Tengmalm’s Owl – Lea Gardens, Tresta, Mainland Shetland, Shetland, 26^th February 2019

At 10:25 on Tuesday 19th February (soon after I had arrived at the ERM offices in Edinburgh at the start of a pre-arranged day working in what at the time was my ‘home’ office) I received what once of a day would have been a mega-alert message on RBA telling me that there was a Tengmalm’s Owl in a garden on Tumblin Road, near Bixter on Mainland Shetland.

This, coming some months after the ‘so close but so far’ episode when the news of a Tengmalm’s Owl (photographed well on a toilet seat in what appeared to be an outhouse......) in Orkney immediately before I had travelled to Mainland Orkney as part of the northern leg of my ‘(Stalking) Scotland’s Bean Geese’ 'lecture tour' in early November 2018, was all too much. 

Obviously, the whole ‘Tengmalm’s Owl in Orkney whilst I was there’ thing had come to nothing, as despite being supremely well-placed both geographically and socially when there, further news was not forthcoming due to the sensitivities of the site involved (Eday being an offshore island with pupping grey seals at that time of year).

Not that I could do much about it the day when ‘new’ news first broke; I was working in the ERM offices all day, and I was once again giving my ‘(Stalking) Scotland’s Bean Geese’ talk for the Scottish Committee of CIEEM in the AECOM offices in Edinburgh that night.

So, when there was no news on Wednesday the 20th February, I was quietly relieved, as I seemingly I had dipped without even setting off..... .

However, the following morning (i.e., on Thursday 21st February), from 06:59 onwards, it was again being (frequently!) reported as being in the same place. As a result, at 12:50 Ken Shaw ‘phoned and we quickly discussed our options.

As luck would have it, both of us had ‘inescapable’ plans for the weekend, so it was agreed that we should continue to monitor developments and ensure we kept in touch, and further, that we should make sure that we could extricate ourselves from any ‘commitments’ early the following week, should the news from Shetland necessitate this.

Once again though, the bird was not located on Friday the 22nd February. D’oh!

That evening I travelled to Barrowford. Once there, I went out with Gary and some of his old schoolmates and much beer was consumed. Conveniently, given I was meant to be monitoring RBA and keeping in touch with Ken, I failed to pack my ‘phone charger, but this was rectified by an early morning purchase from Sainsbury’s in Colne on Saturday the 23rd February. As the bird had seemingly gone again, I was reasonably relaxed..... .

However, meanwhile, that morning Ken had ‘phoned me and left a voicemail, as the Tengmalm’s Owl was again being reported; we were moving to a ‘primed for action’ status, and subsequently exchanged a series of messages using Messenger, mulling over our travel options.

The rest of Saturday proved to be one of those fantastic days. Gary and I travelled into Burnley, rendezvoused with his brother Peter, and then witnessed Burnley beating Tottenham Hotspur 2.1 in what was a mightily impressive performance; all very gratifying and reaffirming. Afterwards Gary and I exalted in the pleasure of what we had just witnessed by going to Worsthorne and buying some late lunch which we had in the village square (it was a 12:30 kick-off). We later went back to Barrowford and chilled out following the later kick-offs, and waited for the arrival of Chris (and Steve!) for our night out to ‘see me off’ before my epic trip to New Zealand.

This proved to be the usual format; out in Colne where again much beer was consumed, as well as a curry. Gary and I were still buzzing as Burnley’s win had just been so good. As news of the Tengmalm’s Owl continued throughout the day, during the course of the evening I speculated to Gary, Chris and Steve that I was potentially on for an incredible few days involving two major highs if I connected with the Tengmalm’s Owl. Not that they, as mere non-birders, would get this.

There was a way to go to achieve this but.... . I certainly made sure that any tentative plans for staying in the north-west of England any longer than necessary were scrapped.

As such, at 10:00 on Sunday 24th February as I was preparing to leave Barrowford, I was ‘phoned by Ken and we updated our provisional plans .... . On arrival home at 16:44 I sent Ken a message using Messenger confirming I was back in Edinburgh and suggesting I was hoping for good news from Shetland around about dusk. However, nothing happened and so we stepped down from our previous ‘primed for action’ status. Typically, in contrast to Saturday, when there eleven messages all involving positive news updates, on Sunday there were only three messages all involving negative news ...... .

So, as there was still no news by 11:00 on Monday the 25th February I sent Ken a message saying, “Hiya Ken. At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious I guess we are just standing down all together in the vague hope of any positive news whenever? Cheers”.

Ken responded, “Yep, think that is where we are at”.

Predictably though, at 13:45 there was a message on RBA saying “‘Shetland TENGMALM’S OWL Mainland at Tresta at Lea Gardens at 1.44pm”.

At 14:04, I sent Ken a message saying, “It’s there (or nearby) again@!!!” and I also ‘phoned him, and in the process spoiled his walk with Amanda. Obviously, we weren’t going anywhere that day, but we quickly stepped up our provisional plans to actual ones. Ken hurried back home to collect his already packed bag and then get the bus from Anstruther to Edinburgh, and I researched and booked flights from Edinburgh to Sumburgh for the following morning. During the process the cookies and sudden surge in demand cost us both about £50 each; the flights went up from around £200 to £250!

Anyway, it might have been fraught but I successfully achieved the necessary. I also e-mailed and then ‘phoned Bolts to arrange a hire car for an indeterminate hire duration, but collecting from Sumburgh and returning in Lerwick..... . Key to our strategy was having an open-ended stay in Shetland in case the bird continued to cooperate one day and not cooperate the following day.... . During the frantic process of sorting out the travel logistics, I ‘phoned Ken or he ‘phoned me to clarify certain matters.

However, everything fell into place reasonably well under the circumstances.... . By 15:21 Ken had sent me a message saying he was, “On bus. K”.

We continued to exchange messages. These included plans for a meal that night (we opted for a takeaway Indian from St John’s Curry Club rather than going to the now sadly closed Cramond Inn).

Meanwhile, we also started receiving WhatsApp messages from our correspondent in the field, one John Nadin. These included great images which were very pleasing to see as they showed the happy scenes immediately after the bird had been re-discovered by Mike McKee at Lea Gardens, Tresta, during a very impressive effort involving him and Jonny Mac, and others. They were also very worrying, as they showed the assembled birders incredibly close and we worried about the bird being flushed.... .

Anyway, Ken duly arrived in the early evening, and we ordered, received and consumed our Indian meal, booked a taxi to Edinburgh Airport for 08:10 the following morning and chatted, quaffed wine and tried to relax.

After what passed as sleep, we were both up early, and having dressed and packed, we nervously waited outside with our bags for the taxi. This duly arrived at 08:05. With just a slight problem with my printed e-ticket when it was scanned at the priority gate, necessitating me to go back to the check-in desk and get a boarding pass printed off, we checked in, checked in my hold baggage (I was taking a big bag to cover all eventualities!), proceeded through the priority gate (a ‘benefit’ of the sudden surge in demand!), cleared security and waited for our flight to leave.

Initially there was no news as we waited, but then there was – fantastically – positive news at 08:58, by which time we were having some breakfast in the Wetherspoon’s at the airport. Knowing it was still there before we left was a real boon.

