Red-breasted Nuthatch – Holkham National Nature Reserve, Holkham, Norfolk, 22^nd October 1989

Red-breasted Nuthatch, Holkham National Nature Reserve,, Holkham, Norfolk, March 1989. Sometimes the originalnotebook drawings (or those produced as part of the original write-up soon afterwards) are the best.

On Saturday the 14th October 1989 Pete Ewer and I were birding the pines at Borough Farm on Tresco. Suddenly, a message came through on the Citizens Band radio which included the words, “Red-breasted Nuthatch”. I vividly remember think, “What a stupid call-sign!!”. Slowly though, we grasped the full significance of the message, there was a first for the Western Palaearctic, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, at Holkham Pines, near Holkham in Norfolk.

The news had momentous repercussions. Almost instantaneously a very significant proportion of the birders in the Scillies made plans to leave to twitch this amazing bird!

In doing so, I was robbed of what was potentially going to be the pinnacle of my footballing career; a few days before I had played in the North v. South birders football match which was played in order to select a Birders team to play in the fabled Islanders v. Birders football match. Following my sublime midfield performance (reference needed 😉) I had been selected to play in the Islanders v. Birders game. But this was called off once it was realised most of the Birders team had left Scilly..... .

Pete and I resisted the temptation to leave, and so it was eight days later before we got there, having finally left the Scillies on Wednesday the 18th October. On Sunday the 22nd October Pete and I travelled from St. Albans to Holkham, and the famous pine belt on the sand-dunes, Holkham Pines.

We, and several dozen others. We endured several hours tramping backwards and forwards in the dune ridges, through the pines moving from one place to another place following reported sightings of the bird. So did everyone else. What a way to treat a national nature reserve!!! Thankfully though, we had avoided the horrors of the mass twitch on Sunday the 15th October, when apparently there were hundreds of birders and fist fights broke out.....!

Eventually, eventually I got brief views in the scrum at it made its way along a branch of one of the pines – but being difficult to locate as it was in view only for some and was several trees away. Not the least of my problems was the melee. Anyway, I saw it. It was a tiny nuthatch with a stonking black eye-stripe and crown separated by a huge white supercilium. Otherwise it had pale orangey-buff under-parts and light blue-grey upper-parts.

Some 4.5 months later, on Sunday the 4th March, Pete and I were able to obtain significantly better views at the Queens Summer House. By now it had been pinned down better in terms of its routine as it had been discovered that it regularly came in to drink from the gutter of the summerhouse. So it was that I was set up with my ‘scope in order to take advantage of this.

And so it did. And so I did. Exceptional views of an exceptional bird. One of the very best birds on my UK list.

Red-breasted Nuthatch, Holkham National Nature Reserve,, Holkham, Norfolk, March 1989 (photograph credited to Peter Ewer).

Red-breasted Nuthatch, Holkham National Nature Reserve,, Holkham, Norfolk, March 1989 (photograph credited to Rob Wilson).

 Bridled Tern – Inner Farne, Farne Islands, Northumberland, 15^th July 2013

Between Wednesday the 3rd July and Wednesday the 10th July Paul Pugh and I had a fantastic birding holiday together in Trinidad and Tobago.

This was a holiday that was a long time coming. Paul and I both missed the thrill of birding together and so he had pushed hard to get me to commit to going on a proper birding trip with him. And it was indeed that.

Given I was committed by our planned trip, Sod’s Law dictated that a Bridled Tern turned up on Inner Farne on Monday the 1st July.

Now, I had previous with this species. 25 years earlier, I had kidnapped Carol Carrington to take her to Cemlyn Lagoons to see the Bridled Tern that was there between the 1st and 23rd July. It was a lovely day out (for me anyway) but we dipped. Worse, Paul very definitely connected; allegedly he had fallen asleep in his car whilst there to twitch the bird, and woken up to find it was perched on his bonnet....!!!!!!!! I’d never yet managed to pull this one back on him.

They’d been plenty of subsequent records, but most were difficult to twitch one day birds and / or birds in difficult to get to places. I’d not managed to go for Stuart Green’s one day bird off Arbroath in July 2003 for instance, although a lot of Scottish-based birders had connected with.

Birding with Paul in Trinidad and Tobago was fantastic, but all the time we were there the ongoing presence of the Bridled Tern rankled (we had wi-fi access at our excellent Hacienda Jacana base). Having been regularly seen on Inner Farne between the 1st July and 4th July it was then also seen elsewhere too. It was seen at both Cresswell Pond and East Chevington in Northumberland on the 5th to 8th July inclusive and at Saltholme in Cleveland on the 6th July. Gggggggrrrrrrrr!!!!

