Black-faced Bunting –Pennington Flash Country Park, Leigh, Greater Manchester, 12th March 1994
Having been alerted by the pager to the presence of a Black-faced Bunting at, of all places, Pennington Flash Country Park, one of the places I used to work at when I was Assistant Wildlife Warden in Wigan, on the morning of Wednesday the 9th March 1994, I had to bide my time. I was forced to sweat it out, knowing Paul Pugh, my erstwhile twitching buddy and rival, had already seen it even before the news was released as he lived very close by in Leigh (and it had been caught and ringed by Peter Alker, my erstwhile colleague at Wigan Metro). This frustration was made worse, when it emerged that Mike Thompson, another twitching buddy from when I lived in St. Albans, had made it on the Thursday morning, having been alerted by me (giving him a nice problem to resolve!)
No pressure!
So it was that on the Friday I left work on the Scotland to Northern Ireland Pipeline Project in Newton Stewart in Galloway in the afternoon, and travelled to Paul’s in Leigh, just 0.5 mile and a few hours away from my scheduled meeting with the newest Sibe on the British list (assuming it would be accepted, obviously.....).
I was up at 06:00 and there (with parking ticket) by 06:40. The crowd of c.90 had already occupied the track through the areas of landscaping planting but Paul’s local knowledge stood me in good stead. By moving further along the track to a point from which I was able to look directly along the net ride / feeding area, I was in pole position when the bird appeared at c.07:00.
I was about 25 m away from where it apparently showed feeding amongst the other buntings and finches. Viewing even from this prime position was not easy due to the intervening shrubs, etc., and the rain. Did I say it was raining? It was raining.
However, whilst watching the comings and goings of the Reed Buntings, in particular, tension was mounting. Where was it? Had it gone? Due to Paul’s stories of its superficial likeness to a Dunnock the appearance of these pseudos caused further flutters.
Then there it was! Yes! I knew it must be it, but Paul’s shout confirmed my suspicions. Apparently non-descript, it did indeed resemble a Dunnock, but the white under-tail coverts and outer tail feathers and dark grey hood were immediately obvious. As further views, in better light, were obtained, the bunting-type beak with a flesh-coloured base / lower mandible and the more subtle aspects of the head plumage (a bit like a first-winter male Reed Bunting with a moustachial stripe, etc.), became more apparent. Otherwise, the plumage was typical of a streaked bunting, although it had two reasonably prominent wing-bars.
It had surprisingly secretive behaviour – it was skulking, and generally on the ground, scuttling from the cover to feed with the Reed Buntings, occasionally tail-pumping, before scuttling back.
I managed several quite prolonged views with the ‘scope due to the position I had managed to get, and this predictable pattern of behaviour.
It was good to see such a bird under these circumstances (which were like scenes on the Scillies) on Paul’s doorstep, twitching a mega in Wigan Metro, of all places. However, controversy reared its ugly head with aspersions being cast about the birds’ origin. But I was happy enough..... (although I commented that I’d be counting Chestnut-flanked White-eye and Verditer Fycatcher next!).
Thankfully, it was duly accepted as a first for Britain and Ireland.
Many years later, a second bird was seen on Bressay during the fantastic October of 2016 (meaning that I had seen two of the seven records prior to 2021). Although it wasn’t new for me. once again, in that remarkable autumn, I was standing next to Ken Shaw when we were watching a bird that was new for either one of us, or both of us.
I was about 25 m away from where it apparently showed feeding amongst the other buntings and finches. Viewing even from this prime position was not easy due to the intervening shrubs, etc., and the rain. Did I say it was raining? It was raining.
However, whilst watching the comings and goings of the Reed Buntings, in particular, tension was mounting. Where was it? Had it gone? Due to Paul’s stories of its superficial likeness to a Dunnock the appearance of these pseudos caused further flutters.
Then there it was! Yes! I knew it must be it, but Paul’s shout confirmed my suspicions. Apparently non-descript, it did indeed resemble a Dunnock, but the white under-tail coverts and outer tail feathers and dark grey hood were immediately obvious. As further views, in better light, were obtained, the bunting-type beak with a flesh-coloured base / lower mandible and the more subtle aspects of the head plumage (a bit like a first-winter male Reed Bunting with a moustachial stripe, etc.), became more apparent. Otherwise, the plumage was typical of a streaked bunting, although it had two reasonably prominent wing-bars.
It had surprisingly secretive behaviour – it was skulking, and generally on the ground, scuttling from the cover to feed with the Reed Buntings, occasionally tail-pumping, before scuttling back.
I managed several quite prolonged views with the ‘scope due to the position I had managed to get, and this predictable pattern of behaviour.
It was good to see such a bird under these circumstances (which were like scenes on the Scillies) on Paul’s doorstep, twitching a mega in Wigan Metro, of all places. However, controversy reared its ugly head with aspersions being cast about the birds’ origin. But I was happy enough..... (although I commented that I’d be counting Chestnut-flanked White-eye and Verditer Fycatcher next!).
Thankfully, it was duly accepted as a first for Britain and Ireland.
Many years later, a second bird was seen on Bressay during the fantastic October of 2016 (meaning that I had seen two of the seven records prior to 2021). Although it wasn’t new for me. once again, in that remarkable autumn, I was standing next to Ken Shaw when we were watching a bird that was new for either one of us, or both of us.
Black-faced Bunting. Pennington Flash Country Park, Leigh, Greater Manchester, March 1994 (photograph credited to Paul Pugh).
Black-faced Bunting. Pennington Flash Country Park, Leigh, Greater Manchester, March 1994 (photographs credited to Paul Pugh).
I saw the Pennington bird and the Newbiggin one dayer, a fw in October 99. Enjoying your posts...
ReplyDeleteThanks Stewart. Much appreciate the feedback. Never to sure as often they just disappear into the ether that is cyberspace.... 🤣
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