The flight departed more or less on schedule, and things continued to go ‘to plan’. We arrived at Sumburgh around about 11:30, disembarked, collected my big bag, etc., without any real problems, although there was no one from Bolt’s to collect us, so I ‘phoned up, but on leaving the terminal building we found the Bolt’s mini-bus and were transported to the Bolt’s offices. Here we quickly collected the car and were off. We mused how there was mist around, and how this could have affected our flight, and also thwarted attempts to locate the bird .... .

There was a frustrating wait at the barriers on the A970 as flights arrived and departed but eventually we were on the way to Tresta. We were part of a mini-convoy as one or two other crews of birders were on the same flight, and given some uncertainties about the route beyond Lerwick / Tingwall, I tried very hard (with some difficulty!) to keep them in sight as they raced ahead of us.

Otherwise, the journey went very well, and we were quickly in Tresta.

We easily parked alongside the road, assembled our gear and walked back along the road and through the gate into Lea Gardens. These were an area of landscaped and planted grounds, comprising mixed plantations throughout which there were clearings. We had seen them on our approach, and both probably worried about just have extensive they were. We and the other crews appeared to be the only people on site, so where should we start?

Thankfully, as we walked up the main track we saw a small group of birders assembled in a clearing on the right, and it was immediately apparent that they were on the bird (for instance, the bird artist, Richard Threwlis, was sat on a stool painting it!). Only about six or eight birders were already there, so there were only about twelve or 14 of us there in total. I quickly assembled my telescope and gratefully accepted the directions we were given to the bird which was roosting in a spruce tree within 20 metres of us.

It was partially obscured, both by intervening small birches, but also by the branches of the spruce amongst which it was roosting, meaning that views were not the best, and that if you moved it was difficult to get back onto.

Subsequent images of and tales about cracking views were a tad galling, but all the same, it was absolutely cracking. I had achieved the unimaginable; I had seen Tengmalm’s Owl in the UK, 38 years after the Spurn debacle, and a few months after the ‘almost but not quite’ Orkney coincidence, and an incredible seven days after its appearance in Shetland.

Wow! And as such, I had experienced a high better than seeing Burnley perform so well when beating Tottenham Hotspur 2.1 the previous Saturday. What a week!!!

As I tweeted, the whole experience was a brilliant one, a "chilled twitch in balmy Shetland". The setting was lovely (and just slightly reminiscent of that in rural Norway where Simon Rix and I saw my previous Tengmalm’s Owl). The bird being constantly on show certainly helped, but the number of birders on site (and who they were) also contributed to the whole feel.

Ken and I caught up with ‘the Coops’ Dave Cooper and Brenda Kay, and also with Jonny Mac, Mike McKee and Malkie Smith.

It was incredibly spring like too (for the 26th February in Shetland!!!); the crocuses, but, in particular, the huge number of spawning frogs in and around the nearby pond really emphasised this.

But most of all, the bird ..... .

It was a small-medium sized owl, which appeared relatively small-bodied / big-headed. Its plumage was a complex pattern of mid-brown and white markings. The facial disc was a heart shaped white area surrounded by a dark edge with some white flecks, with a patch of dark feathering around and below the bill, and a pale ‘W’ above the bill. The irises of the eyes were a brilliant yellow with large black pupils, highlighted by a black ring of ‘mascara’ and a smudge of dark ‘eye-shadow’. There was the hint of a face pattern on the rear of the head. I was particularly taken by the shade of mid-brown that dominated the plumage; a subtle ever so slightly purply milk chocolate brown. What a bird.

Having had our fill, Ken and I left for Lerwick where we booked a cabin on the Aberdeen ferry sailing that evening, enjoyed a late lunch at the excellent Freya cafe bar (and Purple Sandpiper and Black Guillemot nearby) and then went to Shetland Catch where we saw both Iceland Gull and Glaucous Gull, as well as Long-tailed Duck and a Woodcock nearby.

We arranged with Bolt’s to leave the hire car at the ferry terminal, and boarded the ferry early and abandoned our bags in our cabin, which, thankfully, we had to ourselves.

Unfortunately, Burnley couldn’t produce a similar performance against Newcastle United, but incredibly I was able to watch the entire game live on BT Sport during the early part of the sailing.

We enjoyed the company of Steve Williams and Gary Bellingham, et al., before we retired to our cabin for the rest of the crossing.

Once in Aberdeen we finally disembarked and walked to the railway station, where I, and then Ken (he missed his bus) boarded the 07:52 inter-city train south. Ken travelled to Leuchars, and I travelled to Inverkeithing, where I changed for Dalmeny. Once there, I walked to the bus stop and caught a bus to Barnton.

So I arrived home before 11:00 on Wednesday 27th February, less than 27 hours after we had left my flat. In between times I had travelled to Shetland and back, and in doing so, successfully twitched that most mythical of birds, Tengmalm’s Owl. This had involved a taxi, airplane, and hire car outgoing, and hire car, ferry, train, train and bus incoming, and had cost as much as any previous twitch (£252 for the flight, £52.80/2 for the hire car, c.£50 for the ferry, including the cabin, c.£30 for the train ticket, not to mention the taxi and bus fares, meals, drinks, etc.).

But to have Tengmalm’s Owl on my list?

Priceless!!

Tengmalm’s Owl, Tresta, Mainland Shetland, February 2019 (photograph credited to David Cooper).

American Pipit – Borough Farm, Tresco, Isles of Scilly, 13^th October 1996

This account relates to what is now known as American Pipit, but what, at the time was known as Buff-bellied Pipit, and as such, I have retained the former name in the following description.

When the bird involved (or was it another?) turned up on St. Agnes on 30th September 1996 I couldn’t quite allow myself to believe that it would stay around until Gillian (my-ex) and I got to the Scillies, which wasn’t going to be until Saturday the 12th October. All the same, I checked the record books out and monitored it presence (or absence) day by day. In the event, it was there on the day of our arrival in the Scillies, although it was too late for a trip to Tresco, where it now was.

However, we anticipated that it would still be there the following day, when indeed we were able to get ‘abroad’. Not in the most promising circumstances though, as there were very heavy showers and high winds as we reached the quay in Hugh Town. This necessitated struggling into our waterproofs, which considerably slowed progress as we yomped from Carn Near to Borough Farm. However, as we made our way there, the pager announced that the object of our quest was indeed still there. Good news!

On arrival, we found some 40 or so birders overlooking the Lower Fields, where the bird was supposedly on view two or three fields away. Despite this, I couldn’t get on it as the directions were poor as usual, and as I couldn’t find anywhere to set up my ‘scope. However, eventually I was able to get on it, partly with the assistance of Gilly’s directions, although it was very distant. Once we had achieved this between us, we had brief views, very brief in my case, as Gilly commandeered the ‘scope.

It did though suddenly move into a nearer field, where, however, it remained out of sight. Frustration! However, I, and a very few others, then saw a pipit fly from this vicinity up the field towards the track where we were watching from, more formally, Borough Road. I quickly moved further along the track to a gateway into the field involved to get views and found that it was indeed ‘it’ and it was just a few metres away.