To make things worse, on Friday the 5th July, Paul and I had a superb day birding with our guide, Newton George, on Little Tobago, seeing, yep, Bridled Tern on the crossings from Speyside to Little Tobago and from Little Tobago to Speyside.

Paul and I returned from Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday the 10th July.

By then, predictably, reports of the Bridled Tern had fizzled out, and I resumed ‘normal’ life.

Beyond work, amongst other things, the girls finished school for the summer that week. I can’t remember whether I had the girls that weekend but I do know the Bridled Tern was reported from Inner Farne again, on an intermittent basis, from Saturday the 13th July onwards.

Again, I attempted to dismiss this from my mind – I was otherwise engaged and it wasn’t really that reliable / predictable.

Maybe I had a vague game-plan too. On Monday the 15th July the girls and I were travelling south on the A1(T) to go to my fathers in Chesterfield, before then continuing on to St. Albans and then going to the Netherlands on the ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. Maybe I would see the Bridled Tern whilst crossing the North Sea........... . No, MUCH more seriously, maybe it would become a little bit more reliable again on Inner Farne and we could go there en route south..... .

However, reports from Inner Farne weren’t the source of any great optimism, and I became immersed in ‘life’, sorting out the aftermath of my holiday in Trinidad and Tobago and preparing for my holiday in the Netherlands as well as work, etc..

On Monday the 15th July, I loaded up the car with all the paraphernalia Ellen and Tessa and I would need for our holiday before we departed for my Dad’s. As ever, I hadn’t really committed to any ETA; I had no definite idea of the time of our departure and anything could happen en route.... .

Frustratingly, given my ‘vague game-plan’ there was no news from the Farnes that morning. Again Bridled Tern was going to elude me.

I concentrated on the long drive ahead, and making sure the girls were suitably entertained.

However....... .

Shortly after we had passed the junction for Seahouses the pager flickered into life with the joyous news that the Bridled Tern was back on Inner Farne.

I more or less did a handbrake turn on the A1(T). Instantaneously, both Ellen and Tessa (by then 14 and 13 respectively) simultaneously wailed, “OH NO!! WE’RE GOING TO SEE A BIRD!!!!!”

Anyway, whether or not they were quite as committed to the challenge as I was, I drove quickly to Seahouses, where I successfully parked up, and then assembled my gear (probably just bins, etc., as I probably wasn’t taking my ‘scope on holiday to the Netherlands) and both daughters, and marched down to the kiosk to arrange tickets for a boat to Inner Farne.

This all worked well, except I probably made the mistake of explaining to Ellen and Tessa that we were going to see a Bridled Tern, and then misguidedly mentioning that I had seen Bridled Tern in Trinidad and Tobago whilst birding there the previous week at this point. The girls were completely incredulous, “What, we are going to see a bird you saw last week????? Why???!!??”. They just didn’t get the whole British list thing, clearly.......... .

Anyway, we duly went across to Inner Farne, and here I was able to enjoy good views of the Bridled Tern as it was resting amongst the loafing terns on the rocks near the jetty, or occasionally flying around over the same area. Meanwhile, the girls were happy rock-pooling in the company of one of the female National Trust wardens nearby; I like to think now that coincidentally this was Bex Outram who later became the Assistant Reserve Manager on the Isle of May, but subsequent discussions with David Steel, who then also worked on the Farne Islands, and is now the Reserve Manager on the Isle of May suggest it wasn’t.

Anyway, the tern provided good views during our / my stay.

The upper-parts were a dark grey-brown, and the under-parts were a bright white, as was the ‘collar’ and the ‘wrap-around’ elongated forehead which reached back beyond the eye and joined above the bill. It had a black cap and eye-stripe, which was much darker than the upper-parts. It had short black legs and a pointed black bill.

It was about the 22nd for Britain and remained in Inner Farne until the 24th July (and was seen in Fife and Aberdeenshire subsequently).

Bridled Tern, Inner Farne, Farne Islands, Northumberland, July 2013 (photograph credited to Dave Farrow).

Bridled Tern, Inner Farne, Farne Islands, Northumberland, July 2013 (photograph credited to Bob Duckhouse).

Golden-winged Warbler – Larkfield housing estate, New Hythe, Maidstone, Kent, 11^th February 1989

The Golden-winged Warbler in an amenity planting tree on the estate, attempting to capture just how I saw it (from a sketch soon afterwards).

Courtesy of In Focus (Slightly Blurred from now on!) I still didn’t have my binoculars on this day, this day of all days. Aaaaaargh!!!!!! After waiting for the post in the vain hope that my repaired / refurbished binoculars would finally be delivered, I set off and made good time to New Hythe.

