American Herring Gull – Garrygall, Barra, Outer Hebrides, 17^th April 2016

Calum Scott and I had been ‘planning’ a night out for a catch-up over some beers forever, and it had just never happened. I had texted him on Tuesday the 5th April 2016, soon after returning from my trip to North Uist for the Gyr Falcon, to chase him up about the same, and also to enquire whether he had any plans to go to see the American Herring Gull and White-billed Diver on Barra.

For what were to become understandable reasons (he and his Dad had been struggling with his Mum’s ill-health) Calum didn’t respond to my text, or at least not until Thursday the 14th April, when he texted me asking whether I, ‘fancied that beer tonight’.

As I was driving back from a couple of days away, involving meetings in both Inverness and at SNH Battleby, near Perth, I failed to respond.

Also, as, due to my travels I was tired, I intended having my tea and then ‘phoning Calum to decline his kind offer, but propose we do so on another occasion. However, just as I was sitting down to my tea Calum ‘phoned me. I explained my situation and he agreed that he wouldn’t be too keen to go out under similar circumstances. However, he then suggested he was making plans to go to Barra, and, in effect, I invited myself along. Calum explained the complications with the CalMac ferries and also indicated he had made arrangements with friends to stay with them on the island, so he indicated that he would have to check out that they were okay with an extra guest.

So, all of a sudden, it looked quite likely I was off on another Hebridean twitch! Calum and I liaised over the next day or so, and we both monitored the CalMac website about sailing times. Finally it was resolved that we would catch the Saturday sailing at around 13:00, enabling a sensible departure from Edinburgh for Oban. Also, Calum informed me that he had successfully negotiated with Bruce and Kathy Taylor for an extra guest...... .

Game on! Calum picked me up at just after 09:00 on Saturday the 16th April, and we then had an uneventful journey to Oban, where we parked up, walked to the ferry terminal, purchased our ferry tickets and then lunched on the front in Oban having visited the ‘seafood shack’ near the ferry terminal.

We also walked to the Tesco's store and service station and purchased a large amount of bottled beer and wine (plus a 5 litre fuel plastic storage can for Bruce) and then returned to the ferry terminal, before we took turns to go back to Calum’s car and bring our rucksacks back. Finally, we had both assembled everything we were taking with us to Barra, and so we then moved into the waiting lounge area before we finally boarded to Clansman.

The crossing from Oban to Castlebay, like the journey from Edinburgh to Oban, was large uneventful; whilst on deck Calum and I managed a White-tailed Eagle in the Sound of Mull and a Great Skua and Manx Shearwaters in The Minch, plus a couple of bottles each of very good beer from Colonsay, and whilst not on deck we managed a meal each in the restaurant.... . But all in all, it was ‘uneventful’... . ‘twas though, enjoyable, especially chatting to Calum and watching Barra appear in the distance and then come ever close..... .

Once the Clansman had moored, we loaded ourselves up, and disembarked, to be greeted by Bruce on the harbour-side. We loaded up the car, and then journeyed around the west side of the island and north to Eoligarry. The strategy was to check out places such as Allasdale for the American Herring Gull on the way north, and then to try for the White-billed Diver off Eoligarry ferry.

As it happened, we were unsuccessful in both cases, so we returned south to Breivig and the home of Bruce and Kathy, where we were welcomed in by Kathy and then settled in for a very convivial evening of chatting, drinking beer and wine and eating nibbles.

The following morning, having breakfasted, we journeyed south to Garrygall and (unsuccessfully) looked for the gull there, before we again continued around the west side of the island, stopping off at various places including Allasdale, where we visited the Glaucous Gull and then north to Eoligarry. Here this time, we successfully located the White-billed Diver, a Scottish tick for me. We then returned south and checked out Aird Mhor (for old times’ sake!) and then returned to Garrygall.

This time we were successful, as various Herring Gulls were hanging around the crofts there, and were accompanied by the American Herring Gull.

We watched it over the course of the next couple of hours (either side of our scheduled visit to the Co-op in Castlebay) as it effortless hung in the wind over the road and crofts, and occasionally landed on the rocky outcrops in the nearby fields.

Despite my now increasing problems with streaming eyes (I had ‘itchy’ eyes before I set off with Calum and it would appear, with hindsight, that the previous owner of Bruce and Kathy’s place had kept cats and I had what in effect, was an allergic reaction to the cat hair that probably remained) meaning I was struggling with the bright light, it rapidly became easy to pick out amongst the other gulls when in flight (though less so when on the ground).

In flight it was obviously structurally – in terms of size and shape – identical to the rest of the Herring Gulls present. However, even in the relatively bright light through streaming eyes, it was invariably ‘obvious’ as the darkest bird and was, as suggested, ‘easy’ to pick out.

In flight, as can be seen from my attempted flight shot, it had very dark (and almost uniformly so) under-wings, and a dark under-tail, together with ‘dusky’ dark under-parts, contrasting with a paler head. It also had an all dark bill. As a result, I even (stretching a point) invoked Heerman’s Gull...... .

