Lesser Crested Tern – Beacon Lane, Spurn, East Yorkshire, 18^th June 1993

Wow!!! At last, this one succumbs, and so easily, after all that had gone before, I finally saw this bird, this long-awaited bird, in the most amazingly fortuitous circumstances. Realising that this bird (which had frustrated me more often than any other) had not settled in the Farnes this summer, I travelled for six hours from South Queensferry to Spurn in my little AMEC Ford Escort van on Friday the 18th June 1993. A fraught journey it was too, particularly during my refuelling stop (I think I got frustrated trying to navigate my way out of the service station at Ferrybridge Services and ended up grounding the van over a very high kerb). I had departed from work at 13:35 and arrived at 18:35, to be greeted by Sandwich Terns flying south from Beacon Ponds over the Blue Bell. Aaargh!!!!! They were flying back out to the outer estuary having been roosting at the ponds.

I hurriedly assembled my gear and started off along Beacon Lane. Some birders were coming back from the ponds and suggested it had flown off earlier but might have returned. I rushed on. The next birder I bumped into was looking for a Common Rosefinch and repeated the story. As we chatted Sandwich Terns were flying past. I raised my bins, and continuing my lucky streak, the first bird I binned was it!!! All within six minutes of arrival...... !

I fluked a very good fly past view in excellent evening sunlight. It was about 30m or 40m up and initially at least 100m away. I suppose it was in view for a minute or so, initially directly alongside us, but then quickly disappearing towards the Point.

Unfortunately, (particularly as a 05:00 rise was called for) it was not connected with the following morning, so reverting to its previous frustrating behaviour.

So, any description relates to flight views only. It superficially resembled a Sandwich Tern (and sounded like one!) apart from the yolk yellow bill. The black cap looked similar in extent as well. As it disappeared away from us a whiter panel in the inner upper-wing was apparent.

I caught up with ‘Elsie’ (L. C., geddit?) again on Inner Farne the following summer (and with a hybrid offspring!) at Musselburgh at the time of the Western Sandpiper in August 1997.

Lesser Crested Tern, Beacon Ponds, Spurn, East Yorkshire, June 1993 (photograph credited to unknown).

Ross’s Goose – Cockerham Marsh, Cockerham, Lancashire, 10^th March 2003

During the years either side of the millennium life got very hectic. Albeit it briefly, the oil and gas pipeline phase of my career took me to Lima and Peru in 1998, to San Francisco in California in the United States of America (although the project itself was in the Caspian region of Central Asia) in 2000 and Ankara and Turkey in 2001. There were some projects in-between times closer to home, which was perhaps just as well, as I had got married in July 1997 and my first daughter arrived in October 1998, followed by the second (and last!) in May 2000.

By this time, or certainly once I had a young family, it was evident that I needed to re-invent myself to enable me to work closer to, or indeed, at, home.

Something had to give, and indeed, it did. But that’s another story.

Working away, being married, and becoming a father, didn’t leave much time for much else, and birding stagnated, to a large extent.

Thus, in 1996 I had 14 new birds for my British list, and the following year I had 7. However, in 1998 I had none, and only managed 4, 3, 1 and 4 in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 respectively.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have had it any other way, and whether or not I was constrained by family life, I still saw some very good birds including Royal Tern and Short-billed Dowitcher in 1999, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and Long-tailed Shrike in 2000 and Snowy Egret in 2001. Two of the latter three where seen with Ellen, my eldest child along with me.

However, often I had to make do with what was readily available. Thus, when, Gillian, my ex- and our daughters were travelling back from East Lancashire to South Queensferry on Monday the 10th of March 2004, for example, I somehow managed to convince Gillian that a diversion via Cockerham in North Lancashire was a good idea.

There had been a Ross’s Goose in the area for a good while (since the 4th February it would seem). So, even though Ross’s Goose wasn’t a tickable ‘thing’ at the time, the availability of one at Pilling Marsh seemed to me (at least) a suitable investment, as it was a potential armchair tick.

I / we duly saw it, but, given its status at the time, my notes are limited to the very basic facts (date, place, species present..... ). No detailed description was considered necessary, clearly.

So, I’ll not dream up a description of any sort here, other than for the fact that I saw a Ross’s Goose which clearly wasn’t a (Greater or Lesser) Snow Goose. This reminds me of birding in the Central Valley of California when I worked in San Francisco with a birder I had met there. He and I arrived somewhere where there was a huge flock of apparent Snow Geese in front of us, and started going through it, trying to pick out any Ross’s Geese. Very quickly this proved all too easy, and it slowly dawned on us that we were looking at a huge flock of Ross’s Geese and should instead be trying to pick out any Snow Geese……!

Just over a year I after the Pilling Marsh bird I saw another at Vane Farm in April 2004 in the company of Stuart Green ………

Moving swiftly on, when, finally, many years later, on the 29th November 2021, the British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee announced that it considered there were proven records of Ross’s Goose as a species occurring naturally in its’ own right (rather than just fence-hopping) the Cockerham bird proved to be my first such record.

Specifically, it was accepted as follows:

2003 Lancashire & North Merseyside Eagland Hill, Pilling and Thurnham, 3CY+, 4th February to 17th March; presumed same as 2002 Norfolk.

(C. Holt, P. French and the Rarities Committee, British Birds 112: 622; L. Bacon, P. French and the Rarities Committee, British Birds 117: 671-672).

Ross’s Goose (same bird) at Moss Edge, Cockerham, Lancashire, 23rd February 2003 (photograph credited to Paul Ellis).

Cackling Goose – near Cleish, Perth and Kinross, 10^th April 1994

During the autumn 1993 to autumn 1996 period, I was working on the Scotland to Northern Ireland Pipeline Project in Dumfries and Galloway (with visits to County Antrim) and commuting home to South Queensferry most weekends.

During winter, a quick jaunt across the Forth Road Bridge to Vane Farm was an occasional weekend trip for some birding – not too far, but with the chance of some good birding. In doing so there was the chance of some wildfowl interest..... .

On Sunday the 10th April 1994, for example, there as a Snow Goose close by near Cleish. There was also a ‘small race’ Canada Goose there.

When, finally, in 2016, British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee opted to accept records of Lesser Canada / Cackling Goose as a species in its’ own right (Branta hutchinsi) this proved to be my first such record.

As ever, in such instances, my notes are limited to the very basic facts (date, place, species present..... ). No detailed description was considered necessary, clearly.

So, I’ll not dream up a description of any sort here, other than for the fact that I saw a Canada Goose which clearly wasn’t a (Greater) Canada Goose.

I later saw a Todd’s Canada Goose at Cornabus on Islay in early April 2018. This was distinctively smaller and darker than Greater Canada Goose. Oh, and what was deemed to be a 'hybrid' small race Canada Goose on south Mainland Shetland in October 2015 soon after seeing a Lesser White-fronted Goose from the Swedish reintroduction programme, but now we are plumbing the depths of dubious wildfowl, so I'll stop right there.

Unfortunately, at this remove there is little searchable material on the Cleish bird, and, indeed, it doesn't appear in the list of records accepted by BBRC. As such, illustrating the same, either with one of my dodgy pictures or an image of it, or something very similar, is fraught, as I cannot be sure just what race it was. Still, that make for one less drawing.... .