Whilst perched on Unst in Shetland on Thursday morning, news filtered through on Twitter: a birder had photographed a Hobby at Sandwich Bay, Kent. Upon closer inspection, however, the bird was revealed to be something far rarer—an Eleonora’s Falcon. Could this actually be a twitchable bird in Britain?
The bird wasn’t seen again that day, so I continued with my holiday, hoping for updates. By Sunday evening, I was finally able to leave Shetland, catching the boat from Lerwick to Aberdeen at 19:00. Docking at 7 a.m., the falcon was still present, having roosted overnight. A quick stop at Tay Marshes produced a lovely Scottish tick in the form of an adult Marsh Harrier and five Bearded Tits—long-term monitoring has revealed that the River Tay is one of the UK’s largest strongholds for this species, a site worth revisiting under less rushed circumstances.
Over 11 hours later, I finally arrived at Worth Marshes just after 18:30.
I was immediately directed onto the Eleonora’s Falcon by a fellow birder, and there it was: poised and elegant, sitting calmly before eventually taking off and soaring directly overhead. What a bird—and what an epic twitch!
You beauty!
Eleonora’s Falcon breeds on Mediterranean islands, with around two-thirds of the global population nesting in Greece. Other breeding sites include Cyprus, the Canary Islands, Ibiza, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Morocco, and Algeria. Tilos Island alone supports roughly 650 pairs, accounting for 10% of the world population. The species is a long-distance migrant, wintering in Madagascar, with satellite tracking revealing a remarkable inland migration route across the Sahara and equatorial Africa, covering up to 9,000 km in a single one-way trip. In Britain, Eleonora’s Falcon is exceptionally rare, with only nine accepted records, mostly in summer or early autumn, making the Worth Marshes bird a remarkable addition to the British list.
Other notable species on site included three Hobbies and a striking first-summer Red-footed Falcon, adding to the spectacle of the day.
After a fish-and-chip supper in Ramsgate Harbour, watching the sun set over the Kent coastline, I finally returned to Cheshire just after 3 a.m. Birding, indeed—bloody brilliant.
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