I called Gilly over and got her, and then others, on to it, although with difficulty, as they initially at least, they were looking too far away. It got closer and closer, (coming within camera range even for me, or at least, just about), until eventually it was less than 5 m away.

This allowed very close views of its plumage detail, etc., especially in the ‘scope. It was distinctly distinct. It was slightly larger than Meadow Pipit, but was otherwise similar in shape. The upperparts were grey-brown and very faintly lined with dark, and the underparts were buff-white, with dark, heavy, but slightly blurry streaks, particularly on the upper breast, fading towards the undertail coverts. The remiges and coverts were edged with off-white.

The head pattern was distinctive. The grey brown cap was separated from the indistinct broken eye-stripe by a broad creamy-buff supercilium, which was broader behind the eye than in front, where it was broken. The face was grey-brown and relatively plain and unmarked, although the ear-coverts were faintly mottled with creamy-buff and darker patches and an incomplete darker moustachial stripe. The lores area was similar, with no real eye-stripe, although at times there appeared to be an eye-stripe depending on the angle of the head. There was a whitish broad square-ended moustachial stripe, which was separated from an off-white unmarked throat by a large dark malar ‘triangle’. The eye-ring was unfortunately not noted at the time. The bill was dark although the proximal half was yellowish-orange. The leg colour was not really noted.

Having given very good views it suddenly flew off. It called a distinctive “tsip-it” as it flew off and Gilly was able to see the off-white outer tail feathers.

This was all pre-split, etc.. However, at the time I noted that the views involved were very interesting in relation to the japonicus bird seen at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt. The bird that was eventually pinned down there had richer brown upperparts and heavier, darker and neater streaks on the underparts. The call of birds heard in Egypt was apparently just like that of Meadow Pipit, although apparently this bird also had a call like this.

30 years later, I saw another American Pipit in Saltcoats, Ayrshire for my Scottish list. This was a superb find by Jason McManus, and although it moved around from the area around the intersection of the promenade and rock armour sea defences to adjacent grassy trackside areas, I enjoyed great views, all the more so as it was seen in the company of both Rock Pipits and a Meadow Pipit. The twitch (several days into its stay) was notable because for the first time in my experience, toggers outnumbered birders.

American Pipit, Tresco, Scillies, October  1996 (photograph credited to unknown).

American Pipit, Saltcoats, Ayrshire, September 2026 (photograph credited to Dave Grant).

Short-billed Dowitcher – Rosehearty, Aberdeenshire, 14^th September 1999

Something a bit different, as it's all about the tertials!!!!

Having spent the early part of the autumn working on a low-key basis, hoping that having time on my hands at this time of year would pay off, what with my new found enthusiasm for birding since the Royal Tern, it did, in a big way.

I was, though, beginning to worry about where my next work might be coming from and so after a day of printing off curricula vitae and letters, and other such administration, I went into South Queensferry to go to the post office at around about 16:00. Whilst in the queue, the mega-alert went off to alert me to the presence of a reported Short-billed Dowitcher at Rosehearty, in Aberdeenshire. I think it was described as a possible at first; certainly, there was an element of doubt, and so there was no really a sudden buzz of anticipation. However, once I had completed my chores in Scotmid, and travelled home I decided that I really had to go for it. This decision was made easier by the quickly changing emphasis of the messages, as what was possible very quickly became definite. Once home, I spent just less than an hour negotiating with Gillian, packing and ‘phoning other birders including Graham Clark, Calum Scott, Ken Shaw, Alistair Henderson, and Stuart Rivers re car-sharing. As I had to be back at 17:00 the following evening to look after Ellen, I was keen to go that night whereas most others I spoke to were more inclined to bide their time.

After doing this I was off at 17:00 for what was a fairly leisurely drive north, with a pit-stop at Dundee. However, the further I got the faster I went as it became more and more obvious that I could make it before dark, and seeing the bird that night would be a particularly good move, especially if it then disappeared. So, I drove faster beyond Aberdeen as it was still twilight and there was a lingering chance of seeing it – even seeing in the gloaming would be better than not seeing it at all. Speedily, skilfully and safely I thrashed on, taking back lanes to Rosehearty. Once there I had to work out where the bird might be and unfortunately, I drove east along the coast road to the next village, Sandhaven, without seeing any other birders or their cars. I returned to Rosehearty and abandoned the car in the forecourt of a garage, and ran down onto the beach, where some locals were walking their dogs on the beach. I asked them if they had seen any other birders and they told me that they had, further along, and that they had been parked alongside the road. I was obviously just too late, it was now very poor light but I went through the motions of going along the beach to the said point to no avail, conscious that it was out there somewhere, and that waders were being flushed as I walked along the beach. Was it with them?

I returned to the car and walked into the square looking for somewhere to stay for the night. Within 50 m of the abandoned car was the Bay Hotel, which, it appeared, did rooms. So, I went into the bar and was then shown up stairs to a perfectly adequate, if a little desolate, room. I reported in and then wandered back across the square to the chip-shop around the corner, which proved to be very entertaining – the youth of today! I had a good chat with the chip-shop owners about the bird and birding, and this proved to be the theme of the rest of the evening as, after eating my chips, I returned to the bar. Here the regulars were watching, ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’, and after we had watched this, I continued to chat about the reason for me being in Rosehearty. They were genuinely interested in the Short-billed Dowitcher and so it was four pints later before I went up to my room to do my revision! I hastily scribbled some notes from Lewington, Alstrom and Colston on some of the chip wrappings I had carefully saved and then went to bed.

Whether it was the beer or the anticipation I didn’t sleep at all well. I was aware that it was a still, starlit night as I got up several times in the night to see whether it was getting light. I finally gave up at 05:00 and got up, showered, dressed and packed. I was ready to go when I got the pre-arranged knock on the door at 06:00 and quickly rushed downstairs for a full cooked breakfast. It was now light, so I gobbled this down and then checked out with almost indecent haste, before going out to the car and loading up my gear. I walked along the road out of Rosehearty and was somewhat surprised to see some 200 – 300 birders already assembled, an army that had arrived silently during the night. It seemed that I was the only one who had parked in the village, and probably I was the only one who had travelled some way and not slept in the car. However, I didn’t feel much better than some of them looked, despite my somewhat better accommodation arrangements!

Anyway, I joined the gallery on the crest of the fringe of sand-dunes overlooking the sandy and then rocky shore and set up my ‘scope. I wanted to find the bird without having to get directions which I did with ease as it searched for food amongst the pools and seaweed covered rocks about 50 m away from the dunes. It remained on show at similar ranges throughout my stay, although it ranged backwards and forwards along the beach and was flushed a couple of times by walkers and dog-walkers.

As such, the views were good, particularly once the sun was up as it was another bright, still day. As the sunlight improved it allowed gradually improving views of some of the pertinent features of this birds’ identity.

As the bird ranged along the beach so did the gallery, becoming a ‘rolling twitch’ as people moved from one position to the next trying to get better views. Once satisfactory views had been obtained birders began to concentrate on their socialisings and began to drift off for the long journey home. A few others continued to arrive.