When on the ground (and it did occasionally land and provide the chance of ‘scope views) its appearance was strangely changeable. At times it similarly appeared very dark, but equally, at other times was occasionally passed off as a 1st winter Herring Gull; its appearance was obviously variable depending on the way it was affected by light and shade, its stance, etc.. But more generally, it was a brute, sometimes appearing particularly large-headed and heavily-billed.

It had a pale head (with a faint darker ‘mask’) and a darker shawl or necklace. Its bill was all dark with perhaps a hint of a paler base. The eye was dark too. The under-parts were dusky dark and ‘smudgy’. There was dark barring on the lower belly and under-tail. The tail was all dark. The primaries were also all dark, as were the bunched tertials. The wing coverts were spangled dirty off- white with darker brown centres, and two bands comprising feathers of different ages / shades / states of coverts were apparent.

A stonking bird – very informative and instructive, and not at all a dodgy Herring Gull half-a-tick....... .

 Hume’s Warbler – Denburn Wood, Crail, Fife, 7^th November 2000

A sketch of the Hume's Warbler attempting and failing to capture just how incredibly wet and dark it was when it gave itself up.

My loan pager came good again on the 7th November 2000, just a few days after the epic Long-tailed Shrike twitch. It informed me of the presence of a Hume’s (Yellow-browed) Warbler at Denburn Wood, Crail around about the same time that my ex-, Gillian, arrived back from work and the child-minders with the girls.

I carefully negotiated permission to leave her alone with the girls again and having ‘phoned Graham Clark just in case, I departed at about 14:00. The day was truly evil, continual pouring rain and howling winds making driving ‘exciting’, to say the least. The roads were flooded in places and obstructed by branches, etc., in others. A combination of this, and the more usual tractors and learner drivers, meant that it took a good while to get to Crail and I was convinced that I would dip out as a result, as it was getting very dark by the time I reached the East Neuk reaches of Fife.

But I was buoyed up by my recent successes and consoled myself with the maxim, “If you don’t buy a ticket, you can’t win the raffle,” (or perhaps that should be the lottery).

Finally, at 15:20 I arrived at the gates of the church, and quickly gathered up my binoculars, coat, etc.. The light was very poor, and the weather was still wild, so I was not overly confident. I rushed through the graveyard and into the Denburn Wood valley and was relieved to see a small group of birders on one of the paths within the wood. Surely, they weren’t on it?

I quickly made my way to them and was ushered over as indeed they were on it. Almost instantly on arrival I was put onto the bird as it erratically worked through some low cover beyond the trees in the valley floor. Viewing conditions were dire as the light was so poor, but at least I was able to get on the bird and be reasonable sure that it was a yellow-browed warbler spp.. Almost as soon as I had seen the bird moved on, and despite my attempts to relocate it further up the valley where I guessed it might be moving to, I failed.

I thought I would be thwarted by the continuing deterioration in conditions, as my views had not been good enough to allow my conscience to count it. However, after a brief interlude during which the bird was ‘lost’, it was relocated and this time gave me vital (if brief) good views as it moved through low cover on the other side of the valley. It was below us as we stood on one of the paths and in relatively sparse cover that included a brash pile and two spindly alders. These views were indeed vital because the bird was not seen again that day.

Particularly when in the brash pile and the two spindly alders I was able to get views good enough to make something of a knee-jerk comparison to Yellow-browed Warbler. Compared to Yellow-browed Warbler it was apparently anaemic – basically like the difference between Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. I was not able to examine the details of the plumage, etc., in any great detail, but I did see that the wing coverts, tertials, etc., were ‘less contrasty’ and that the legs and bills were darker than those of Yellow-browed Warbler.

I was extremely lucky to see this bird, and another tick, so soon after the Long-tailed Shrike twitch, and I also saw Angus Murray, Alan Lauder, etc., before leaving

The bird was still there the following day but was replaced by a Yellow-browed Warbler soon afterwards, leading to some mild confusion!    

I've not been able to locate any images of the Denburn Wood, Crail, Hume's Warbler from November 2000, so, for no reason other than it being a superb image, here's one of a bird at Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park - Ban Luang Resort on Doi Angkhang, Chiang Mai, Thailand taken on the  28th January 2017 (photograph credited to Natthaphat Chotjuckditku).

Further apologies, other tasks, scruffy notebook sketches of Slender-billed Curlew and must try harder in 2026

Shockingly, not since uploading my Blackpoll Warbler account on the 22nd October 2025 have I posted a 'new species account'.

I did, on the 4th December 2025, try to make some excuses for this inexcusable failure.

I suggested moving my social media allegiances from Twitter / X to Bluesky, becoming distracted by my attempts to collate a 'World List' and becoming a tad disillusioned by having ticks taken off me, and in particular, my continuing 'subalpine warblers' nightmare, had all conspired against me being as diligent as I once was in terms of regularly compiling, illustrating and posting my nonsense.

