner behind a drystone wall almost at the crossroads

So obviously the 'nighthawk' was not seen as well as the original observer thought. We all have made misidentifications but probably not quite as spectacular as this one and resulting in a large number of birders coming to Yell.

Making the best of it I leant over the drystone wall and took my turn in taking point blank photos of the sleeping Nightjar, totally unfussed by all the interest it was causing. 

Its marbled colouring of dark brown and grey perfectly matched the drystone wall it was roosting under and to my mind this individual's plumage looked greyer in tone than those of its kind I have seen in southern England

Personally I did not feel that disappointed at failing to see a Common Nighthawk as it is not every day you get to be within metres of a roosting Nightjar. Having seen a Common Nighthawk in Britain last year I was relaxed about the situation but others who had never seen one were not so charitable. 

I clambered over the wall and walked around a field to join others taking photos from another angle but there is only so much you can achieve with a bird that does not move, not even opening its eyes.

We left it in its unlikely roosting place and to take its chances at dusk.

An Arctic Warbler near Scalloway 7th October 2024

We were making our way back to our accommodation in Scalloway having had quite a day with the earlier excitement of being in on the discovery of a PG Tips at Garth. see here

We had spent the afternoon examining a quarry at Voxter, that while looking prime habitat for a rarity gave up nothing more than a Redwing and then a nearby walled garden that last year held a  fabulously showy Olive backed Pipit, this afternoon yielded nothing more than a highly elusive Barred Warbler. If only we had known how well the PG Tips was showing at Garth. Very much the one that got away but we have all been there - such is birding

Mark was driving us home when my phone pinged as another message was posted on one of the Shetland Bird News groups. Mostly it is the Common or Scarce Bird groups that are involved but on looking at this latest message I saw it was on the Shetland Rare Bird News Group.

Possibly it was relating to the PG Tips but no, it was alerting everyone to an Arctic Warbler that had been found in trees in a steep and narrow gully through which ran The Burn of Njugelswater, and carried on flowing under the busy, well by Shetland standards anyway, A970  the road back to Scalloway. We were only ten minutes away.

There was no mistaking the site which is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by moorland but right by the road and from which we could see a huddle of birders standing at the top of the gully looking down into the trees. A number of cars were parked in a large layby off the  road on the opposite side to the gully. For once there was no problem with parking which was just as well as you had to be very careful crossing the road to access the gully as cars in Shetland outside of the towns and larger villages do not hang about!

The somewhat precipitous gully through which the burn ran harboured sycamores, conifers, willows and birch where it was at its deepest, providing partial shelter to the trees from the elements. 

Crossing the road we  had to surmount a wire fence, for once not barbed and then you had a choice of one side or the other of the gully. I took one side and Mark the other.Scrambling up a steep, wet slippery slope I joined around twenty birders looking down into the gully  and did not have to wait more than a minute before setting eyes on the Arctic Warbler which was, in true leaf warbler fashion zipping about amongst the branches of both deciduous and conifer trees, ranging from low down in the gully to right to the top of the trees.

One could say it showed very well and the same went for Mark on his side but the lateness of the hour meant that it would soon be dark and the light had long gone to preclude any photographic masterpiece from Mark. Confusingly the trees were also occupied by a male Blackcap and a Goldcrest and you had to be careful when you saw a movement that it was not one of these two.

We departed with everyone else and headed for home, well satisfied with this unexpected conclusion to our day and resolving to come back tomorrow morning if the warbler was still here. We hardly had far to travel.

Next morning was one of very strong wind and frequent rain showers and the warbler was still present. When we got there, unsurprisingly there were only two birders braving the wind and rain and neither of them had seen the bird for the last half an hour.This time viewing was less easy as the strength of the wind would force any birds if they were there, deep into the gully.We stood on the side of the gully that appeared more sheltered but saw nothing for an hour,.About to give up the Arctic Warbler was finally found by birders standing on the other side where I had stood  yesterday.