On arrival the scenes were reminiscent of the good old days at Turf Moor – cars were parked solidly alongside all the roads for one kilometre around. The crowd scenes were even more reminiscent of a football match. Birders were standing around in groups everywhere throughout the housing estate but by dint of Citizen Band radio there was a series of what were the human equivalent of ‘dreads’ culminating in a colossal mass jog around almost a full circuit of Chaucer Way....... . [1]

The Larkfield Estate - the scene of the epic scenes!

Anyway, there then ensued a frustrating few hours...... . The bird moved around the modern housing estate quickly; it was elusive and although I had four(?) brief in flight views, I was severely hampered by my lack of binoculars.

It appeared so briefly and moved so swiftly in flight that views were limited for all, but particularly so for those without binoculars.... .

Also, a major handicap was the size of the galleries, which meant even if it did show long enough to set up the ‘scope, you couldn’t. But it was an amazing occasion – involving some 2,000 birders perhaps – so plenty of familiar faces. But what was best of all was the way the locals on what was a typical modern suburban housing estate coped with this invasion.

My best view (all were with the naked eye) of this star, star attraction was as it hurtled over a house roof and past us before very briefly landing in a small staked tree alongside the road I was on.

Given my naked eye only views I’ll not have the audacity to fully describe it. Simply? Stunning!!!!!!!

I have a vague memory of returning (possibly with binoculars!) and walking around the estate with Steve Duffield not seeing the bird (although very much enjoying the fantastic cheese butty he generously gave me) but I need to check my notes to verify this 😊.

[1] The problem being that a message was put out on the radios suggesting that the Golden-winged Warbler was at the end of Chaucer Way; unfortunately Chaucer Way was a loop with two ends, which resulted in general chaos. It emerged a few years later that it had been Pete Ewer who had been on the CB..... .

A famous image of the epic scenes. I'm not sure it was this bus, but a similar double-decker got stuck in the crowds and was stormed by birders who used it to get better views into adjacent gardens from the upper deck (photographer unknown).

The complete stunner that caused probably the largest twitch ever (photo credited to David Cotteridge).

 Night-heron – Cheddar, Somerset, 17^th September 1988

The Night-heron at Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve - initial sketch

The Night-heron at Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve - eventual drawing

A bit silly this one..... . Alison Bunting and I chased a Night-heron up a tree in Cheddar. Or something like that. No, honest!

It was a Birdline bird tree’d in a mature beech in a large derelict garden alongside the road and stream through Cheddar village. It was Saturday the 17th September, and Alison and I had travelled there from Dorset.

There, along with others (including Roz Gilbert, who I worked alongside on the BP Purbeck to Southampton Pipeline Project and her partner Matt Plenty) we jockeyed for a viewing place and craned our necks for a sight of the bird. The beech was large, but once the bird had been located the views were good. They became much better when it became active and clambered through the branches into a position in which it could be watched from the other side of the road bridge rather than up amongst the tangle of branches.

It was a small heron, with white under-parts, and black upper-parts, including the back, crown, etc., and grey wings and tail. The face pattern was notable due to the black crown and eye-stripe and white forehead, chin and throat. The eye was red and it had a heavy bill which was mainly dark and the legs were yellow.

Latterly, it turned out this bird may or may not have been an escape.... .

Subsequent records were hardly any less silly. Some 14 months later (presumably November 1989) I twice attended a gathering of birders in, I think, Highcliffe in Dorset, to witness what was an immature Night-heron flying away from an area within which it roosted a dusk. The area involved comprised houses with large gardens in a valley within which there was a pond. The bird could be seen as it quickly flew over the pond. It had an almost owl-like appearance in flight due to its size and large rounded wings. Still, again, somewhat inauspicious.

Talking of which, in May 1990 I seemingly saw my third Night-heron at Porthellick whilst twitching the Tree Swallow. However, I have zero recollection of this, although I will plead mitigating circumstances (part of an overnight twitch to Scilly from St. Albans whilst sporting an undiagnosed broken wrist).

And lastly, (I think), I saw an adult at Mere Sands Woods Nature Reserve in early 2008. I saw this bird well, and on my own, but ..... . Actually, not but, as it wasn’t exactly a problem; but this bird was subsequently considered to potentially be the Nearctic sub-species of Night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli) aka Black-crowned Night-heron. Who knows? Future armchair tick?

Night-heron at Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve, near Rufford, Lancashire, March 2008 (photograph credited to Steve Tomlinson).