1977 started with an unmemorable trip
to Pagham followed by a weekend in East Anglia where highlights were 21 Shore
Lark and a Great Grey Shrike at Walberswick, the Glaucous Gull at Weybourne, 4
Bean Geese at Cley and 40 Snow Buntings and 100 Twite at Holme. Finishing at Hunstanton an Eider was my 100th
species for the year. I was working as a
trainee with a firm of accountants and not particularly enjoying it. Welcome to the real world I guess. Later in January a weekend trip started at
Chew Valley Lake where 43 Bewick’s Swans and a Barn Owl were the
highlights. We continued on to
Slimbridge eventually getting a poor view of a Lesser amongst about 3,000 White-fronted
Geese. We drove down to Devon and the
following morning saw an immature Surf Scoter on the Kingsbridge Estuary, 8
Cirl Buntings at Prawle and a Dipper near Totnes. In late January a male Lesser Spotted
Woodpecker drumming near Lancing College on a walk to Chanctonbury and back
from Shoreham was a surprise while 500 Sky Larks were notable, and 2 Tree
Sparrows considerably less so.
In early February a weekend reunion
with the Liverpool friends we had been to the Camargue with doubled as a
planning session for our forthcoming Morocco trip and, for me, an Iceland Gull
twitch. I had previously had a couple of
near misses but a returning bird of several years standing seemed likely to
fill what was becoming an embarrassing gap.
It performed well at New Brighton and we also saw a wintering Kentish
Plover at Red Rocks, 120 Scaup at Caldy and 8 Short-eared Owls in the air
together at Parkgate. The next morning
in North Wales was a bit disappointing with 10 Red Grouse and 10 Crossbills the
best we could muster. I was sent on a
month long Accountancy course at St. Lawrence on the Isle of Wight and although
it was pretty intensive (and very dull) I did manage a few walks along the
coast in my rather limited free time.
Best were Little Owls which I heard most evenings and saw fairly
regularly and my earliest ever Wheatear (on 9 March).
A Hoopoe had taken up residence for a
few days in one of the top fields at Portland and I had an anxious wait to the
Easter weekend before I was able to go down.
I had an even more anxious journey down there on the train, missing a
connection and arriving late. I got the
bus from Weymouth and fortunately the bird was still there. My first in Britain although my dad and
sister Anna had seen one at Hope Gap on a Sussex Ornithological Society field
trip while I was at University in Cardiff (the only trip Anna ever went
on). That evening in the Devonish news
came through of a Wallcreeper at Hastings!
How I was wishing I was still in Sussex but fortunately Tim Norris and
Dave Bishop were equally keen to go and Tim had space in his Mini. We aimed to be at Ecclesborne Glen a first
light but slightly misjudged it, despite not sleeping at all well, and I
remember Tim driving along a thankfully deserted Hastings seafront at record
speed. This really put my anxiety about
Hoopoe into context! We were pretty
nifty getting along the beach too, spurred on by a small crowd that were
obviously looking intently at something.
The Wallcreeper, a summer plumaged male, was still present and
absolutely superb – the best bird I’d ever seen. I watched it as it feed along the cliffs,
often not much above head height, for three hours before we dragged ourselves
away and headed to Dungeness. With just a
Black-necked Grebe and 6 Wheatears there we soon wished we had stayed at
Hastings for longer. Stodmarsh was
better with the Glossy Ibis flying over, my third new bird in two days! We slept at Stodmarsh and saw the Ibis again
the following morning before heading back to Hastings. Hopes of more views of the Wallcreeper were
not to be, the bird had flown out to sea a couple of hours before our
arrival. We were almost as upset not to
see it again as those arriving for the first time.
 |
| from Cotteridge & Vinicombe's Rare Birds in Britain & Ireland |
In mid April ten of us flew to Malaga
where we hired two cars which we took across to Morocco for two weeks. It was a very enjoyable trip with lots of new
birds including Bald Ibis (flocks of 22 and 37), Black-shouldered Kite, Houbara
Bustard, Cream-coloured Courser, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Thick-billed and
Hoopoe Larks and Mousier’s Redstart. (see http://birdingneversleeps.blogspot.co.uk/1977_04_01_archive.html). Also of note were a flock of 11 Fulvous
Whistling Duck which were, as far as we were aware, the first record for the
Western Palearctic.