I too adopted this approach, ticking off in particular Bernie Beck, Chris McGuigan, Stuart Rivers and many of the usual suspects including, some who looked somewhat happier than when I last saw them the day after the day before at the Royal Tern.

Anyway, back to the bird.

Having ‘prepared’, the previous night I was partially clued up in terms of knowing what I was looking for. The bird was an obvious dowitcher, being about Redshank size, with a strong looking long bill, which was straight, broad-based and blob-tipped, and medium-long legs. The plumage was superficially similar to that of the bird Gillian and I had seen at Leighton Moss two autumns earlier, with dark brown spangled upperparts and light buff-brown underparts and a striking capped appearance emphasised by the pale face and supercilium.

However, gradually as the views improved it was able to get more familiar with the detailed intricacies of the plumage of a juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher. The coverts, scapulars and tertials were all basically brown centred and buff-orange fringed, denoting a juvenile bird, but more significantly the bird was beginning to moult into winter plumage, as evidenced by the first grey scapulars coming though and also several missing tertials on the birds’ right hand side. This feature was very handy indeed as it revealed two things.

One, it exposed the entire underlying tertial to scrutiny, and it could be seen to be an intricately patterned feather with a dark brown centre and orangey fringe with a jagged edged pattern on the outer web – the tiger striped tertials. Never before have I drawn just one feather rather than the entire bird in my notebook! Two, it also exposed the tail / rump pattern, which admittedly, I was not aware was diagnostic at the time but which I do remember to be a finely barred pattern of dark brown lines on an off-white base, more or less equally spaced and extending both up the rump and onto the undertail coverts.

Otherwise, the bird was very similar to the Leighton Moss Long-billed Dowitcher, although the cap and supercilium appeared more distinct, with an irregular line to the cap above the eye and the upper breast, etc.; it might have been more flushed buff-orange.

I saw the bird in flight a couple of times and observed that it had an un-patterned wing apart from the pale trailing edge to the wing, and also it had a pale area extending up the lower back from the rump.

Generally, though, it worked backwards and forwards along the beach rock pools and as such was in some ways reminiscent on the Gray-tailed Tattler further along the coast at Burghead.

I watched the bird for some 2.5 hours before departing and thoroughly enjoyed being on a twitch again. This hobby is not that bad after all!

Scenes!

Short-billed Dowitcher, Rosehearty, Aberdeenshire, September 1999 (credited to Steve Young).

Northern Waterthrush – Heybridge, Maldon, Essex, 18^th January 2024

After the incredibly amazing, but immensely frustrating (I was in the wrong places at the wrong times and hence unable to get to the right places at the right times), super-flurry of North American wood warblers during autumn 2023, I had predicted that there would be one last bonus late in the year when North American wood warblers would be discovered wintering somewhere in the UK (a la the Golden-winged Warbler). It was a sound prediction. However, I was wrong, but only because this didn’t take place during late 2023…….. .

So it was that 2024 got off to a tremendous start. On Wednesday the 3rd January a local birder, Simon Wood, was dumbfounded to find a Northern Waterthrush in his garden in Heybridge, near Maldon, in deepest Essex. From the following day onwards, sightings of it settled into a pattern involving it generally being seen at least a couple of times each day when it visited a nearby creek to forage and bathe before flying back to the privacy of the gardens behind the houses which were alongside the nearby road. Its routine involved an early morning visit, and then perhaps a couple or more later on in the day.

I was enjoying some prolonged downtime at home (having been away for a high proportion of 2023) as I wasn’t returning to work at Castle Stuart, outside Inverness, until w/c 15th January). In many ways, it was the ideal time for me to go on a twitch, but I was somehow less than enthused, as deepest Essex was a long way from home, in several senses, and driving all that way ‘just’ to see a bird was increasingly passé.

I just didn’t fancy it as a drive. A few years earlier, it would have been a no-brainer when my father had still been alive, as I could have ‘staged’ in Chesterfield. And a few months earlier, it would have been a no-brainer when my best mate Gary still owned his flat in St. Albans, as I could have ‘staged’ there, but he had finally concluded the sale in October 2023….. .

So, initially at least, I discounted the idea of twitching it. However, gradually, as it ‘stuck’ and various mates connected with it and tweeted to advise the world so, I began to crack. In particular, a succession of my ‘Lockdown Listing’ mates on our Birding Bantering WhatsApp successfully twitched it – Jonny Holliday and Chris Griffin on Friday the 5th January and then Dennis Morrison (plus his son James and friend John Forbes) and David Steel on Saturday the 13th January. In addition, Bernie Beck travelled for it on Friday the 12th January.

This all subtly changed the dynamic. If Dennis could twitch it from Edinburgh, why couldn’t I?

In addition, I was encouraged by the David Steel, and so I decided I could do it…. .

The day he and Dennis posted their news (and images) on Birding Bantering I had posted, “Hummmm” and, “FFS” on the same group. Later that day, after Steely had messaged me direct saying, “Sorry Brian. I’m in Hull so left from there this morning so wasn’t an opportunity to join up to twitch. It’s worth it”, I responded by saying, “Hiya Steely. My comment wasn’t aimed at you or Dennis, but related to my inability to sort something. I have a plan now, but need it to stick around for a week……😲".

This delay referred to the fact that I was already committed to working on the second golf course project at Cabot Highlands (Castle Stuart) during the w/c 15th January.

I travelled there on Monday the 15th January, as we had scheduled an important meeting on Tuesday the 16th January. My journey from South Queensferry to outside Inverness on the M90 and A9(T) and A96(T) was fine, as although there had been overnight snow, this was only apparent at higher altitudes.

However, there was more snow further east along the A96(T), and as a result the person we were meeting cancelled on the Tuesday, as he didn’t fancy travelling from Forres in the conditions involved. As such, having already addressed other pertinent matters whilst on-site, I had the option of travelling back to South Queensferry on the afternoon / evening of the 16th. However, it started snowing that afternoon and, as such, rather than tackling the A9(T) in snow and in the dark, I opted to stay over for an extra night in my luxurious accommodation whilst working at Cabot Highlands, Castle Cottage.

My provisional game plan involved using Gary’s place in Barrowford, East Lancashire, as my staging post on the long, long journey south. As such, I had primed Gary with a WhatsApp on the Monday, suggesting there was a lot of ifs, buts and maybes (including how long I would be working near Inverness, whether there would be any snow to complicate travel, and, not least, whether the object of my quest would survive long enough) but, all things being equal, I was planning on travelling to see it via Barrowford later in the week.

So I reasoned even if I had driven to South Queensferry on the Tuesday, I would still have to drive from there to Barrowford on the Wednesday, and so it made sense to delay my departure until the following morning (when the weather was forecast to be bright and sunny), rather than risk tackling the A9(T) in snow and in the dark, and then complete the long drive from Inverness to Barrowford, in relatively easy conditions.

That was the plan. So it was that soon after 08:00 on the Wednesday morning (after a reasonably night’s rest) I departed Castle Cottage.