We made our way to that side and soon worked out that we needed to stand much lower in the gully if we were to see anything well.This could only be achieved at the point where the trees ended and by descending a steep grass slope made treacherous by all the rain, then stand there by the burn looking into and along the gully The wind at the top was just too strong to be comfortable and the warbler if it came to the sycamores at our end would be low over the burn anyway.

Our plan worked quite well and the warbler appeared, low down and at regular intervals at our end of the gully, usually favouring a sycamore whose huge yellowing leaves dwarfed it as it examined them from the underside, picking off invertebrates.

At times it came close and gave ample opportunity to get a good shot of it but it was typically hyperactive in its movements and you had to be fast off the mark to pin it down and focus on its rapid progress through the twigs and leaves. It had a semblance of a feeding circuit so for periods we could see other birders watching it at their end of the trees and gully but applying the maxim of 'let the bird come to you' we always had a few minutes of opportunity when it was at our end and showing well.

I have seen four Arctic Warblers in Britain before this one but can say that this individual gave the best views of any. It was especially gratifying as we had dipped one at Bigton two weeks ago.

We stayed until early afternoon as there was little else being reported and Mark wanted his ultimate photo.I was not complaining, enjoying pitting my wits against the elusive mite and achieved some nice images. What I believe photographers call 'keepers'

There was little sign of any other bird in the gully today apart from a Wren but towards noon several flocks  of Redwings came from over the moors behind us to rest in the trees before moving on  and excitingly but all too briefly a Ring Ouzel landed in one of the conifers but caught sight of us and immediately departed, a harsh rattling call signifying its alarm.

The rain became more insistent and in the end we agreed there was really no point in getting soaked for no reason. we had seen the warbler really well and also got some great images to savour back at the house

Another PG Tips on Mainland Shetland 7th October 2024

Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler c Cliff Smith

Both Mark and myself agreed that Shetland this autumn, as it has been for the last two years, right up there with its constant procession of rare birds.We could not complain if we saw no more this trip but Shetland and its birding gods had not finished with us yet.

This morning we drove slightly north to a place called Wadbister that gives its name to the large voe it lies beside and where three friends of ours were staying in a rented house for a week with a very attractive garden full of bushes and trees.They had already gone out birding so there was no one there when we arrived but we had full permission to bird the garden and its surroundings.

Almost immediately, on leaving the car I heard a Yellow browed Warbler calling its anxious tsweet note from high in some sycamores in a walled area opposite the house and soon enough we saw it flitting energetically through the flickering leaves. No longer a rarity, in fact now common on Shetland, especially this year, they still give a thrill of discovery to such as myself who has the misfortune to live in an inland county in the middle of England.

I progressed to the back of the house where there were some likely looking small trees and bushes and a Redwing descended from the sky to land in them but that was it.Leaning on a gate I regarded some likely looking sallows and a large warbler popped up in them  working its way to the outside of the small trees and then flew up and away. It could only be one thing, judging by its size - a Barred Warbler.

We found nothing more and drove back down the road to park by the voe to look for a Slavonian Grebe and found it fairly close in and still partially in summer plumage. As we were looking at the grebe my phone rang. It was Andy L one of our friends whose garden we had been birding.

Where are you  he asked

Just left your garden and now scoping the Slavonian Grebe I replied

Can you both come over to us with your cameras and tell Mark to bring his thermal imager too

What have you found?

We have flushed a Locustella in an iris bed  that we think is a PG Tips but need to get better images of the bird to be sure.It could just be a Gropper. It's not a Lancy as it's too big

Where are you?

In an iris bed below Garth Cemetery near Nesting.You will see us when you come along the road

We are on our way, it will take us around twenty minutes

We drove back to the main road and a few miles further north turned onto a much quieter road and eventually got to the hamlet of Garth and its Commonwealth Graves Cemetery

As Andy had said they were clearly visible from the road, standing some way off amongst fairly extensive iris beds by a burn. We found a suitable place to park that was off the narrow road and walked down to the wet fields in which the iris beds were located.Climbing a gate and crossing two fences we joined the others and held an impromptu consultation in the field.