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| Blue-cheeked Bee-eater on the edge of the desert in southern Morocco |
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| Hoopoe Lark in the desert in southern Morocco |
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| Bald Ibis near Tifnit, Morocco |
May was quiet, I’d
not really discovered sea-watching, with two Savi’s Warblers at Stodmarsh and a
decent weekend in East Anglia where I saw Red-backed Shrike at Dunwich, Stone
Curlew at Weeting and Spoonbill, Bittern, Dotterel and Kentish Plover at
Cley. News of a Thrush Nightingale
trapped in Lincolnshire was too tempting to resist but we arrived on site at
North Somercotes to find it had not been seen since release, something our
wandering around did nothing to change.
We had found out the hard way that chasing trapped birds can often be unproductive. As well as seeing again Spoonbill,
Bittern, Stone Curlew and Red-backed Shrike (2 males this time) a long weekend
in East Anglia in early June produced a White-winged Black Tern at Cley,
Wilson’s Phalarope on the Ouse Washes and Golden Pheasant at Santon
Downham. The last two were new for me
with the latter making a nice double, albeit a somewhat plastic one with a male
Lady Amhurst’s we saw at Woburn on the way.
If nothing else they convinced me that I wanted to see some wild
pheasants although that seemed a very distant prospect. My views of the phalarope had been disappointing
(very distant) and I returned the
following weekend when they were much improved.
We went on to Cley and found a Red-rumped Swallow on the back of
Arnold’s Marsh although I only just got onto it before it shot off.
In July I had a very enjoyable week in
Scotland with Tim Norris and Dave Bishop.
We drove through the night to Skye, me spending most of the time in the
back of Tim’s mini trying to sleep. We
caught the ferry from Uig to Lochmaddy seeing 50 Storm Petrels on a calm crossing. Once on the Hebrides we drove down to South
Uist and made our way anxiously to Vorran Island. The Steller’s Eider had been present for five
years but I was still tense. I need not
have been as we quickly located it, a superb male, and obtained excellent views. The next morning we called in at Balranald on
North Uist, but only managed to hear Corncrake, before returning to Skye. We cut around Loch Ness heading for Speyside
and were pleasantly surprised to see a female Capercallie on the road near Loch
Mhor. A Golden Eagle near there was more
expected. On Cairngorm we saw four
Dotterel including a male that we inadvertently flushed from its nest. It did a broken wing display at six foot
range to draw us away from its three eggs. Nearby a female Ptarmigan had five small
chicks. After seeing Black Grouse and
Crested Tit at Badan Dubh the next morning and another quick call into the
Ospreys at Loch Garten we drove to Aberdeen and caught the overnight ferry to
Shetland. Once there we headed straight
to Hermaness and the Saito outcrop where the Black-browed Albatross was again
in residence. It was sitting in its
usual spot but then treated us to an hour’s flying display which was absolutely
superb. The following morning we went to
Fetlar where the Red-necked Phalaropes were as good as ever and a Glaucous Gull
seemed a bit unseasonal. We finished our
brief Shetland visit at Ronas Hill seeing a female Snowy Owl and two singing male
Snow Buntings. We returned south via
Haweswater and my first English Golden Eagle, although a somewhat distant view.
