Sora – Attenborough Nature Reserve, Attenborough, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 22^nd December 2004

Sora sketch attempting and failing to convey just how dark it was in the depths of mid-winter.

Another! What an autumn / early winter. This one (which was perhaps long overdue) first offered itself up at mid-afternoon on Sunday the 12th December when the mega-alert went off on the pager, and so I very slowly commenced my plotting soon afterwards. This certainly reflected how complicated life had become! The detail provided here is given to illustrate this new complexity.

Whatever, my response was indeed positively tardy. Perhaps I was still basking in the glory of the flourish of late autumn 2004, or perhaps I was just too busy. More likely I knew that a scheme would emerge if I held my nerve, given the proximity of the where the bird was at Attenborough Nature Reserve just outside Nottingham, to Nottingham East Midlands Airport, and the probability of me making visits to see my then partner, and love of my life, Elizabeth near Coventry, or Dad in Chesterfield, or both. Christmas loomed and it was eventually decided that I would be in Edinburgh rather than anywhere more adjacent down south. After Christmas / New Year, a compensatory visit to see my Mum in Burnley was touted, and crystallised when Burnley were drawn against Liverpool in the FA Cup to be played at home on Friday the 4th January. Perhaps this offered the chance to make a weekend of it and incorporate a trip to both Chesterfield and Nottingham? But would it still be around by this time?

However, as suggested, slowly the proximity of Nottingham East Midlands Airport (which was my destination airport number two for my trips south to see Elizabeth) to the location had dawned on me, and so I developed my scheme. This involved flying south to Nottingham East Midlands, getting Elizabeth to meet me there and then taking her to see the bird. In the event, it didn’t quite work like that as she wasn’t able to get away until after my arrival but all the same it was a good plan, and one that worked, of sorts!

Elizabeth and I had a weekend in the Lake District the weekend of the Saturday the 18th/ Sunday the 19th December, but this was not close enough to even begin thinking of making it a combined mission.

However, I tentatively floated the idea of us having a brief rendezvous the following week if I could get suitable, affordable flights. I researched various options on my return home on the evening of the 19th December onwards but it wasn’t until the evening of Tuesday the 21st December that I committed myself to a return flight to Nottingham East Midlands Airport the following day. I liaised with Elizabeth in the process to ensure this ‘fitted’ with her. So, I was flying from Edinburgh Airport to Nottingham East Midlands Airport and back on Wednesday the 22nd December. My outbound was at 08:30 and the inbound one was at 17:20.

The flight was cheap enough at £86.78, and as Elizabeth wasn’t able to get to Nottingham East Midlands until later I also investigated airport taxis. However, as I resented paying over the odds for an airport taxi, I left this to chance.

So, some ten days after it was first reported, I had finally resolved a scheme which enable me not only to catch up with this goodie, but also to have time with Elizabeth and complete my Christmas shopping, all in the space of a few short hours involving a flying visit to Nottingham East Midlands.

Having booked, I ‘phoned Dad, initially about something else, but in doing so quickly realised that Dad was flying also from Nottingham East Midlands Airport to Edinburgh Airport on the 22nd December! I had booked my flights and then inadvertently entered the pertinent flight details into my electronic ‘schedule’ document on the 23rd December, and as such hadn’t noticed the clash...... . As it happened, this didn’t really matter (although I could have perhaps booked my return flight for the same flight as Dad was on) but I did have to hastily rearrange my cleaning and sorting activities so the flat was ready for Dad’s visit...... . As suggested, life was very complicated at this time.

The journey the next day went well enough, excepting the change in 24-hour parking arrangements at Edinburgh Airport; the flight was just the same as....... . I quickly organised a taxi and enjoyed a good chat with the taxi driver on the way from the airport to Barton Lane in Attenborough, Nottingham adjacent to Attenborough Nature Reserve. Unfortunately though, I had no contact with Elizabeth until after I had arrived.

Once I had arrived and settled the fare with taxi-driver and then clambered out of the taxi and walked quickly from where I was dropped off on Barton Lane to the location involved, Clifton Pit. Here, I quickly and easily saw the bird which showed well intermittently at reasonably close ranges. Unfortunately, I had trouble with my ‘scope, but all the same.

Meanwhile, I had re-established contact with Elizabeth and ‘talked her in’ as she journeyed north on the M1. Once she arrived I went to find her and she then duly saw it as well. Once again, the greater Nottingham area had provided a very good bird, following the Bufflehead, the Cedar Waxwing and the Redhead.

Afterwards, we searched godforsaken retail parks for good forsaken Toy R Us outlets, etc., so she could continue yet more Christmas shopping for the CYDS. But, even though I didn’t really engage with this process although I still had my Christmas shopping to do, I didn’t really care as I’d just seen Sora, apparently the 13th for Britain.

Again, although I had previously seen Sora in Texas in April 1992, I actually looked at this one.

It was a medium-small rather plump rail.

The upper-parts, crown, nape and rear of neck were an olive-brown. The mantle had several rows of black ‘chevrons’ fringed and bordered with a silvery-white which created a ‘tram-line’ effect down the back. The fringes of the tertials were also silvery-white and showed no signs of any ‘wavy bars’.