The view from the road

Andy L told us they were pretty certain the bird was a PG Tips but they needed conclusive proof before putting the news out.This was where we came in, as Mark and myself would try to get images of the bird as it flew after the other three walked the irises to flush it  

It sounded so straightforward and the flushing part went as planned but it was almost impossible to get a decent flight image of the warbler as when it flew it was so quick and fast it was beyond my camera's capabilities to focus on it or so I thought. 

The bird remained faithful to the irises and was flushed several times bringing immense amounts of frustration at not getting anything conclusive. Andy M finally managed to get a shot which showed the white tips to the tail and by some wonder of circumstance I got a shot of the flying bird showing the rusty rump, creamy supercilium and white tips to the terials.

The first image is from Andy M, the second my effort. Andy's image clearly
shows the white tips to the tail feathers and prominent supercilium while 
my image clearly shows the same supercilium, rusty rump and pale 
fringes to the tertials. Based on these diagnostic features the bird was
called as a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler

Another consultation commenced in the seggys (Shetland word for irises) and Andy L sent images to Sam Viles at Birdguides who responded that it was 100% a PG Tips.

Fair enough and Andy L put the news out on Birdguides and the Shetland Rare Bird News Group. We knew that now our rather pleasant interlude in the seggys  would soon morph into something very different as birders from far and wide made for Garth. It would be chaotic, it always is with cars driving too fast on the currently quiet road that runs through Garth and trying to find limited places to park.

We had about twenty minutes before the influx of birders arrived but you can do very little without other birders, also checking the area, noticing you and sure enough we were joined by two notable Shetland birders in the form of Paul Harvey (who found the first Eastern Crowned Warbler for Shetland and Scotland)see here and Phil Harris. We told them what we had found and together we walked the irises once more and duly flushed the bird which tather than dropping back into the irises settled briefly onto a grass bank above the irises for a brief moment but enough to give a clear view of it. This confirmed it was indeed a PG Tips. It was there for seconds before once more seeking sanctuary in the irises.

All five of us left as we knew what was coming. Getting back to the car up on the road the first birder's cars were already arriving.We relinquished our prime space to a lady who in her haste promptly reversed her car into a large wooden rubbish bin. Oh dear!

Driving back down the road and away from Garth cars were constantly coming towards us, one driving ridiculously fast. It was all kicking off and we were glad we had been granted the opportunity to join our three colleagues and enjoy and share the excitement of establishing the PG Tips identity in relative peace and quiet

Looking back as we got to our car we could see birders beginning to walk the iris beds to flush the bird  in order to get a sight of it. We did not return  for another view later in the day but in hindsight it might have been wise if we did, as later a controlled flush of the bird was made and it showed really well.

The above images c Cliff Smith

Cliff Smith was one of those who went to see it later and has kindly allowed me to use his images.I confess to being gripped at how well it had been seen but when I had time to reflect I was just as pleased to have been in on the initial discovery and establishing its identity. 

What an amazing autumn. 

I have seen two Lanceolated Warblers and now two Pallas's Grasshopper Warblers.

I would like to express my gratitude to Cliff for allowing me to use his superb images and to the two Andy's and Martin for giving myself and Mark early news of their find and involving us in the process of its identification.

to be continued

A Lancy on Unst Shetland 5th October 2024

Simon Nicholls and his colleagues found a Lanceolated Warbler (Lancy) on Unst yesterday and there was some confusion as to whether they had seen a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler (PG Tips) as well, both at the birding hotspot of Valyie (pronounced Veely).

By the end of the day the only thing certain was that there was definitely a Lancy there and as we had such brief and unsatisfactory views of the one at Levenwick earlier see here we decided that if it was still there the next day we would make the trip to Unst, which required two ferries, one from Toft on Mainland to Ulsta on Yell and then drive across Yell to get another ferry from Gutcher to Belmont on Unst.

News of the Lancy's continued presence came pretty quickly the next day and excitingly a Paddyfield Warbler had also been discovered there as well.Two very rare warblers were on offer but would we get to see them?