A weekend in Norfolk towards the end
of August coincided with a decent fall and I saw 3 Wrynecks, 2 Icterine and a
Barred Warbler and 3 Red-backed Shrikes on Blakeney Point and a Hoopoe, Wood
Warbler and 7 Wrynecks at Holkham. Like most trips it started for me with a train to East Croydon where I'd be picked up by Nigel Redman and sometimes Richard Bosanquet. We'd pick up Pete Naylor in Uxbridge and join up with andrew moon in Rickmansworth. Back
home and news of a juvenile Little Bittern at Rye came as a blow, more so when
Andrew went early the following morning and saw two. I was so stressed at work (auditing at the
University of Sussex) that I couldn’t concentrate and literally bolted to
Falmer Station to catch a train to Rye unsure whether I’d still have a job when
I got back! The train took ages and the
walk to Ternery Pool from the station seemed like miles. When I did get to the hide, rather
dishevelled, I was told there had been no sightings for hours, great. That remained the case for the rest of the
afternoon and with the weather deteriorating we gathered outside the hide while
a volunteer slowly walked towards the nearest reedbed in which a Little
Bittern had last been seen. It was with
much relief that we saw it fly out and across Ternery Pool. The following was the Bank Holiday weekend
and I headed for Norfolk again (I knew very few Sussex birders at this time and
wasn’t on any local grapevine). Weather
on the Saturday was very rough with single Sooty Shearwater and Pomarine Skua
the highlights. There had been a
Bonaparte’s Gull on Teeside and Andrew was happy to drive so we decided to give
it a go as we thought we were at least half-way there. Maybe that was the case as the gull flies but
it seemed like an endless drive just to get onto the A1 and we didn’t make it
to Saltholm Pool until the early hours.
I slept in a bus shelter but could have done with a mask to block out all
the nearby arc lights. The Bonaparte’s
Gull gave excellent views and we headed back to Wisbeech and Cley, a Temminck’s
Stint at the later another new bird off my bogey list.
September started with another weekend
trip to Norfolk. This time we started at
Holme although the hoped for White-rumped Sandpiper had moved on. At least it saved having to pay entrance fees
to one or both reserves there. Cley was
better with 2 Spotted Crakes and a Barred Warbler. On the way home we called in at Welney and
saw a superb juvenile Sociable Plover after a bit of searching along rather muddy
tracks although Andrew’s car made a good hide.
A successful twitch to Suffolk the following weekend produced Baird’s,
Pectoral and Buff-breasted Sandpipers at Benacre, Minsmere and Hanningfield
respectively.
A group of us had booked to stay on
Fair Isle for the last two weeks of September.
We met up at Pete Naylor’s house in Uxbridge where he showed us a dead Leach’s Petrel that
he had in his fridge – it had been picked up dead nearby. We drove north overnight calling in on
Teeside to look for the Bonaparte’s Gull which was still around but there was
no sign of it the following morning. We
continued to Aberdeen and caught the overnight ferry to Lerwick. First point of call after picking up a
vehicle was Dennis Coutts' photography shop in Lerwick High Street for local bird
news although we were somewhat disappointed to learn from him that the
Ruppell’s Warbler found by Rod Martins at Boddam a month previously had not
been seen for several days. Undeterred
we headed there and wandered around looking into the two gardens it had been
seen in. Some decided to look for some
waders on a nearby beach but Pete, Hadyn Jones and I stuck it out. Hadyn then headed for the other garden and
Pete suggested claiming the bird to wind him up (the sort of childish prank we
were sometimes prone too). I thought it
a bit cruel to raise one’s hopes on a first for Britain like that and we
desisted, however five minutes later I saw a movement in the back of the garden
as the bird appeared. ‘There it is’ I
said with some amazement but Pete thought I was trying to wind him up and it
disappeared before he realised I was being serious. We called Hadyn over and fortunately it soon
reappeared – I’m not sure I would have been believed otherwise! We were still watching it when the others
returned from Voe. A brilliant start to
our trip. We finished the day on Ronas
Hill seeing at least one and possibly two Snowy Owls. The next morning we saw a Barred Warbler at
Kergord (the only find we managed) and flew from Tingwall to Fair Isle.