However, I'm pleased to report, I have now collated a vey good basis for a World List.

This has involved involved creating a huge EXCEL (which I abhor!) file. 

More specifically, it has involved inputting each species I've seen species by species (in correct systematic order as per the most recent International Ornithological Committee (IoC) checklist (http://www.worldbirdnames.org/) ) row by row, and building out from this, column by column, out from my UK list, to my Western Palaearctic list (evidencing some of my early birding trips), and then to each continent (or, more precisely, country therein) subsequently visited (North America, South America, Asia (actually only the Kuala Lumpur area of Malaysia beyond Middle Eastern countries including Turkey, Israel, Jordan and Egypt), Australasia and Antarctica, (I've not been to (sub-Sahara) Africa.

Clearly, it's not just as simple as adding trip list totals together, due to huge overlap in the range of birds - the Bar-tailed Godwits I saw in New Zealand are immaterial given I first saw them in the UK for example, despite being a bird species I saw just about as far away from the Ribble Estuary, where I saw my first, as it is possible to get.

And, given that I've birded for many decades, some species I saw years ago have been miraculously (and confusingly!) transformed into other species as a result of splitting or, at the very least, renaming.

So it's involved a LOT of trawling through old notebooks, trip lists and trip reports, creating of lists on Bubo and researching using online resources like eBird, etc., to create what I now have. However, at least now I have done the donkey work I'll never have to do it again, and the list will only improve as I work on it, and hopefully, increase as I go on more trips.

So it's been an interesting process, in many, many ways. For instance, I came across my sketch of Slender-billed Curlew in my Morocco notebook from December 1991/January 1992, and, by a quirky set of circumstances, I have ended up trading this page from my notebook (as an 'important historical record') with the fantastically talented Hungarian wildlife artist, Szabolcs Kokay, for an original work by him, as he is so fascinated with this now sadly extinct species. Not a bad deal, at least as far as I'm concerned!

It's too early to divulge anything as sordid as my World List total, but suffice to say, the exercise has done a lot to reinvigorate my interest in the same, and even made me speculate about a reasonable World List target to aim for over the next few years.

So, although I now intending continuing to improve this good draft World List (by re-visiting old notebooks, writing trip reports and creating trip lists and country lists on Bubo, and double-checking the good draft in doing so), planning and going on more big trips to increase my World List, and, in the New Year, returning to a task which I'm fascinated by (an investigation of the historical growth of both the official British and Scottish lists, and a comparison with my equivalents) I WILL get back up to speed with my blogposts in the near future.

Honest.

Seasons greetings.

Apologies, Subalpine Warbler hell, and other gripes

So. It's been a while.

I'll admit to having lost momentum, being too busy, doing too many other things (some bird-related, like attempting, retrospectively, to collate my world list) to have compiled, illustrated and posted any new 'new species accounts' for way too long.

Meanwhile, my move from Twitter / X to BlueSky (fundamentally a very good thing) has reduced 'traffic' as people are no longer necessarily aware of my postings.

I will get back up to speed, honestly. There's plenty more accounts yet to be posted.

But, I have to admit, the current taxonomic upheavals haven't helped.

How can birds which can be differentiated in the field be 'lumped' (the redpoll group) whereas others, that can't be differentiated in the field remain 'split' (the subalpine warbler group)?

As a case in point, I was very glad to take in the Levenwick 'Western Subalpine Warbler' on my visit to Shetland last autumn.

This conveniently backfilled another void in my list which had been created by the splitting of subalpine warblers, given my poor record with them. The bird had been caught and ringed, and scrutinised in the field by all-comers, and proclaimed to be a Western.

So I was suitably pleased not just to take it in, but, also, on my return home, to write it up, and arrange to post my account here (as what was my last but one account).

However, it has since emerged that the bird was (presumably on the basis of genetic material) re-identified as an Eastern Subalpine Warbler. 

D'oh!!!!!

What chance do we stand?????

So I've taken down the posting about it. And I STILL need Western Subalpine Warbler!

Collins Guide plate of Subalpine Warblers subscript: unless it's a spring male, just don't even go there.

So yes, I'm all a bit disillusioned; my listing was once a relatively simple exercise, by now it is mired in science way beyond me. Just keeping up with taxonomic changes is a full-time task on its own!

However, I will be back!

Blackpoll Warbler – Haroldswick, Unst, Shetland, 9^th October 2025

What do you mean don't go near the sea? I've just flown over hundreds of miles of the stuff!!!!!

Having successfully stayed in Northdale on Unst with Mark Wilkinson and Andy Stirrat for a week during October 2024, Chris Pendlebury and I quickly decided that we should arrange to book the place again for the week 4th – 11th October in 2025.

So, soon after we returned from Unst Chris had re-booked, and we offered Mark and Andy the first refusal for the option for joining us again.