The snow had continued during the night and as such the drive to and through the automatic gates along the tree lined avenue between the cottage and the B9039 was on virgin snow. I negotiated this (and the reluctant to fully open gates) without any real problems and edged onto the unploughed and un-gritted B9039. This involved more tricky driving conditions, but by driving suitably slowly I (and other users of the road) safely made our way.

The A96(T) and the A9(T) were suitably ploughed and gritted, and as such, in terms of snow and ice, driving was much less tricky. However, although I had carefully prepared the car both before leaving South Queensferry and Castle Stuart (I’d pumped up the tyres, filled up with petrol, and ensured the screen-wash was topped up) there was problem, a significant problem, that made driving very tricky. Overnight temperatures had been very low, and despite my best efforts, the screen-wash was frozen solid, and I couldn’t get it to work. And there was a lot of salty spray, meaning that my wind-screen frequently became very smeared. This necessitated stopping to clean the windscreen with the water I had available as a contingency, but this was problematic, as the lay-bys on the A9(T) were hard to stop in (partly as I couldn’t see them coming and partly as they hadn’t necessarily been cleared of snow).

I had to get inventive, and resorted to using the spray from vehicles I was following and / or which were oncoming to provide some water to facilitate using the windscreen wipers. But it was all very fraught, and all the more so because of the low, bright winter sun I was frequently driving into. Frankly, it was dangerous, as my viewing through the windscreen was often badly obscured by the smeared salt and dirt. But there was no way the screen-wash was going to thaw out; as I drove through southern Speyside to car’s thermometer registered -16^OC.

As such, the drive from Inverness to Perth and beyond was an ordeal, but thankfully the screen-wash did eventually at least partially thaw, such that I could effectively use the windscreen wipers.

I continued on the A9(T) beyond Perth, and then joined the M9 and the M80. I struggled to navigate from the M80/M73 to the M74, but otherwise, thankfully, the second part of my journey between Castle Stuart and Barrowford was a lot easier. All the same, the entire journey took eight hours, a long, long drive. The roads had one last surprise for me as I neared my destination, when, to my surprise, I discovered that the A682 between Gisburn and Barrowford hadn’t been ploughed and gritted, which meant that the some of the last few miles involved the snowiest / iciest driving conditions of my entire journey!

I finally arrived in Barrowford soon after 16:00 and immediately filled the car up with petrol and purchased some screen-wash at a nearby service station, and also filled my emergency water container.

After a relatively quiet evening with Gary involving a couple of pints in the fantastic Lamb working man’s club after my take-away steak pudding, chips, mushy peas and gravy (I’d moved into twitching food mode) I retired to bed, planning to get up and go early if I was awake, but otherwise to get up and go when the alarm went off.

This was at 07:00; I didn’t get up early as although I woke at various times during the night, I really didn’t fancy driving at 04:00 in the morning. So it was, by 07:15 I was on the road, taking the M65, and then the A56 and M66 to the M62, and then the M62 to the A1(M) / A1.

I briefly stopped at a service station north of Grantham to have a bowl of breakfast cereal before continuing on. My route involved taking the A14 to the M11 and then, from near Bishop’s Stortford taking various roads deeper into deepest Essex. Eventually, at about 12:45, I duly arrived in Heybridge.

For the latter part of my journey, I used the directions option on the Rare Bird Alert app (basically a link to Google Maps) to navigate my way to my destination. I was aware there was a suggestion that birders shouldn’t park in the residential road in order to minimise any issues with local residents, and so I opted to park in the car-park at the relatively nearby Bentalls Shopping Centre.

Having done so, I quickly clambered out of the car and into my coat, and assembled my gear – gloves, notebook, binoculars, camera, telescope and tripod, etc..

Fairly sure I had passed the entrance to the road in question, I quickly (or as quickly as I can nowadays!) walked back towards it. I asked two women coming the other way if they knew where birders had been going, and gratifyingly they broadly confirmed my suspicions and indicated where the road involved was.

I quickly crossed the main road and continued off along the road indicated, although it looked less than promising, as it was flanking by various industrial units, etc., which didn’t look very good in terms of Northern Waterthrush habitat. Outside one of them (which proved to be within 3 or 400 metres of my destination) I asked someone who worked at one of the units the same question, but he was completely oblivious, unhelpfully. Now acting solely on blind instinct, I continued on, and thankfully things started looking more promising very quickly. To the right of the road there was an area of open land, which proved to be either side of a drainage ditch which was at the head of Heybridge Creek. And as I crossed over the ditch on the road, birders were visible standing on the embankment of a culverted crossing of the same ditch some 100 metres downstream, Hurray! I was in the right place!!

I quickly navigated my way along a track to join them, and set up my ‘scope at the nearer end of the scattered gathering on some 15 birders scattered along the embankment of the culverted crossing. Some were seated on part of the culvert structure, and all looked less than focussed. I asked the two closest to me when it had last been seen, and was informed that it hadn’t been seen again since the initial sighting early that morning. Not good. I reluctantly continued my conversation with the two birders next to me, but was less than impressed to find that unlike me, they had travelled a relatively short way. I explained that I had been in Inverness at 08:00 the previous morning, and was asked whether I had travelled all that way just to see the bird. Less than impressed, I retorted, ‘Why else would I be here????’

My demeanour wasn’t helped by the need to, er, empty my bladder, and as I weighed up my options, I also began to resign myself to having to stop over if the bird didn’t show. Coming all that way and then leaving without seeing it wasn’t an option, I’d have to stay somewhere local and be on site before daylight the following day.

Having both ensured my ‘scope was in focus and checked out the drainage ditch with my 

binoculars in an attempt to be ready, should it suddenly appear, I skulked off back along the track and then along another one branching off it, adjacent to which there were sufficient hawthorn bushes to largely obscure me from the gathered birders and the adjacent houses whilst I did the necessary.

Relief!!! Massive relief. (@1)

I returned to my station and resumed my vigil, checking out the banks of the ditch and getting my eye in with the various Robins, House Sparrows, etc..

At least now I could concentrate, and as such, I felt a tad more optimistic.

And with some justification, as within a very few minutes a bird flew in, and with very little commotion the assembled crowd realised it was the Northern Waterthrush (I recall someone very quietly and calmly saying, ‘That’s it’ or similar).

Anyway, I was on it, and it was on (my list)!

Relief!!! Massive relief. (@2)

It had dropped into the drainage channel immediately below the culverted crossing, and as such was within a few metres of me and the rest of the assembled gallery.

Almost immediately it appeared, a local couple who were clearly interested in seeing it, also arrived. The woman approached me and asked (in a normal voice) whether the bird was there. I (politely) sssshhhhed her as I was concerned that any unexpected noise might flush the bird. The gallery had been impressively, respectfully, virtually silent despite the bird suddenly appearing for the first time in hours. Gratifyingly so, given what it could have been like.

Being right down below us, feeding unobtrusively along the margins of the ditch or, indeed in the entrance to the culvert, the bird wasn’t necessarily always on view or easy to locate, so I, firstly, helped the woman get on it, and then, secondly, when they swapped places, the man get on it. This largely involved suggesting they should stand on the other side of me and then, as necessary, giving directions. As such, they both duly saw it, he, in particular, lucking out, as, outrageously, it appeared before him on the concrete headwall of the culvert itself immediately in front of him. This was very gratifying, as I felt I had done my bit for local relations.