First we had to get booked on the ferries.This might be a problem as the ferry vessels are relatively small especially the one to Unst and many birders would, like us, be keen to see the two rare warblers and so it proved.

The first ferry we could get from Toft was at noon and with the various timings involved we had, in the end, just a two hour window on Unst to see the birds.It was tight but doable so we went for it.

We duly booked ourselves and the car on the required ferries. I love the trip to Unst, my favourite Shetland island. I have done it many times, and the magic never fades as the topography going north in Shetland gets ever more wild and the scenery is forever breathtaking in its enormity of sea, sky and moor.

Once on Yell we crossed a land that, while to some appears featureless and barren, to me was a wonder of wild remoteness, the road passing very few habitations and running for miles through undulating bleak moorland falling away to an ever present sea.It is a landscape that can feel at once both unsettling and enervating.

The road across Yell

The road across Yell from Ulsta to Gutcher is known locally as the Yell Dash  as you have to drive at speed to connect with the next onwards ferry that always seems to be timed to allow minimum leeway.Today however we were in no hurry as we were booked on the ferry after next.

So I sat back and enjoyed the scenery and at Gutcher got out of the car at an almost deserted terminal, walked back up the road aways, leant on a fence and allowed the silence and the surrounds to enter my soul. 

The ferry to Unst waiting at Gutcher 

A large, shaggy and very black 'Heilan Coo' regarded me with stoic curiosity while a curlew bubbled in the distance and Greylags, as they do everywhere, bickered raucously amongst themselves. 

Shetland was beginning to get to me again and I felt once more the great affection I harbour for this strange and now familiar land betwixt Britain and Norway and the peace of mind it brings to me.

Once on Unst we drove a considerable way north to Norwick and.descending the hill from there to the beach we could see that further up the dead end road many birders were surrounding a small conifer plantation with others looking at the crop field beyond.We parked our car amongst others by the beach and made a short walk up the rest of the road to get to Valyie, a private house on land which is maintained  as a local nature reserve with a couple of small fields especially planted with seeding crops to attract birds and nearby a burn, deep in a narrow gulley, that has harboured countless rarities. It is an immensely popular place to go birding and you rarely find this hotspot unattended by birding folk.

The crop field that today was home to the Paddyfield Warbler

Valyie with the burn on the right

We arrived at Valyie at around 1.30pm and were immediately faced with a difficult choice.The Lancy was to be found in the small conifer plantation and the Paddyfield in either the bushes by the burn or in the crop field in front of the house. We were torn between the two but opted for the Lancy.

In order to access the conifers we had to cross a ditch and negotiate a dangerously insecure barbed wire fence.A warbler flew out of the ditch, my heart skipped a beat but it was only a Blackcap.Once over the fence and at the edge of the plantation we encountered a number of birders, mostly lying flat on the ground on their stomachs looking inwards to see beneath the conifers

The conifer plantation currently sheltering the Lancy

Apparently this was the best option to catch sight of the Lancy which we were advised was moving about either on the ground below the conifers or a few feet up in the lowest branches.These days I am not as supple as I used to be and this, combined with lying prone on damp grass and nettles was not an attractive option but there was no choice. Various whispered comments came from birders around me setting my pulse racing. 

It's just by the wall, 

It's in the grass, 

It's by the first pine trunk, 

that sort of thing.

It was gloomy under the pines and almost impossible to get a sight of the tiny bird whose brown plumage matched a ground, littered with twigs, pine needles, sheep's wool and other natural detritus that it passed over. Eventually I got the briefest of views as I saw it scuttle at high speed, just like a mouse across the open area of woodland floor in front of me and into the cover of the grass at the plantation's edge.Then ten minutes later I saw it in silhouette running along a thin branch just above the ground.

It was obvious that like many vagrant warblers it had adopted a circuit, so rather than following it around the plantation as most of my fellow birders attempted, I  remained prone on the ground and let the bird come to me. 