Mark and Andy suggested they would let us know of their plans early in the New Year, which they did. They declined to join us again, as they had other plans, and so it was just Chris and I unless we could find someone else to join us.

Meanwhile, the bird that had saved my autumn 2024 seemed like a long time ago, as I endured a series of rather epic dips. Immediately after returning from Costa Rica where I saw lots of them, I dipped the Scarlet Tanager at Shelf, near Halifax on the 12th November 2024. This error was then compounded when, a few weeks later, David Steel and I decided it would be a good idea to twitch another bird I had seen lots of in Costa Rica, but disastrously, we dipped the Yellow Warbler at New Hythe, Kent on the 3rd January 2025, as the previous day proved to be the last of its long stay. And then, to round things off, I ridiculously opted not to go for the Solitary Sandpiper at the Butt of Lewis on the 12th May 2025, this despite being at Cabot Highlands (my long-term golf course development project) just outside Inverness and having time to get to Ullapool and get on the CalMac ferry as a foot passenger. Alright, I would have had to scrounge a lift to the Butt of Lewis but that would have been feasible, Al McNee, for example, successfully twitched it from Inverness. Knowing the Butt of Lewis car-park area where it was, I just couldn’t imagine it sticking around. If only it had been correctly identified the day before (he said contentiously).

Ironically, one of the people to connect with the Solitary Sandpiper was James Grundy, who had asked me for advice on visiting the Hebrides in spring with his non-birding father. And, getting back to the subject in hand, James was one of the many people I had sounded out about joining Chris and I in Northdale in October 2025.

Come October 2025, despite our best efforts to find others to accompany us, inevitably, it was just Chris and I. And, as we intended to be there on the 4th October, it was just over a year since my last tick, the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler at Bempton Cliffs, which I had successfully twitched on the 2nd October 2024.

I’m not complaining. I’d enjoyed an Isle of May week in late spring, and then I’d forgone ‘my’ week there in late-August as I’d had a better offer; instead, I’d had another ‘once in a lifetime’ trip with my very best mate Gary Hitchen (and his partner Janet Smyth) which involved visiting Ecuador and the Galapagos. Ken Shaw had effectively given me a good talking to and offered to stand in for me as group leader whilst I went to Ecuador and the Galapagos instead of the Isle of May.

Then in mid-September Andy Williams, Ken and Amanda Shaw and I had a week on Lewis for the third year in succession, but again it was a bit of a struggle.

So it was that, in early October, Chris and I prepared for another trip to Unst with mixed expectations.

Even before we’d arrived, it proved to be something of a challenging saga.

We were booked on the 19:00 overnight sailing to Lerwick from Aberdeen on Friday the 3rd October, as our Northdale booking involved a week from Saturday to Saturday. However, Storm Amy intervened, and, due to the ever-worsening forecasts, it became apparent that our sailing just would not be happening.

So it was, that (despite being as busy as ever at work) on the Thursday morning Chris had the inspired idea of us going later that day, and just getting somewhere, anywhere, to stay on the Friday night (and him finding some way of still ‘working’ on the Friday). A huge dialogue of WhatsApp messages ensued, as we discussed our options.

Ultimately, we both hurriedly changed our train bookings, and packed, and, firstly and crucially, but with some difficulty, changed our respective ferry bookings. I had ‘phoned Northlink and established it would be possible to change my booking as there was still availability, but I was advised to do so quickly, as everyone else was doing the same.

Having conferred with Chris we decided we should go for it, except now neither of us could get through on the same number I had just successfully used.

Ever adaptable, Chris WhatsApp messaged me to say that he had successfully changed his booking to the Thursday from the Friday online (even again arranging for a cabin for us), and so I did the same.

In the middle of getting ready to go to Shetland a day early someone from Northlink ‘phoned me to advise that the Friday sailing was going to be cancelled, and I advised him that I had already changed my booking accordingly…. .

Once packed I yomped from home to Dalmeny Railway Station with my (Tessa’s) rucksack. I caught an earlier train from there to Inverkeithing than the one I was scheduled to get and felt good about being ahead of the game.

However, my train from Inverkeithing to Aberdeen was somewhat delayed, and once I was on it, I began to be concerned about whether I would arrive at the ferry terminal before boarding for foot passengers was closed. I WhatsApp messaged Chris, saying, “On a train. Maybe get me there around 17:30 but was significantly delayed. What time do foot passengers need to check in by, can you remember?”

To which Chris responded, “Fuck”. Only now did it emerge that the Thursday sailing departed at 17:00 and not 19:00 like the Friday one. There was no way we were going to make it, and we both quickly decided to abandon our mission and return home. I alighted from my train at Kirkcaldy, and journey back to Inverkeithing and Dalmeny, and then yomped back home from Dalmeny Railway Station. I was shattered and dejected. Best laid plans.

Anyway, another dialogue of WhatsApp messages ensued, before we resolved to try to get on the next available sailing, which was a 17:00 on Sunday the 5th October. Once again, we changed our ferry and train bookings as necessary, though this time Chris was only able to secure us two pods rather than a cabin.