 |
| from Cotteridge & Vinicombe's Rare Birds in Britain & Ireland |
Coming in low over the cliffs on Fair Isle
was not for the faint hearted and landing on the gravel runway was quite an
experience although by all accounts the only alternative, the Good Shepherd,
could be very rough and the sea crossing lasted much longer. The observatory was great although not
ideally situated in the north of the island when most of the birds were found
in crops which were in the south. The
keenest birders were staying in the south too and it was no surprise that they
found virtually everything, although they were much more clued up than we were
and probably would have done so wherever they were staying. Having to come back for meals and a washing
up rota wasn’t great but that apart we had an enjoyable two weeks. The first was excellent for rarities, some
which stayed over, and the second produced an interesting selection of winter
birds. I had a few ‘blow this island off
the map’ moments getting really frustrated chasing Citrine Wagtails around from
one end of the island to the other (it transpired after I’d finally caught up
with one that two were present, showing intermittently at different ends of the
island). On our third day my most wanted
bird, a Lanceolated Warbler, was found ‘running like a mouse’ by Mark Chapman at
Shiva. It was duly trapped, taken to the
observatory for processing and released in the obs garden where it was
overlooked by the kitchen – no complaints about washing up that day although it
took longer than usual with such a distraction!
Unfortunately Eric Phillips day-tripped to Boddam for the Ruppell’s and
didn’t see it (it transpired that we were the last to do so), he didn’t get
back until after dark and the Lancy was not seen the following day - birding
can be cruel. Other highlights were a
Pechora Pipit found by Chris Heard, a Little and 3 Yellow-breasted Buntings,
Scarlet Rosefinch and several Bluethroats and Yellow-browed Warblers. Seeing only one Barred Warbler was a surprise
(and that on our first afternoon) and it was disappointing not to find
anything, although we were up against very tough opposition. Andrew Moon arrived for the second week,
dental exams having prevented him joining us from the outset. We flew back to Tingwall and revisited Boddam
but could only find a Blackcap. We then
dashed back to Whalsay where we had been told a Booted Warbler had been
trapped. We were not quite sure what we
were looking for, and no one else was about when we got there. We latched on to a non-descript warbler and
were trying to turn it into the Booted when we realised it was unringed, rather
a setback - looking at it more critically it was clearly a Garden Warbler! We were now in full panic mode with less than
an hour before having to leave to be sure of catching the ferry back to
Aberdeen. Fortunately we didn’t have to
wait long for the Booted Warbler to appear, my 8th new bird of the
trip. This time we were sure it was the
right bird, albeit still rather a non-descript one. It even had a shiny new ring on. We caught the ferry back to Aberdeen and
spent Sunday driving home.
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| Lanceolated Warbler on Fair Isle, rare locostella warblers take a lot of beating |
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| Pechora Pipit on Fair Isle |
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| like most pipits it has a distinctive call but sadly this one remained stubbornly silent throughout its stay |
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| its very plain face was reminiscent of a hippolais warbler |
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| this Merlin was quite a handful |
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| my best ever views of Corncrake |
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| Long-eared Owl |
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| always a favourite |
I had a day at home and caught a train
down to Penzance to spend up to four weeks on the Isles of Scilly. I’m not sure how I managed to get so much
time off (a month of unpaid leave) but I was finding working quite a shock
after the flexibility (and long holidays) of being a student. Almost the first person I met on Scillies was
Pete Walton who I was stunned to learn had twitched the Booted Warbler on
Whalsey from Scillies! And I thought
we’d done well twitching it after coming off Fair Isle but Pete was in a
completely different league. I stayed on
St Mary’s for ten days followed by a week on St Agnes. Best birds were Black Duck, Blue-winged Teal,
Quail, Baird’s Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson’s Phalarope, Short-toed
Larks, Olive-backed and Red-throated Pipits, Greenish and Bonelli’s Warblers,
Rose-coloured Starling and Little and Rustic Buntings. A decent haul that included eight new birds
but without anything really exceptional amongst them. Staying on St Agnes, nice as the island was,
proved a bit restrictive as it was not possible to day-trip any islands other
than St Mary’s unless enough could be found for a charter. I spent one night in a flat on St Mary’s
after dipping on the Olive-backed Pipit at my first attempt – it was found one
afternoon too late to get off St Agnes so I got the first boat over the following
morning and spent most of the day at Newford looking for it. With no sign I returned somewhat despondently
to the quay and had just got onto the last boat back to St Agnes when news came
through that it had been seen again. I
leapt off as the boat was departing and hurried back to Newford but was too
late. I was kindly put up on a birder’s
floor and after an anxious night was fortunate that the pipit was still present
the next morning. Back on St Agnes I got
a message to call home and my dad told me of a job in London that he had got
wind of that sounded like a shoe-in if I could get up for an interview early
the following week as someone was needed urgently. He knew I wasn’t enjoying accountancy! I booked a helicopter off on the Saturday but
things then started to go pear-shaped. An
Arctic Redpoll was found on Bryher but there was a reluctance by those staying on
St Agnres to charter for it, believing it was only identifiable in the
hand. It wasn’t possible to get to
Bryher and back in a day on normal sailings and I should have gone and stayed a
night there or on St Marys. It would
have meant taking all my stuff as I was then leaving the Scillies the following
lunch-time so I bottled out. The Arctic
Redpoll turned out to be a Hornemann’s and a Spanish Sparrow was found on
Bryher by those that tried on my final morning.