However, meanwhile, I was very careful to make sure I was also taking the bird in as best as I could. As suggested, it was often out of sight beneath the culvert headwall or the near bank of the drainage ditch, too close, and when it was in view, I did spend some time unsuccessfully faffing around trying to get some photos.

However, albeit briefly, it also flirted itself outrageously, floosy-like, which allowed me to give it a good grilling in the ‘scope at ranges of 10 – 20 m or so. It flitted about from one place to the other searching for food in the drainage ditch, often using remnants of aquatic vegetation still above the surface of the partially frozen drainage ditch as perches whilst doing so. Particularly when it did this a little further away along the channel of the ditch, I was able to give it a good grilling with the (zoomed down) ‘scope.

Almost as suddenly as it had appeared it suddenly disappeared, flying off back towards the gardens from whence it had appeared.

I, and everyone else in the well-behaved crowd, knew it was time to take our leave too. Presumably a good proportion of those there had braved the bitterly cold conditions for several hours, and, as there was no guarantee it would be back anytime soon, decided to cut their losses and leave.

Conversely, I’d been there less than half an hour, but I wasn’t going to see it any better, even if it did return, and I had another long drive ahead of me. So, I too decide to leave to seek somewhere more comfortable and some sustenance and then commence the long drive back. I’d noted there was an Asda adjacent to the car-park where I had parked and planned to get something to eat and drink there. However, on arriving back at the car I noticed there was also a café there, and this proved to be ideal. It was Turkish-run, and besides providing perfect twitch fodder (a large portion of egg and chips) I also enjoyed talking to one of the owners about coming to see the bird and working in Turkey.

Having consumed my egg and chips, and roughly sketched the bird, I returned to the car, and commenced the long drive back to Barrowford. Incredibly, I had been in Heybridge for less than a couple of hours when I departed. It was around 14:30 when I started back, again using Google Maps to navigate back trunk roads / motorways.

Once again, I stopped at the services north of Grantham to (partially, at motorway prices!) top up with petrol. Other than back-logged traffic on the A1(M) approaching the M62, the journey went well, and I was back in Barrowford almost exactly twelve hours after I had departed. I’d ‘phoned Gary to indicate I would be very keen on having a celebratory pint or two, so we went to the fantastic Banker’s Draft real ale pub nearby to do so, before having the potato and bacon bake he’d prepared in his slow-cooker. An excellent end to a more than excellent day. Whilst in the pub, I tried to explain to Gary the sheer euphoria I experience when I see a new bird (something that increases as my list does). To do so, and to try to help him understand, I compared it with the euphoria he and I would experience from seeing Burnley very unexpectedly win away from home, in, for example, a cup tie against a nominally much better team. He refuted that seeing a bird could provide such joy, but I liked my analogy.

I was ecstatic though, after all, to have another Yank warbler on my list and after such a truly epic drive.

So, besides being late to the party in terms of only finally seeing it more than two weeks after it had first turned up, I was also very late to the party in terms of catching up with the autumn 2023 ‘influx’ of North American wood warblers.

Of course, in birding (okay, twitching), as in life, you make your own luck, but if ever there was an opportunity to add to my ‘North American wood warblers list’ it was autumn 2023, which, as is evidenced in the accompanying table, was a completely unprecedented North American wood warbler -fest.  That I hadn’t connected with any as a result of continually being in the wrong place and the wrong time felt, at the very least, a tad unlucky. (Not that the influx necessarily involved birds which were ‘easy’ to twitch from Central Scotland, but all the same…..).

* Nominally! Theoretically, seven additional North American wood warbler species (and in some instances more than one individual of!) were ‘available‘ to add to my existing six species in autumn 2023. However, although some of these were relatively long-staying, as ever, they were mainly on islands which were difficult to access. Moreover, in autumn 2023 I was on the Isle of May between the 2nd and 9th September, Lewis between the 16th and 23rd September, mainland Shetland between the 2nd and 6th October and Scilly between the 14th and 23rd October (and working between times) so I was never quite in the right place at the right time. This ‘co-ordinated (nominal) dipping’ meant that the Northern Waterthrush was a very welcome ‘late autumn’ bonus.

As such, that I eventually did so as a result of a truly epic twitch the following winter made my euphoria all the more so. There’s just something about North American wood warblers, and I was ecstatic to get another on my list.

Hastily moving on from the superficial ‘North American wood warbler meets pipit’ analogy, the bird was largish (for a North American wood warbler), with a shortish tail, and stoutish bill and legs. The entire upperparts, including the upper-tail and wings, were dark brown (and, apart from the head, entirely unmarked), whereas the underparts were buffish-white and heavily streaked with dark brown streaking. The head pattern included a very long buffish-white supercilium which reached the nape. The overall head pattern was strongly reminiscent of Redwing. The bill was thick-based and tapered to a sharp tip and was horn / dark horn in colour. The legs were bubble-gum pink in colour. It energetically bobbed and flicked its tail, and frequently flew from place to place, including vegetation sticking up above the water / ice, searching for food.

Northern Waterthrush, Heybridge, Maldon, Essex, January 2024 (back of the camera photograph credited Dennis Morrison).

 Zitting Cisticola – Corporation Marsh, Walberswick, Suffolk, 17^th August 2026

As described in the equivalent post relating to Black-winged Kite, by 2026, the fortunate juxtaposition of the now confirmed as breeding Zitting Cisticolas (or Fan-tailed Warblers in old money!) at Corporation Marsh, Walberswick, Suffolk, and the long-staying Black-winged Kite at various sites in and around the Broads in Norfolk (and the home of my old birding mate Mike Thompson in nearby Reydon) always meant that twitching the Zitting Cisticolas was a matter of when, not if.

Overdue? Maybe. The first of what proved to be a pair at Corporation Marsh in 2025 was seemingly the eleventh ever, following the first and second in Norfolk and Dorset as long ago as 1976 and 1977 respectively, before a long interlude to further records in Dorset, in 2000 (two), Kent, in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2024 (of which only the 2000 Dorset and 2009 Kent birds were actually twitchable).

Anyway, after a very obvious and sensible news curfew whilst they were breeding, news of what was probably two fledged broods of birds (plus attendant adults) emerged on the 7th August 2026. And just over a week later I was scheduled to be in Northumberland for Steely’s 50th bash, which conveniently placed me two hours into a very long journey to East Anglia…… .

As it was, having stayed overnight at a Premier Inn near Norwich Airport (having duly seen the Black-winged Kite at Sea Palling the evening before), after breakfast on Monday the 17th August 2026, I journeyed from Norwich to Reydon. Mike had convinced me to go to Walberswick with him rather than going there direct from Norwich and then going to see him, as I had originally intended, as I’d not wanted to inflict the tedium of seeing the Zitting Cisticolas on him (thinking he would have had quite enough of the same).

I arrived at Mike’s before 10:30, and having been introduced to Lindsey, and briefly caught up, we departed for the beach car-park in Walberswick. Having successfully reached the car-park, parked up and negotiated paying using RingGo, we then gathered our gear and walked broadly south-west and ultimately along the sand dune and shingle ridge at the rear of the beach to the viewing point overlooking Corporation Marsh. It was by now 11:30, and so we were on-site around midday. Perhaps not the best, but…. .