Although I realised it would be dependent on any subsequent booking, I suggested we ask Northdale if we could get the booking changed from Saturday to Saturday (as it wasn’t our fault we hadn’t been able to arrive on the appointed day). Fantastically, as a result, we were granted Monday to Monday instead of Saturday to Saturday.

All of this moved my sense of optimism further in the right direction. I had privately dreaded another windy, rainy and largely bird-free autumn week in Shetland, particularly as Chris and I would be paying twice as much for the accommodation. Equally, I knew if I didn’t go, my two prime target species, Siberian Rubythroat and Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler would be everywhere, whereas if I did…. .

But now, what with everything that had happened, there was a sense of things coming together, like it was meant to be?

And indeed, once there, it felt really good to be back; Unst had definitely worked its way into my soul.

As ever, birding on Unst proved to be hard work in trying conditions but overall, I was happy with life on ‘our’ very windswept island.

As ever, not a lot had changed really, though the Saxaford UK Space Port and its resultant changes to the roads going out to Skaw had moved on (not necessarily in a good way) and again, access to Lamba Ness was precluded.

Favoured sites such as Clingera, Halligarth and Houlland were much the same, although there had been some excellent habitat management at Valyie, which had opened up the woodland understorey, making viewing from inside the wood much more tenable.

Sadly, a notable change was that David Cooper wasn’t working the island all day every day, as he (and Brenda) were back ‘home’ in Sussex as his father was in a bad way.

None of this made any material difference to Chris, who just walked and walked every day. As a result, he also produced, finding a Marsh Warbler and Bluethroat near Holsen’s Bridge on consecutive days, Tuesday the 7th and Wednesday the 8th October. However, this wasn’t without cost. When yomping through the marsh between Holsen’s Bridge and the Norwick Beach bus-stop, Chris had partially fallen into the burn and, as a result, his bridge camera had packed up.

In addition, Chris was having big issues getting his mobile to charge, due, as it turned out, to a dodgy cable… .

Although, necessarily, Chris and I didn’t always bird together, we did so on other occasions, and as part of this, we routinely walked the minor roads around Haroldswick in conjunction. Whilst doing so earlier on the 8th October Chris had seen a Turtle Dove adjacent to, and on, the road near the garden and allotment at Rockfield I had always fancied. However, (partly as his camera wasn’t available) Chris hadn’t nailed the Turtle Dove, and as such hadn’t necessarily ruled out Oriental Turtle Dove.

Therefore, in conjunction with Scott (and Angela) Wotherspoon we’d searched the Haroldswick area; given the episode earlier in 2025 when a ‘Turtle Dove’ seen on Unst in the spring transformed into an Oriental Turtle Dove when it reappeared in South Mainland, we were keen to get better views. We failed, but later that afternoon, Chris and I returned to have another go.

As such, I dropped Chris off near Rockfield before going to park and walk around part of our 'Haroldswick circuit' in an attempt to relocate the Turtle Dove.

No sooner had I parked near the former Victoria’s Tea Rooms than I got a WhatsApp message from Chris saying, "Help needed Rockfield". I didn’t necessarily take in whether the message was specifically for me, or was on one of the WhatsApp groups, but I quickly drove back towards where I’d dropped Chris and instead parked near the junction of the minor road and the road alongside Haroldswick Bay.

I then walked back up to Chris who was still near Rockfield. As this was where the ‘Turtle Dove’ had been, this was what I was anticipated he needed help with.

As such, when I got there I was somewhat bamboozled when Chris started telling me about what he was confident was a Blackpoll Warbler..... .

I wasn't the only one bamboozled by Chris' attempts to get the news out. As suggested, as well as his trusty bridge camera having packed up, he was labouring with a malfunctioning mobile and as such, he had only had about 2% charge left.

Hence, commendably, he’d tried to get a message, any message, out as soon as possible.

However, this had the inadvertent effect of causing almost instantaneous WhatsApp message group fuelled pandemonium. For whatever reason, Chris’ message went ‘viral’ before he had intended and caused great confusion and consternation. I'll stop there out of diplomacy's sake (but why do people who aren't even there know better than people who are?).

Anyway, very quickly afterwards, people did arrive on-site, including Dougie Preston (from Yell, on a whim, out of his experience of such things in Shetland), the very interesting Wayne Glossop, and also Robbie Brookes, Mike Pennington and Brydon Thomason, who, very gently, managed the twitch a best as he was able.

Clearly, all efforts aimed at relocating the bird concentrated on the excellent cover available in the garden and allotment at Rockfield. Indeed, Brydon liaised with the owners of Rockfield who were very amenable given the rapidly growing crowd outside their house and even suggested they had seen the bird in the hydrangeas, etc., they could see immediately outside their kitchen windows.

However, suffice to say, after Chris’s initial sighting, despite the assembled twitch, the bird wasn't seen again on the 8th October.