That they failed to find the redpoll in the time available was little
compensation. The job turned out not to
be as urgent as I had been led to believe and my face/background did not
fit. It would be many year’s before I
let anything come before birding again!
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| Red-breasted Flycatcher on Scillies |
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| Long-billed Dowitcher on Scillies |
I came back from Scillies a bit flat
but two potentially life changing occurrences were just around the corner. I went up to Norfolk the first weekend I was
back but saw little other than Shore Larks, Twite and Snow and Lapland
Buntings. While in the George the barman
asked if a Richard Fairbank was present as there was a phone call for him. It was Pete Walton asking if I fancied going
to Kenya with him, Chris Heard and Mark Chapman for four weeks over
Christmas. There really was only one answer
to that although as it would involve handing in my notice I asked for a couple
of days to think about it, or how to break the news to mum and dad! I hadn’t expected to have to make a decision
between work and birding so soon but with the disappointment of my premature
departure from Scillies still very fresh in my mind (someone, perhaps Clive
Byers, had even done a very respectable chalk drawing of the Spanish Sparrow on
the blackboard in the George) I had no hesitation in putting birding
first. Morocco had been good but Kenya
was a different ball game and it was hard to think of three keener companions
to be going with. Back at work I was
auditing at the University of Sussex again.
It was very fortuitous as while there, and with a view to the future, I
became aware of an Operational Research MSc which sounded interesting and worth
applying for, especially as there was a good chance of getting a grant to do
it.
A juvenile Spotted Sandpiper at
Barcombe Mills Reservoir in mid November was my first birding in Sussex since
the Little Bittern at Rye, almost three months earlier. All weekend in Suffolk looking for an adult
Franklin’s Gull at Lowestoft was disappointing as we only had very poor views
of it in a roost although Glaucous and Iceland Gulls and a couple of Grey
Phalaropes were some compensation. I
couldn’t try again the next weekend as I had been kept in hospital after
collapsing due to loss of blood following having my wisdom teeth out. The following weekend we went back to
Lowestoft and this time had excellent views of the Franklin’s Gull, a very
smart bird. My last weekend before Kenya
was spent in Cornwall looking for a Laughing Gull at St Ives. We joined a number of birders who went down
overnight and were sleeping under the eaves of beach huts when we caught the
attention of the local police. A few of
us were questioned a s to what we were doing.
Looking for a rare North American Laughing Gull we said. Nick Gardner was asked if he had any
identification and produced a North American Field Guide while the rest of us
were finding it very hard to keep a straight face! Fortunately the Laughing Gull was more
obliging than the Franklin’s had been and we obtained good views relatively
quickly. A Green-winged Teal on the
Hayle Estuary was also the first I had seen.
On the evening of Thursday 22 December I arrived
at Heathrow for evening flight to Nairobi via Khartoum. I met up with Mark, Chris and Pete and we discovered
our Sudan Airlines flight had been delayed by 24 hours .... A blog of the trip starts at http://birdingneversleeps.blogspot.co.uk/1977_12_01_archive.html
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| Tawny Eagle on the drive to Mombassa |
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| Carmine Bee-eater in Tsavo East, not being done justice by this very poor image |
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| Yellow-necked Spurfowl in Tsavo West |
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| Hartlaub's Bustard on the road in Tsavo West |
[blogged October 2014]
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