Red-rumped Swallow – Corfe Mullen, Dorset, 20^th July 1988

Mr Harry Lovell’s Amazing Performing Red-rumped Swallow!!!

An attempt to capture the bird as it was when first seen in the gloaming on the late evening of the 20th July.

One evening (that of Wednesday the 20th July to be exact), whilst I was at ‘home’ in the flat I was renting in Westcliffe, Bournemouth (having moved there from Swanage via a temporary stay in Poole whilst working on the Purbeck to Southampton Pipeline) I received a ‘phone call from Paul Pugh about a Red-rumped Swallow in Dorset.

It transpired that there had briefly been a message on Birdline about an apparently breeding bird somewhere in the county, before the message was deleted (presumably as it related to a breeding bird....).

Obviously, given she was an office holder of the New Dorset Bird Club (she was the Membership Secretary) I immediately ‘phoned Alison, my then girlfriend, and prevailed upon her. She was tasked with finding out all she could..... . Suitably intimidated into action, she ‘phoned George Green, the Chairman of the New Dorset Bird Club (I was never quite sure what happened to the old club....).

Anyway, the girl done good, and so we rushed, as late as it was, to Corfe Mullen, me collecting Alison from Merley en route. Why? Well, it transpired that this is where the bird was; we found our way to a large estate house near a road junction just off the A31.

Once parked up, we joined others (a few others) at the entrance to the drive of the house from where the bird could be seen roosting on some wires. Amazing!!!

Views that evening were not helped by the fading light, but at least the bird was perched.

However, the next day (obviously, given I was working on the pipeline and out on site all day everyday!) I returned. Once again, I waited at the entrance to the drive, but this time, the owner of the house, Mr. Harry Lovell, invited me in to the driveway and provided me with a chair and a cup of tea! In these perfect conditions I waited for perfect views, but, unfortunately, I was probably sitting too close, as although the bird circled around and around, it only visited the nest (it was, in fact, ‘assisting’ at an active House Martin nest) once. (I think Mr. Harry Lovell was lonely, and once he had got over his concerns about lots of people descending on him to see his bird, he quite liked the attention that it, and therefore he, got).

I returned on many other occasions to watch this amazing bird (it was fantastic escape from the pressures of working on the pipeline).

Compared to a swallow it could be picked out by the subtly broader, blunter wings and thicker tail streamers (which had a tuning fork -like configuration). It was distinctive in flight – circling high and relatively slowly? It had an orangey-buff rump, and similarly colour nape and supercilium, with pale under-parts and dark metallic blue back and crown, and blackish wings and tail. It had a distinctive ‘chewick’ call.

Subsequently I saw one at Stodmarsh in Kent in April 1990 and others at Spurn and on St Mary’s.. .

Clearly one of my photographs, but even in this poor image the distinctive 'jizz' of the species when in flight is apparent.

The house of Mr Harry Lovell showing the House Martin nest that the Red-rumped Swallow was assisting at.

Red-rumped Swallow, Corfe Mullen, Dorset, July 1988 (photograph credited to unknown).