This meant, that that night, all sorts of agonising and doubting ensued, as Chris tried to rationalise what he had seen. He had previous experience with Blackpoll Warbler, which was good, but when the bird appeared on the fence on the opposite side of the road to the Rockfield this certainly wasn’t what he expected to see when he raised his binoculars. Given where we were, frankly, he’d expected to see, another way more like warbler species with two wing-bars, namely Yellow-browed Warbler.

And, with hindsight, as his views had been so brief, he wasn’t necessarily convinced it was ‘just’ a Blackpoll Warbler. We discussed and researched other similar American wood warblers, notably Bay-breasted Warbler, but I cautioned Chris’ about writing down, ‘capturing’, just what had had seen and sticking with his instincts (rather than being swayed by what he subsequently read), noting that unless he did so, there was a chance that someone could turn up the next day and relocate the bird and ‘clinch’ its i.d., and then claim that it was his find.

Meanwhile, as Chris and I were agonising and doubting (and I was counselling 😂) it is fair to say birders elsewhere in Shetland were also agonising and doubting (and worse!). As we’d seen when Chris’ initial attempt to get the news out (somehow, anyhow) had immediately gone viral this had produced some very unhelpful responses (“Can we clarify what (the) hell he is talking about!” Adrian Kettle, which then got a thumbs up!) there were people out there who clearly knew better than the only person who mattered, the only person who’d seen the bird, Chris.

Chris coped commendably when with the pressure involved and remained his usual rational self.

Having firstly asked for the thoughts of others in relation to his drafts, that evening he sent a couple of messages to the Unst birders WhatsApp group, drafting, sending, receiving comments and amending the same all whilst still chatting to me.

Initially (in direct response to the Adrian Kettle message) he sent a message saying, “Sorry everyone. Phone died after sending initial message. That initial message seemed to do the job though! Thank you to those that came to look for the bird, and let’s hope it gets found tomorrow”, to which Brydon responded with a supportive message.

Subsequently he sent another message saying, “Hi all. Based on my views of the bird and my previous experience of the species, my initial thoughts were that it was a Blackpoll Warbler, but I knew I needed to see it again – so asked for extra help relocating given I had a phone about to die. In retrospect on the identification I don’t think I saw all characteristics to be able to safely rule out options for other American species. We’ll hopefully find it again tomorrow!”

So it was that we were up around 07:00 the following morning, and on-site at Rockfield soon after it was light. Others, including Wayne Glossop, quickly joined us.

Unfortunately, despite people looking (at Rockfield) and some people searching the wider area (Chris included!) there was no sign, so soon after 09:00 I opted to return to Northdale for breakfast.

Predictably, so it was, that, as I munched my Dorset Cereal and quaffed my coffee, that I received a message at 09:33 which involved Brydon forwarding a message from one of the main Shetland WhatsApp groups to the Unst birders one stating, “BLACKPOLL still”.

I opted to hastily finish my cereal and coffee (but just leave the bread in the toaster) before quickly driving back to Haroldswick.

On arrival it emerged that the bird had suddenly appeared when some young birders had used playback. It had seemingly flown into the garden at Rockfield from the rough field on the other side of the minor road, before returning there.

Some birders were in the field searching for it, and I briefly attempted to do the same, edging from the roadside ruined croft to the one further into the field. It quickly emerged that, without my walking pole anyway, I was no longer best-suited for this role, nor was I able to discern what the assembled birders at Rockfield were gesturing I should do (beyond being confident it wasn’t rude). I retreated back to the road, and soon afterwards it was apparent the bird had been relocated as there was more frenetic activity in the field.

I failed to get on it, even though it apparently perched on the roof of one of the buildings associated with the roadside house called Ark. However, despite the strong wind, and as though it had a routine, it seemingly made its was onto the beach and the huge mounds of wrack thrown up by Amy….. . or maybe beyond…. .Donald Wilson arranged for five of us to check out the croft North Booth beyond the end of Haroldswick Bay (he, I, Mike Penningto, Wayne Glossop and one other).

We were unsuccessful, but meanwhile it was indeed relocated on the beach. Again, here I initially struggled to get on it, as it was either flighty or got pushed or both, but eventually I did get on it, memorably searching for food amongst the wrack by perching up right on the tide-line, and then later, moving in the open on the track to North Booth.

Brief views, but more that good enough. I was happy.

After being a very small part of the first part of the story on the 8th, it was great to be around when everything came together for everyone present on the 9th.

And I was SO, SO pleased for Chris when the bird was eventually relocated, and, at times, performed very well for most in attendance, including even me. ☺️

I’d felt quite protective of Chris, being under siege like he was just for trying his very best, and so I was elated that he’d been vindicated. It was a strange sort of reflected glory, I guess.