Mark had decided to go and look for the Paddyfield Warbler but I was joined by another friend Martin. We lay on the ground and incredibly the Lancy appeared from nowhere just feet in front of us before disappearing once more. It was too close to photograph but never mind we had seen it clearly and well.

I remained with Martin, having deduced that the Lancy.was regularly coming to the bottom right corner of the plantation where we lay, searching for food in the long grass that grew up into the very last small conifer, creeping mouse like through the long grass and into the bottom of the tree. 

The Lancy duly appeared low down in the conifer but was much obscured and to my horror finally showed really well but on the opposite side of the conifer to me.Gasps of admiration came from birders on  the other side and I could hear camera shutters clicking frantically but I was unable to move for fear of disturbing it.

Would I ever get a photo?

The Lancy disappeared as did many birders having now seen it well, thankfully taking with them a particularly loud voiced individual who assured one and all that talking loudly did not disturb the bird. 

Err no

We waited for the bird to come round again and it duly returned to its favoured conifer. 

Martin whispered 

It's right in front of us in the grass

Unfortunately from my position I was unable to see it but then it moved again and there it was, a small, brown, dark streaked bird with  paler underparts that my camera refused to focus on, preferring the grass that surrounded it. The Lancy walked past Martin only feet away and he tried to take some video on his phone only to discover later it had failed to work  

We felt a right couple of dummies

One more try Martin Let's wait for it to come back just once more. 

OK buddy

It duly did and we now found ourselves alone with only one other birder at our corner of the plantation. All the others had left and I am positive that what followed was due to the fact there were far less birders surrounding the plantation and the loud voiced individual had gone elsewhere.

The Lancy seemed more settled and its behaviour had changed, for when it visited its favourite conifer rather than remain constantly hidden it walked out of the grass and up the gently sloping ground under the conifers, moving away from us but in no great rush. It was again very close to us but unlike before when it ran in alarm across the open area below the conifers, this time it walked and then stopped right in the middle and just stood there for all of two minutes, absolutely stock still and looking around as if wondering where had all the birders gone.The views were sensational.

It was now or never.

I partially rose in order to kneel on the ground, pointed my camera and lens at it and made free with the shutter button, recording 30 frames per second while the camera as usual insisted on focusing on anything rather than the Lancy but then the bird moved fractionally and the camera instantly detected the motion and locked onto the bird and there it was  clear in my viewfinder. I gave the shutter button full throttle and extended my zoom lens to its fullest hoping that something would come out. It was dark under the pines and I had no chance to adjust settings or do anything remotely technical.This was my only chance, it had to be taken and I had to pray that one image would be OK.The Lancy seemed to come out of its trance and wandered off further up the slope and was lost to the gloom. Other birders came to us but they were too late. It had gone.

That was it for me.My knees and back were in revolt about the sustained strain I had put them under and the nettles had done their job as I noticed for the first time how much I had been stung. It did not matter I was on a high of elation and beyond care but had I got the images I craved?

Checking the back of the camera I found as I feared that many images were out of focus but more to the point and to my intense pleasure a number were more than passable of this secretive waif from Siberia, a real Shetland speciality with almost 82% of Britain's records coming from here. 

They breed  in localised areas of north eastern European Russia but are more abundant eastwards in Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Korea, Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and Japan and winter in southern Asia. I remember seeing three in Cambodia after a night and morning of torrential rain that were so wet they had abandoned the long grass they hide in and stood in the open on the bare mud trying to dry their sodden plumage.

It was job done for me and I left the plantation and joined Mark who was still endeavouring to get some shots of the Paddyfield Warbler.I did not bother but saw it well enough feeding in the crops so I had achieved sightings of two very desirable and rare birds and was very happy. Mark  too, although he had not got any photos was content to have seen both birds.

The light was beginning to fade as cloud and drizzle approached  and we had to be back at Belmont to catch our ferry at 4pm. Tonight we were going to have fish and chips at our favourite Cornerstone Cafe in Scalloway which would, as far as I was concerned, round a perfect day off nicely. 

Maybe a glass of Guiness too.

to be continued