There was a small gaggle of birders already on-site, including one of Mike’s local birding friends, Alastair Baird, and we quickly joined them. I opted to sit on the steepest part of the shingle bank next to a birder who seemed to know what he was about, as he relatively frequently had his ’scope trained on a bird that was showing, and occasionally gave some sort of directions.

My new Swarovski Balance ‘scope and Manfrotto walking pole / monopod combination proved ideal for sitting on the shingle bank. That said, I failed to locate any Zitting Cisticolas (excepting a possible group of three moving about in the vegetation at the base of an embankment on the far side of the marsh); it wasn’t easy, and any helpful shouts dried up.

However, there was then a shout from those at the other end of the gallery. Mike and Alastair made their way there, but I opted to stay where I was, partly as getting up and moving would have been a faff, and also as I was confident the birder alongside me was still getting on birds. Surely it was only a matter of time?

It was, but not as I had envisaged. Having been at the other end of the gallery for some while, Mike shouted me across, as one of those involved had a bird in his ‘scope. I struggled to my feet and made them walk in roughly that direction. On arrival, someone else was attempting to blag a quick look through the ‘scope involved, but fair play to its owner, he indicated I should have a look first.

Which I did.

And there it was, a Zitting Cisticola sitting at the top of some vegetation! Hurrah! No sooner had I seen it (well enough) than it launched vertically out of view. No matter! I’d seen it. Finally(?), Zitting Cisticola was on my list.

I was suitably pleased and gratefully thanked the birder concerned. This quickly turned into a small world conversation with he and his mates, as it emerged that they had travelled from Central Lancashire and variously then referenced Burscough, Ormskirk and Wigan, plus Graham Workman and the recently ‘arsoned’ John Bull Chophouse! Other than the latter, it was really good craic.

Mike, Alastair and I decided to cut our losses, and walked back to Walberswick, moved my car in view of the incoming tide, and then continued on to the excellent Black Dog Deli in Walberswick for a well desired cake and coffee.

Having reacquainted myself with Zitting Cisticola in the marshes south of Montpellier in November 2025, the bird ‘just was’. However, here goes, it was a tiny warbler, with generally warm buff plumage and strong streaking on the upperparts, a plain face, finer brown streaking on the crown and pink legs.

Zitting Cisticola habitat, August 2026.

Zitting Cisticola, Corporation Marsh, Walberswick, Suffolk, August 2026 (photograph credited to David Bryant).

 Black-winged Kite – Sea Palling, Norfolk, 16^th August 2026

I saw Black-winged Kite in both Morocco in December 1991 / January 1992 and in Egypt in December 1995 / January 1996 (and, if I’m being old-fashioned, I also saw White-tailed Kite in Texas in April 1992!).

A sketch of my first Black-winged Kite in Morocco in December 1991.

Now, I try hard not to have favourite birds (where would you begin, and where would you end?) but Black-winged Kite would be RIGHT up there.

As such, the prospect of getting Black-winged Kite on my British List has always been an appealing one, albeit one that was a very remote prospect until 30 or 35 years after those encounters in North Africa.

In this context, the BBRC Report for 2023 describes how Black-winged Kite was amongst the most hotly tipped next firsts for Britain for many years. It notes the chances of one turning up seemingly increased in the preceding couple of decades or so, with records in northern France, the Channel Islands, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden.

It continues that this gave the impression that the species’ arrival in Britain was imminent; but British birders waited, and they waited... and they waited. It speculates that perhaps, as with so many raptors, the relatively short hop the Channel was too far, but observes that the English Channel is just 32 km wide at its narrowest, and birds were proven to cross the Skaggerak from Denmark to Sweden, involving a sea crossing of at least 60 km.

It then describes how, after an earlier false start, there was a report of a probable, seen from a vehicle on the A14 at Kirton, Suffolk, on the 16th April 2023, but this was considered ‘Not Proven’. However, coincidentally or not, a definite Black-winged Kite was then located and videoed near the A489 in Newton, Montgomeryshire just two days later, on the 18th April 2023.

Ultimately, this became the first British record. Although it couldn’t be relocated, three months later a bird was sighted on Brayden Marshes between Hickling Broad and Horsey Mere, Norfolk, on the 17th July 2023 where it remained until the 20th, making a visit to Trimingham on the 18th, before moving to Felixstowe Ferry, Suffolk, between the 20th and 21st July 2023 and St. Oysth Marsh, Essex between the 21st and 23rd July 2023.

The majority of voters on both BOURC and BBRC considered all these sightings to be of the same bird, and further, the decision about the age of the bird erred on the side of caution and so it a 1CY+, i.e., age unknown.

Whilst, in principle, this bird would have been twitchable in Norfolk, Suffolk or Essex, in practice this had proved a trip too far. Maybe I’d already realised that if I wanted Black-winged Kite on my British List I had to plan a (very) long game.

This proved to be the case. There was no repeat performance in 2024; no records of Black-winged Kite occurred. However, in 2025, there was a broadly similar series of records, just perhaps hinting at a returning bird (although no such decision has yet been made by BBRC).

After a possible was reported at Exminster Marshes, Devon on the 18th May 2025, a definite was sighted at Frampton (and nearby Slimbridge), Gloucestershire on the 20th August 2025. Whether the same bird or not, later in the same year it (or another) was again recorded in Norfolk, at Hickling between the 7th and the 11th September, and at Ludham between the 26th December and the New Year.

In 2026 this bird continued to be seen in the same area of Norfolk – at Ludham until the 4th January, Horsey (and also Brograve Levels), between the 7th January and the 3rd February, back at Ludham between the 8th and the 23rd March, at Sea Palling on the 12th April, at Hempstead Marshes between the 8th May and the 12th June and back at Sea Palling from the 13th June onwards.

This consistent series of reports clearly moved the prospect of twitching the bird into realms of the ‘achievable’, especially so when combined with the news of Zitting Cisticola’s having successfully bred at Corporation Marsh, Walberswick, Suffolk conveniently close to the home of my old birding mate Mike Thompson in nearby Reydon. News about these birds slowly emerged from the 3rd August 2025 onwards; within three weeks news of a singing male had been replaced by news of successful breeding, and so again, twitching both was very achievable.

In the event, nothing happened; although I alerted Mike Thompson about the cisticolas and he successfully twitched them, any vague plans Steely and I had to twitch these two ‘megas’ when he was ‘on shore’ from the Isle of May during the mid-November to mid-March period remained just that.

Moving on, and in late-summer 2026, I was still biding my time, aware that the lack of reports of Zitting Cisticolas from Corporation Marsh after the 8th May 2026 was much more to do with another breeding attempt taking place there than ‘no news either way’.

Almost exactly a year after news of the Zitting Cisticolas had first emerged, reports of what was probably two fledged broods of birds (plus attendant adults) emerged on the 7th August 2026. Game on?

