A Nightingale from The East 21st October 2025

c Adrian Webb

On Monday the 20th of October Adrian posted on our Twitching UK and Mega's WhatsApp group an image of the eastern form of a Common Nightingale that had been found amongst a small fall of migrants earlier that day at Rattray Head, near Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

It is only the fourth record ever of this form in Britain which prior to this individual had not been seen here since 1991.

He enquired if any of us were interested in going for it and advised he was considering leaving that evening to go and see it.

Currently not a species as such but classed as a sub species of Common Nightingale it may bc designated a separate species in the future and consequently has stimulated some interest amongst us twitcheratti. Personally I regarded it as an interesting bird well worth seeing as for me it is not all about adding another tick to my list but also deriving great pleasure from viewing and appreciating a bird of which I have no experience and simply enjoying it for what it is.

Having decided I would like to see it, I contacted Adrian immediately and made a two and half hour drive to his house in Essex to team up with him at just after 6pm. Two other birding colleagues, Les and Paul (is there not a famous guitar maker going by that name?) being the final two  to make up a four in Adrian's car; Les to be subsequently picked up from Epping and then Paul from Bar Hill in Cambridgeshire. All went to plan and we set off into the night heading for the northeast coast of Scotland which seemed a very distant and daunting prospect at 8pm on a Monday night.

Rattray Head lies well beyond Aberdeen between Peterhead and Fraserburgh and it would take nine hours driving to get to our destinatiion with a scheduled arrival time of 6.30am if all went well.

Sitting in the passenger seat talking to the driver for nine hours throughout the night is not to be recommended and is nigh on impossible anyway but apart from occasional lapses into sleep on my part this is what has to be attempted to ensure the driver remains awake.

A couple of comfort stops at various motorway services on the way was all we allowed. Just as well for is there anything more depressing than the sense of abandonment and desolation that engulfs you on entering an empty services at 2am in the middle of the night? Never am I more thankful to have fled the assault of neon and mind numbing general naffness of such places and return to the dark comfort and cocooned sanctuary of the car. 

Inevitably, as a passenger in the front seat one slips into a mild transcendent state staring at the onrushing road as the conversation and things to talk about dry up and your body craves sleep but Adrian and myself managed to keep conversing if only fitfully while the others slept in the back and finally we found ourselves north of Peterhead with just half an hour's driving left to get to our appointed location. The night was clear, with many stars visible and gloomily we speculated how this might have encouraged the bird to migrate but we had irrevocably committed ourselves to this latest birding gamble and could but await the dawn to reveal our fate. We would know soon enough as the sky was beginning to show the faintest glimmer to the east of us.

Still in virtual darkness we turned off the tarmac road and drove down a narrow potholed track in the middle of nowhere but even at this early hour encountered a runner  heading in the same direction as ourselves.We kept going until we came to a grassed parking area with the top of the iconic Rattray Head lighthouse beaming out its warning pulses of light beyond the dunes that we sensed lay in front of us.

A distinct feeling of denouement came over me as we came to a final stop. It is always this way on being the first to arrive at a twitching destination and as the moment of confirmation that the whole journey will be rendered pointless or otherwise rapidly approaches.

There was one other birder's car in the parking area plus a tractor already running its engine and by the looks of it being repaired by a mechanic. At this early hour? Or maybe not so for a farmer as the time was now approaching 6.45am.

Above the parking area on a rise to our right were two large houses, currently bulky shapes in the semi darkness, one illuminated by a light. One was occupied, the other not.

The occupied house according to local birders has recently been rented by a rather intolerant man from Manchester and who had on the previous day lambasted birders who had come to see the nightingale and been thoroughly unpleasant throughout.So much so someone had reported him to his landlady who had told him to treat visiting birders with respect and courtesy rather than shout and swear at them.

Unfortunately this had the reverse effect and made him even more objectionable!

So this morning it was like treading on eggshells but as it was still dark there was no sign of him but only two friendly local men attending to the tractor.

We sat in the car awaiting the advance of dawn which was soon upon us and getting our stuff together stepped out into a cold dewy morning and speculated where the nightingale might be if it was still here.

In the half light a bird sat silhouetted on a fence It could be the nightingale or it could be a Robin. A feature of the nightingale was that it moved its tail up and down in an exaggerated fashion and this bird did just that but there was not enough light to tell for certain what it was.

The bird disappeared and as the light increased we saw it or another nearer to us, in some gorse lower down the rise and to much rejoicing found it was our bird, looking very grey in the dawn light but definitely the nightingale as it sported a rufous tail and crown.

The light was improving all the time and the bird showed intermittently but regularly in various bushes, gorse clumps and small bare trees for around half an hour before disappearing into a large area of gorse at the top of the dunes.

For almost forty five minutes there was no further sign of it but eventually it re-emerged from the gorse and moved back to its original location, lower down by our parked car. 

We all got some photos of sorts and although the bird was skittish it would regularly show well but briefly.

It breeds widely across central Asia from the Aral Sea across Kazakhstan to western China and winters in East Africa mainly in coastal Kenya and Tanzania. The bird I viewed today was slightly larger than 'our' Common Nightingale and noticeably longer tailed. The upperparts were sandy grey rather than a warm brown and contrasted strongly with its long rufous tail which it cocked frequently, a feature and action we all remarked upon as it seemed so different to a 'normal' Common Nightingale. It also showed obvious pale edges to its greater wing coverts forming clear wing bars.The plumage structure and behaviour was to me reminiscent of a Rufous Bush Robin.

Other birds were here too, some passing rapidly through this isolated, lonely area throughout the early morning, others tarrying for a while. Up to five Blackcaps fed in the gorse bushes and Goldcrests were constantly arriving from the nearby North Sea, flickering through the gorse at high speed and then were gone inland. A huge flock of Pink footed Geese squealed their way down from the sky onto an adjacent area of fallow land before taking alarm and departing, complaining at high volume. A lone White fronted Goose was amongst them.

The grating calls of migrant Bramblings came from the sky, presumably the birds were arriving from a long sea crossing and voicing their relief at making dry land and a very pale Chiffchaff but not quite pale enough to be of the Siberian race tristis, examined the lower branches of a bare willow tree.

For the first hour of daylight we were virtually on our own but gradually other birders came until there were around twenty of us.

At noon we decided we had seen enough. Everyone of us content.The nightingale meanwhile had flown back to the large clump of gorse at the top of the dunes and looked unlikely to emerge from its dense, green, prickly fastness for some time.

It was time to go and as we drove away found  small parties of Yellowhammers, Corn Buntings and Tree Sparrows, feeding and bathing on the potholed track as we made our way back to the road.

Rattray Head Lighthouse