Hermit Thrush –Tresco, Scillies, Cornwall, 15^th October 1993

An attempt to capture the Hermit Thrush skulking away in an unobtrusive manner on the edge of a sunlight glade amongst the rhododendron cover; almost hermit-like, strangely...... .

After a reasonably quiet St. Mary’s Friday the 15th October, with few birds and only the Black-throated Thrush flurry to celebrate / excite, the pager alerted me to the re-discovered Hermit Thrush, last seen on the 11th and as such presumed ‘missing’ in action...... another very typical scenario in the Scillies.

I quickly walked back down to Hugh Town, and bumped into the recently arrived Mike Thompson, who was more interested in the Eye-browed version.

I hurried on, and having arrived on the quay, I made it onto the third boat. Soon I was on my way across to Tresco, and in doing so, almost as soon as we’d got beyond The Roads, I saw the already assembled gallery near the Smith Monument on Abbey Hill. This looked horrendous. To compound the problem, the boat I was on carried on to New Grimsby, past the earlier ones, which had conveniently (for those on them) just beached near the scene. Less conveniently, I had to walk there from New Grimsby, by which time the gallery was truly huge.

It would later emerge that the Hermit Thrush had briefly been seen in or near the mature pines beyond one of the many wide paths / rides through the bracken and rhododendron scrub up towards the monument. Now, if it re-appeared and you happened to be in the ride in a position within 50 m or so of a point perpendicular to the area within which the bird was, you might just have a chance of seeing the bird, eventually.

However, the gallery had sprawled, not only all the way along what was a very long path / ride, but also beyond along adjacent paths / rides, including the one alongside the bay. Basically, a very small proportion of the birders there might just get lucky as they had managed to be in something like the area where the bird had last been seen, whereas the vast majority of them had no chance, and as such they were wasting their own time.

Once I got to the sprawling galleries, I climbed onto a wall but this was no better. It did though, confirm that there was a need for decisive and incisive action if I was going to have any chance of seeing it. I speculated about perhaps getting to the other end of the very long path / ride by walking all the way around and approaching it via other paths / rides.

So I went for it. I walked all the way south along the path / ride alongside the bay, and once well beyond any birders I selected a ride or rides which radiated from the monument to the path / ride alongside the coastline.

I slowly walked up the narrow ride, enclosed by tall rhododendron. Towards the top, the ride broadened out, or diverged. No matter, the effect was to create a sunlight glade, contrasting with the enclosed, shaded tunnel I was emerging from. I knew that this would be more likely to have bird activity in it for this reason. Indeed, there was a ticking Robin............ which chased around the rhododendron undergrowth on the far side of the clearing. Almost instantly as I mused that a Robin wouldn’t be too keen on a Hermit Thrush, sure enough, as I cautiously moved closer something flitted up to perch in the open...... .

The scene of the 'crime'; the rides radiating from the monument can be seen. The long diagonal ride alongside the pines in the north was were the bird was initially seen, I walked up a ride way to the south.

The Hermit Thrush!!!! Un-fucking believable!!!!!! Now, you make your own luck and all that, but come on! I was elated at my ‘twitch scene management’ and field skill intuition.

I had a stunning rarity (just the fourth ever, at the time) right there in front of me, all to myself!!!! Wow, wow, wow!!!!!

It was a gem of a bird – basically an advanced juvenile Robin / Nightingale type with some steroids involved. It was a magical moment – I enjoyed really close views all to myself. As it finally disappeared into the undergrowth other birders appeared. At least some of them had had the same idea as me, and indeed it was seen in the same general area by some of the others in the same way.

The next day I returned with Paul Pugh and Neil Tasker and I was rewarded with further excellent views near the original location.

Not sure this will work, but here’s some video of the bird filmed by the inimitable Alan Shaw:

Hermit Thrush 1993 (youtube.com) .

Hermit Thrush, Tresco, Scillies, October 1993 (photographs attributed to Steve Young).

 

Alpine Accentor – Saltfleetby, Lincolnshire, 17^th November 1994

As this potential ‘new’ bird had been around for some days I was getting twitchy about it. It had turned up on Monday the 14th November 1994. This situation was made worse by the fact that I was in Scotland, and then, for at least part of the forthcoming weekend, I was occupied – there was a Scotland to Northern Ireland Pipeline Project team-building event on Saturday the 19th November. When was I going to get the chance to see it?

Then a solution occurred to me. I could take the Thursday off in lieu of the Saturday. So it was that I set off from Creetown to Burnley after work on the Wednesday evening. The following morning, I awaited news without any joy, so I finally departed at around 08:30. I was made to regret this decision further after a slow rate of progress through both Hebden and Sowerby Bridges. And then I had a major crisis on the M62 when the news came through of a Yellow-rumped Warbler in Bristol. I wavered and I deliberated but I then continued on, and 2.5 hours later I was there. The correct decision.

It was a smart place too, with a good set-up, car-park, track, fences, etc., and pristine sand-dunes and salt-marshes – one against the other, with a track along the edge of the dunes. 300 m along this track were several birders, and an Alpine Accentor.

As easy as that! It was amazing how close it was – it was really close!! As it was feeding in the open most of the time, only occasionally disappearing into the sea buckthorn, it gave superb views. At one stage it was within 3 m!!!

It was stunning to see so close in good light – it had really bright plumage, which was visible in amazing detail.

It was a large accentor. It had striking rufous flanks, which became streaks towards the under-tail coverts which were, as such, streaked. It had rufous and dark brown remiges as well. The greater coverts were black with white tips. It had light grey-brown upper-parts with darker streaks and a light grey-brown head, neck and upper breast and a whitish throat with black flecks. It had a yellow and black bill and pinky-orange legs.

Wow! After the Radde’s Accentor in Turkey I was becoming an accentor fan.

Alpine Accentor, Saltfleetby, Lincolnshire, November 1993 (photograph credited to unknown).