Obviously, everyone else was very happy too, and there was a good atmosphere all round. I enjoyed seeing Paul Harvey, and introducing Chris to him, telling Paul, “This is Chris, who found the bird”. All the more so later, when we’d retreated to the Final Checkout for some lunch and again saw Paul there, who said to Chris as he was leaving, “Good find”.

So, thanks to Chris, I’d managed a long overdue tick, which was a good grip back, as perhaps nowadays it is no longer the most frequently occurring Yank as it had been in the 1970s and 1980s.

It was a stunning looking bird, way more so than perhaps I’d expected. Although an American wood warbler, there was definitely a hint of ‘bright’ pipit going on due to its general appearance and stance, and the prominent double wing-bars and (less prominent) streaking on both the upper and lower parts.

That said, the head, throat and upper breast were unmistakably yellow, and the rest of both the upper and lower parts also had a hint of yellow, although the upperparts were mainly grey-green and the underparts off-white. There was a darker eye stripe, and the head and face pattern involved somewhat darker areas on the crown, ear coverts and nape. There was some broad darker streaking on the lower neck, and the underparts, although this faded and thinned lower down.

The scapulars and the wing coverts had broad white edges, creating the double wing-bar effect, and the primaries, secondaries and tertials were white tipped and edged in part at least, although some primaries and secondaries were yellow edged. The flight feathers, wing coverts and alula were dark centred. The tail was similarly coloured.

However, the stand-out feature was the day-glo yellow-orange legs. If Pale-legged Leaf Warbler was my preceding tick, this one could justifiably be renamed Bright-legged American Wood Warbler!!

Blackpoll Warbler, Haroldswick, Unst, Shetland, October 2025 (photograph credited to Mike Pennington).

Blackpoll Warbler, Haroldswick, Unst, Shetland, October 2025 (photograph credited to Tom Hines).

Marsh Sandpiper – Elmley RSPB Reserve, Elmley, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, 29^th April 1991

Marsh Sandpiper at Elmley RSPB Reserve, Elmley, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, in late April 1991. As suggested, the light was not good rendering the bird somewhat monochrome.

Dipped Serin!! How many times will I have to write that?!?!? (This, evidently, was a recurring theme at the time).

However, I then tonked down to Elmley and caught up with another frustrating one, Marsh Sandpiper.

And relatively easy it was too, once I got to the hide. It was not good light, admittedly, but other than that, I had reasonably views.

It had extremely long legs – Jerry Hall! It also had a long, fine bill. Its summer plumage was very evident, as there were black markings within the mid-brownish upperparts.

Turned out, the 29th April was the last day of a six day stay. Just over four years later, on Sunday the 6th August 1995, I saw three juvenile Marsh Sandpipers at Cantley Beet Factory, Cantley in Norfolk, two days into their ten-day stay. Unfortunately, though, I did not see all three together as two flew off and over us as we searched for the right place; once we got there only one was to be seen.

Many, many years later, (having not been able to twitch the bird at Musselburgh Lagoons on the 18th and 19th May 1997 as my Dad and Barbara were visiting) I saw one for my Scottish list at the lagoon at nearby Morrison’s Haven on the 7th September 2025.

Marsh Sandpiper, Elmley RSPB Reserve, Elmley, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, April 1991 (photograph credited to unknown).

Cream-coloured Courser – Golf Course, St. Marys 24^th October 2004

After an absence in the British Isles of almost exactly 20 years, on Tuesday the 28th September 2004, a Cream-coloured Courser was reported in the Scillies, first on St. Agnes and then on St. Martins, and then finally on St. Marys. This followed one that was in France a few months earlier.

Four weeks later it was taken into care on Tuesday the 26th October. Thankfully, by then I had successfully twitched it from Edinburgh via Coventry with Elizabeth, and as a result seen it on both the preceding two days...... .

As such, this surely comprised one of my more unlikely twitches; almost a month after the bird was first seen, a desert bird in a very stormy Scillies in October, and with that ardent twitcher, the errant Elizabeth!

This scheme of things had emerged when Elizabeth and I agreed to go away for part of the October half-term, and I had indicated that it being October, my preference was not to be too committal regarding a destination, and further, that if there was anything to be seen I would want to go to see it. As such, we tentatively resolved to visit Dorset for old time’s sake, and as this was theoretically well-placed on the south coast. However, the greater the staying power the ‘CCC’ demonstrated, the more I wanted to go to the Scillies instead. During the preceding week therefore, I made tentative plans for a twitch there, including getting all the appropriate ‘phone numbers sorted and so on.

So it was that early on Friday the 22nd October I left home and then flew from Edinburgh to Birmingham. After a day rattling around Coventry with and without Elizabeth and a brief visit to her sister’s that evening, we finally set off for the south-west of England after 19:00.

The drive went well, so well in fact, that, with some debate, we just kept going. There was an argument for finding somewhere sooner rather than later and then set off from there at some stage the following morning. Conversely, there was a preference on my part to get as far as possible, so that we could get onto St. Marys sooner rather than later, so that Saturday would be taken up with the twitch of the CCC, and we then had at least two full days to explore the Scillies.

