MY BIRDING YEAR 2009

After a great year of birding last year, I decided to take it easy and just go for lifers this year. The year started well when a Glaucous-winged gull was found in Cleveland on January 2nd. Thankfully, after missing the last one in South Wales by minutes, I finally connected with this species.

Glaucous-winged gull

Birders on site

It all went quiet until April 14th, when I visited one of my favourite counties, Hampshire, to see a White throated Sparrow. On the way to see this bird, Dan Pointon had seen a Savi's warbler in Kent early morning, so I decided to drive to Grove Ferry to see if we could see the bird before dusk. On arrival, the bird showed well in front of the hide, which I was totally made up about. 

White throated Sparrow

Savi's Warbler

Me on site at Grove ferry

I had to wait till the end of the month, the 30th, for another two lifers, when I travelled to Kent for first light to see a Crested lark, at Dungeness, followed by a long journey west to see a Collared flycatcher at Portland in Devon.

Crested lark

Collared flycatcher 

On the 1st of March, a Pallid swift was found at Crosby Marina in Liverpool. The bird showed really well on arrival.

Pallid Swift

On the 5th of May, I picked Dan Pointon up from Bristol and travelled down to Dawlish Warren, where we connected with a Western sandpiper in Devon. 

All was quiet then until the beginning of June, when on the 3rd, I ended up back at Dungeness in Kent to see a stunning Oriental pratincole. 

Oriental Pratincole

Me, Robo and Ian at Dungeness

The mega bird of the month was on the 20th of June, which I finally nailed after previously dipping on the first day, was a Royal tern, which ended up at Llandudno promenade. Thankfully, I got out of work and had cracking views of it as it flew right in front of me. 

Royal Tern

July was a fantastic month for me, when on the 5th, Mark Payne relocated a Caspian tern at Wiggenhall St Germans in Norfolk, which he found further down the river after it had flown. We thought we had all missed it.

Caspian Tern

At the end of the month, I visited my favourite place, the Isles of Scilly, for a pelagic weekend with Mark Powell, Ash, and Ken. I had tried to see Wilson’s Petrel on numerous occasions but had never succeeded. However, the weekend turned out to be an unforgettable experience. 

 

As soon as we arrived, Bob Flood had organised a pelagic trip for Friday evening. Within just an hour of venturing off Martin's, I spotted my first Wilson’s Petrel during a terrible storm—an experience I will never forget. The next morning, we headed out again and encountered over nine Wilson’s Petrels, which is the best record ever from a pelagic trip. It truly was an unbelievable day!

My first Wilson's Petrel

Mark Powell and I, out at sea

August was very quiet until the 8th, when I finally connected with a Great Spotted Cuckoo at Weybourne in Norfolk, with Dan, after dipping miserably in Cornwall in May.

Great spotted cuckoo

Me, enjoying the moment.

News broke on the 31st that an American Black tern had been found at Farmoor reservoir in Oxfordshire. Pete Antrobus and I made the journey south and connected with the bird.

American Black tern 

On the 22nd of September, I visited the Orkneys with Dan to see a Sandhill crane.

Sandhill Crane

Birders On Site

My yearly trip to the Shetlands produced another lifer, Taiga flycatcher on the 29th, the bird was found on Fetlar and was a real grip back after missing the Flamborough bird in 2003  

Taiga flycatcher

On October 24th, I left my annual holiday on the Scillies to visit Trow Quarry in County Durham, where a British first had been discovered: the Eastern crowned warbler.

Eastern crowned warbler

Early morning, waiting for our first views of the Eastern crowned warbler.

Newspaper articles about the bird

November 7th saw me in Kent at Pegwell Bay, where I saw my first Fan-tailed warbler.

Fan-tailed warbler

What a year's birding, life list now on 445 species, Roll on 2010!

TEESSIDE'S TRANSATLANTIC GULL: A GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL ODYSSEY

A pager message announcing a probable Glaucous-winged Gull in Teesside on New Year’s Day was hardly the sort to send shockwaves through the birding community. “Probable” and “large white-winged gull” are not words that sit comfortably together, and with Glaucous-winged Gull’s notorious reputation for hybridisation in North America, it felt more like a curiosity than a must-see mega.

Then things began to shift.

An adult photographed on the main pool the following day was relocated late afternoon in a ploughed field by the A1185. As images circulated that evening, phones buzzed with speculation. Was it genuine? Was it just another hybrid? Should we go?

In the end, common sense, or so we thought, prevailed. Phil Woollen and I adhered to the original plan to visit Marbury Country Park to see the Hawfinch that Enid Murphy had recently found. I still needed it as a long-overdue patch tick.

We were watching the Hawfinch at Marbury when the pager erupted with that unmistakable second bleep, the kind that jolts you upright in your seat.

Hawfinch

(c)Phil Woollen

The gull had been accepted as a definite Glaucous-winged Gull. That changed everything. Glaucous-winged Gull is a North Pacific species, breeding from Washington State north through British Columbia and Alaska and west to eastern Siberia, largely coastal, largely sedentary and an extreme rarity in Europe. Britain has only recorded a tiny handful, many of which are clouded by hybrid origin. A confirmed adult was simply unmissable.

Within seconds, Pete Antrobus (“Pod”) was on the phone. The Hawfinch was reduced to a token glance, and we piled into Pod’s car, heading north with the urgency only a newly-upgraded mega can inspire.

The ploughed field was our first port of call, but it was soon clear the bird had moved. A wider search led us to Cowpen Bewley Marsh, where sizeable numbers of large gulls were loafing and bathing. Given the site’s track record for attracting wandering Larids, it felt right, but still the bird refused to show.

The atmosphere was tense. Several birders present had suffered the infamous dip on the Ferryside/Towy Estuary third-winter Glaucous-winged Gull back in March 2007, and no one wanted history to repeat itself.

Then came the breakthrough.

Young Josh Jones picked up a pale, bulky-headed gull tucked into a dip in the marsh. As nearby birds flushed, the mystery bird stepped into full view, broad-winged, pale and powerfully built. Even at a distance, it looked classic. To my eyes, it was straight out of Olsen & Larsson’s Gulls: the soft pearly-grey mantle flowing seamlessly into primaries devoid of black, the subtle smoky hood extending down the sides of the breast yet leaving a striking white ‘finger’ separating it from the mantle. Every feature aligned perfectly. In that moment, the identification felt watertight. Teesside had landed a genuine adult Glaucous-winged Gull.

After hours of doubt and a frantic dash across counties, one of Britain’s rarest gulls was finally in the bag, a Pacific wanderer improbably marooned on a northeast marsh.

Happy birders on site