News broke on the morning of 6 February 2021 of a Northern Mockingbird at Exmouth, Devon, representing potentially just the third British record after two individuals in the 1980s.
Photographed by local resident Chris Biddle, he posted the images on Twitter, asking if it could possibly be a Northern Mockingbird, a North American species. It was first seen on 23 January and represents the first record anywhere in Britain or the Western Palearctic in more than 30 years – the last was as far back as 1988.
Anyway, the mega alert went off after much discussion. I made my way down to see the bird in Exmouth and arrived just before lunch. I didn't have to wait long on arrival, and the bird showed really well in the back garden, feeding on berries.
In Britain, occurrences don't appear to follow a particular pattern, with accepted individuals recorded in both May and August, while the sole other European record occurred in October. The first was a brief one-day bird at Saltash, Cornwall, on 30 August 1982. Found early morning during a strong north-westerly gale, it was promptly chased off by local Magpies. The second accepted record – at Horsey Island, Essex, from 17-23 May 1988 – was only 10 km from the port of Felixstowe, Suffolk, and was thought to possibly be ship-assisted. Indeed, the nearby area has hosted records of both Lark Sparrow in 1981 and White-throated Sparrow in 1992.
Amazingly, the Northern Mockingbird was relocated in West Sussex and Northumberland before departing our shores.