We also debated our accommodation options, and against our better instincts considered stopping in Travel Inns, indeed stopping at the one east of Okehampton on the A30(T). However, we then continued all the way to Hayle where we failed to get a room at a similar large travel inn. This meant we were arriving in Penzance after midnight with no accommodation. Anyway, without any real problem we managed to get a room at a ‘hotel’ on the seafront in Penzance. This wasn’t the most salubrious of places, but it did the job.

Saturday emerged, or we emerged on Saturday, to find a stormy, squally, windy day, and huge Isle of Scilly travel problems as a result. I ‘phoned all the travel numbers I had, to find out what I sort of expected and feared. The Scillonian was cancelled for the second day running, the Skybus was also cancelled, and the helicopters were struggling with the weather and the resultant backlogs too (and also with the lack of a second helicopter for the Tresco flights). However, we were encouraged by the staff at the heliport to ‘phone or call in at various times, just in case there were no shows and so empty seats, or spare seats on flights that had to be put on later. This we did, whilst still enjoying an interesting and exhilarating day in cataclysmic weather.

We visited St. Just, Marazion and Praa Sands and basically chilled. Most memorably we sat in a gallery windowed café-bar looking out over Praa Sands watching the incoming waves (this was Elizabeth’s old stomping ground from her childhood years, so she was very happy, and I was happy to be with her there). I was phlegmatic about the unexpected extra days delay before my intended audience with the CCC. The storm thrilled and excited me; what would it bring with it, if anything?

That night we managed to find far more salubrious accommodation in Marazion, so that the following morning we were refreshed, and ready to continue our thwarted attempt on St. Marys. Again though, we were frustrated by the disappearing prospect of places on additional helicopter flights that morning (we also bumped into Pete and Angela Ewer at the heliport, which was, er, interesting, given I was with Elizabeth and not Gillian....).

Instead, we faced the prospect of a rough crossing on the Scillonian which we were told was to sail at 12:30, and even this seemed unlikely when we turned up at the booking office to find it shut. Anyway, we managed to sort out this minor difficulty, and arranged places on the ferry, park the car (‘illegally’ as it turned out) and, critically, get me some sea-sickness pills.... !

So it was that just before 13:00 we sailed for St. Marys. I stayed on the deck for the entire crossing, getting wet and cold, and trying to maintain a trance-like ‘I’m not going to be ill’ state throughout. Whether it was this, or my taking two (rather than the recommended one) pills, I was, much to my surprise, totally unaffected by the rough seas!!!!

Once on St. Marys, we quickly gathered our belongings and walked into Hugh Town. We still needed accommodation, and after a couple of failed attempts to find bed and breakfast, we got a room at Lyonesse.

Although the sailing was some one hour longer that the usual 2.5 hours, there was still plenty of time to walk up to the golf-course. Or so I thought. For Elizabeth this wasn’t such an appealing prospect, but out of devotion she followed me, on what to her seemed like an enforced route march! Anyway, we got up there in reasonable time, and I was quickly able to find the small group of birders watching the CCC, and therefore, it itself!

It was actively feeding on the fairways around the small group of birders, at times at ridiculously close ranges.

Somehow, and possibly more to do with the past few hours, the bird looked ‘damp’. It also appeared to be duller / darker pale brown that I assumed it would be, although perhaps if it had been in brilliant desert sunshine..... ! Alternatively, the shade of the bird’s plumage was perhaps due to it being a first year bird.

Anyway, it was a quirky looking bird, similar, if anything, to a plover in terms of size, shape, stance and moves. It also had a down-curved bill that was pratincole-like and long legs that were curlew-like. It had an upright and pot-bellied appearance, and fed by running a few metres and then probing at the ground. The birds plumage was overall subtle shades of off-white / light brown, with darker remiges visible. It had a distinctive head pattern involving a ‘smudged’ dark brown patch around the ear coverts, bordered by off-white supercilia, which met at the rear of the nape. The crown was a slightly richer light brown compared with the rest of the plumage. There were some indistinct darker flecks on the coverts, indicative of the bird’s first-winter age. The eye was largish and black, the bill was mainly black with a blue-grey base, and the legs were greyish blue white.

Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together? As I wrote at the time, “A brilliant twitch, with the woman I love, who loves me and what makes me ‘tick’, despite the wet and cold, and lack of comforts to which she has become too accustomed. Some 18 years and 220 ticks on from the Subalpine Warbler and Red-breasted Flycatcher I saw with Elizabeth at Spurn in May 1986 we twitch Cream-coloured (or Vauxhall?) Courser together! Brilliant. And a celebratory evening necessarily followed...... “.

Little did I know what was to follow the next day, when I was to see Ovenbird and the Cream-coloured Courser again within an hour of each other...... .

Cream-coloured Courser, Golf Course, St Marys, Isles of Scilly, October 2004, taken the day before I first saw it (photograph credited to Steve Valentine).