The face (in front of the eye and around the base of the bill), and the chin and throat were black (indicative of the bird being an adult). The crown had no streaking.

The under-parts were mainly grey. The face behind the eye and the supercilium were grey, with the exception of a small patch of olive-brown on the ear coverts and a tiny, white triangular area behind the eye. The neck and upper breast were also grey with no markings. The flanks and belly were a lighter grey and there was an intricate pattern of black and white lines on the flanks.

The under-tail coverts were white with a yellowish-buff central patch.

It had a triangular shaped bill which was yellow-green and had no visible signs of any red or orange coloration on the bill base. The legs were greenish-yellow and it had with long toes.

It appeared nervous, and scuttled into cover, before re-emerging and methodically walking the water’s edge, constantly flicked its tail, in typical crake fashion.

Spot the crake! Er, a habitat shot, indicating, if nothing else, it was not the best of light conditions given it was in the depths of mid-winter.

Sora, Attenborough Nature Reserve, Attenborough, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, December 2004 (photograph credited to Geoffrey Alan Clewes).

 Squacco Heron – Elmley RSPB Reserve, Elmley, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, 12^th May 1990

On Saturday the 12th May 1990 Pete Ewer and I made our leisurely way to Sheppey, and Elmley RSPB Reserve. We were indeed taking the casual option. The bird had been there since the previous Monday; conversely, we went on the very first available weekend date.

Once there, we enjoyed(?) a two mile yomp (plus a minor diversion) to an accompaniment of Marsh Frogs, to where the bird was. This was a large fleet with fringing emergent vegetation, amidst which the bird was initially hidden. Gradually it came more and more out into view and made its way towards us.

Its feeding action was reminiscent of the Little Bittern at Oreham Common, whilst the bird was in some ways like a cross between Little Egret and Little Bittern. It had a very stocky shape – again recalling Little Bittern, although it was somewhat larger than the latter. It had orangey-buff plumage overall. There were long aigrettes on the nape which looked black and white. There was some streaking on the crown. Its legs were ‘chunky’ and yellow, and the bill was long and sharply pointed with a dark tip and yellow grey base.

15 years later, on Saturday the 21st May 2005 Stuart Green, Torcuil Grant, Richard Bramhall and I completed a very successful 24 hour bird race in Angus, amassing the highest one day list for Angus ever. Our gradual recovery the next day was interrupted by the news of a Squacco Heron at Kilconquhar Loch in Fife, which Stuart and I duly saw.

Squacco Heron, Elmley RSPB Reserve, Elmley, Kent, May 1991 (photograph credited to Peter Ewer).

Wilson’s Storm-petrel – Western Approaches, 15^th August 1993

As suggested in the account for Great and Cory’s Shearwaters, approaching fishing boats, checking out the accompanying flock of birds, chumming as necessary, and then circling, before moving off to find more fishing boasts had proved very successful during the Scillonian pelagic on the 15th August 1993. But would we get the real target species??

As we approached each new group of fishing boats, we had had very productive results and there appeared to be more and more European Storm-petrels each time. But despite what were good numbers all told (and, I suppose, very good viewing conditions, or at least ones which were less fleeting and flitting than they might have been) there was no sign of our much-anticipated Wilson’s Storm-petrel.

There were though, several panics, myself included, over several ‘might be’ instances....... .

Birds were flitting around the boats and around the Scillonian itself, until eventually, magically, one closed in right alongside. As I binned it, and realisation slowly dawned, Paul yelled, “Wilson’s!!!!”. This meant I had a good view as it drifted past, only then to be lost as quickly as it was found. It was however, more than obliging as we manoeuvred, as on at least one further occasion it passed alongside the wake of the circling Scillonian and even went in for a bit of foot pattering.

In all, this is perhaps a very confused account, as it was written several weeks later, and the movements of the Scillonian (and of the birds around the Scillonian) disorientated me in the extreme, and the whole day exhausted me.

However, good views were obtained on at least two occasions. On both of these a comparison with the numerous European Storm-petrels was very instructive. For me the most obvious (immediate) difference was the flight pattern – the broader, straighter wings were held straight out. The bird used long glides interspersed with flickering wing-beats, very much like a Swallow. Also, it had a clear pale band across the secondary coverts like a Leach’s Storm-petrel; a ‘mucky’ brown area which was very striking. Finally, the foot pattering with raised wings and feet dipped / dangled into the sea was very characteristic, and excitingly diagnostic.

Wilson's Storm-petrel, Scilly, late-July 2017. I wasn't able to easily source an image of the bird seen from the Scillonian pelagic in August 1993, so this superb image taken by Joe Pender during one of his Sapphire Pelagics will have to do! 😆 Rare bird photography has come a long way with the advent of better and better digital cameras! I did a Sapphire Pelagic in July 2016, but this was too early for Wilson's Storm-petrels, and conversely, when I saw the Red-footed Booby (plus a fantastic feeding frenzy) from the Sapphire in October 2023 it was too late for Wilson's Storm-petrel. By then though, I'd seen loads in the Southern Oceans and indeed over land in South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula, plus I'd probably seen the potential splits off Chile, etc., but that's a whole other story. Fantastic birds! (photograph credited to Joe Pender).