As luck would have it, I’d long had an invite to a bash in Seahouses / Beadnell in Northumberland on Saturday the 15th August to celebrate Steely’s 50th birthday, which was on the 12th August. This involved a boat trip around the Farnes and a hog roast at the Craster Arms in Beadnell.

This would conveniently place me two hours into a seven plus hour journey to Sea Palling, so I slowly resolved to go for it, booking accommodation at a Premier Inn in Norwich on the night of Sunday the 16th August (as well as at Mike’s in Reydon on the following night, and Gary’s in Barrowford on the return journey).

Having very much enjoyed the celebrations the day before, I left my accommodation in Seahouses sometime after 09:00 to commence the long drive from Northumberland to Norfolk.

I stopped at Wetherby Services on the A1(M) for a very belated granola and yoghurt and croissant Pret a Manger breakfast (so late they had stopped doing bacon rolls) and fuel and at a service station on the A17 south of Boston for more fuel, but otherwise it was a long (and uneventful) drive. I snacked on my prepared salad and lump of cheese to keep me going through the tedium of the A47 through East Anglia. That said, travelling this way to Norfolk was at least a little nostalgic. Typically, as I reached the final hour or so of my long journey, the journey around Norwich and beyond to Sea Palling through the Broads became particularly trying, due to large-scale roadworks around Norwich and never-ending rural roads beyond.

Anyway, by around 18:00 I had navigated my way beyond Sea Palling to the viewing location at a double gate alongside the very minor road just inland of the sand dunes north of Sea Palling.

So long in the car had done nothing for my mobility, but I quickly(?) assembled my gear and commenced scanning for the kite. Beyond the gate I was looking out over fields and marshes with shelterbelts, hedges, ditches and an overhead electricity line. There was a lot of suitable habitat, and more of the same continued for miles around. Where to look? What if it was elsewhere? I constantly scanned with both my binoculars and my relatively new Swarovski Balance ‘scope and Manfrotto walking pole / monopod combination, but …… .

Fortunately, a birder on a bike soon arrived. This proved to be Tim Allwood, who very successfully birds the TG42 10 km grid square within which we were located, and as such, as he suggested, sees the kite virtually every day. Salvation!!!!

After we had had an initial chat, Tim wandered off around the edge of the field to our left to (I suspect) check out a roost site of the kite. On his return, we were joined by another local birder / togger armed with the world’s largest bridge camera. Again, we generally chatted, before Tim cycled off to check areas further to the north. My scanning had produced two Kestrels, a Marsh Harrier and a Buzzard, but not the object of my quest. The old boy birder / togger was able to provide some consolatory advice about it typically suddenly appearing after being out of sight for ages, and also mainly being seen early in the morning and the evening (together with the times he had first seen it on previous evenings) but I was less than optimistic. My preferred game plan did not involve coming back for it the following morning, but things weren’t looking good.

However, in fairness to the old boy, he suddenly calmly announced that the kite was showing. Unfortunately, (and diplomatically…..) my understanding of his directions was not good. He described the bird being on the overhead wires beyond the third overhead electricity wires pole, but when I followed these instructions all I could see was a Kestrel, which caused a few increasingly terse comments between us. However, it eventually emerged that he meant the first three overhead electricity wires poles diverging away from the line of the nearer poles in the middle distance, and on finally grasping this, there it was, sat it full (if distant) view!!!!

Wowser!!!

I was able to take it in at leisure, as, apart from one brief flight I caught the back end of, it remained on view throughout the remainder of my stay. It was possibly up to c.900 m away(?) but there was no haze and the light was still reasonable, and the clarity (even when zoomed up to 45x) of my new ‘scope was incredible. Thus, even the dark eye patch was visible, despite the range involved.

I thanked the old boy togger / birder who departed soon afterwards, but not before Tim Allwood had returned. Whilst continuing to take in the bird, I then I chatted to Tim, a top bloke, at some length, discovering the usual fascinating inter-connections, including an eclectic Javier Caletrio, Stuart Green, David Steel – all very enjoyable. We were joined by a couple who I got onto the bird and were extremely grateful, as it was their umpteenth time of looking. Tim also provided me with a recommendation for a local pub to have a celebratory pint and meal before returning to Norwich; The Greyhound in Hickling. In the event this wasn’t quite as successful as it might have been as they weren’t doing food as it was the quiz night, and the gathered clientele included an element of ‘mediaeval woodcut’ but it was the thought that counted (and the old boy had refused all together to give me any such recommendation!).

Oh, a description of the bird? As above. Just wowser!!!!

Black-winged Kite habitat, August 2026.

Black-winged Kite, Hickling, Norfolk, March 2026 – image chosen as it is similar to the views I had at Sea Palling (photograph credited to David Bryant).

White-throated Sparrow – Willingham Woods, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, 24^th February 1993

White-throated Sparrow, Isle of May, Fife, August 2026. I've always been very struck by the apparent convergent evolution of New World Sparrows such as White-throated and White-crowned (in particular) and Old World Buntings such as Yellow-browed (in particular) in terms of the head pattern. Why? What's the ecological advantage?

After having to decline the Suffolk bird the previous year (there had been one at Trimley St Mary for a week or so in late May / early June) and having had to be ‘blasé’ about this one for several weeks as I couldn’t work an opportunity, I journeyed ‘home’ from a visit to see my father in Chesterfield via Willingham Woods near Market Rasen for the long-staying White-throated Sparrow there. This had first been trapped and ringed on the 5th December 1992 but had then proved to be a long-stayer.... .

By now I had a pager, and so I knew it was there the previous day courtesy of my new toy. As such, I arrived with high expectations, and all the more so when I was advised it was still there.

The adrenalin was still flowing all the same as I walked towards the scene of my latest twitch. Once there I was confronted (not literally, but maybe figuratively) by a small brassica field in a clearing within the plantation, adjacent to a small cottage. I assume now this was some sort of game cover crop.

The footpath diverged along the back of a tall hawthorn hedge alongside the field, and through the middle of the brassica field. On the field side of this hedge a mixed flock of finches plus were feeding. Birders stood amongst the brassica, watching the base of the hedge, where birds were feeding unobtrusively. So much so, that it took me ages to get onto the bird itself, partly due to my attempt to get to a better viewing place by positioning myself at the base of a hawthorn in the hedge running perpendicular to the main one.

I re-joined the group to eventually be rewarded by sightings (usually very brief) of the bird as it emerged into the grass and brassica at the edge of the field. During this time, the militant birder in me re-emerged. Throughout proceedings the birders were noisy, and the birds flighty. My demeanour was stretched to breaking point when some halfwit snapped a twig, at which point I also snapped. I abruptly asked him if he had to do that and suggested he had no idea and was brain dead, as you do.

However, back then, to the bird. It was unobtrusive, and views were brief. During this time a bird very roughly analogous with an accentor / bunting cross showing a black and off-white head pattern, but little yellow was noted – otherwise it was strangely reminiscent of Dunnock! It had a buff wing-bar created by the tips of the greater coverts. The upper-parts were otherwise mid-brown with a dark streaked back, and the under-parts were pale grey-brown, faintly streaked with dark brown.

The whole experience wasn’t very rewarding and wasn’t as exciting as looking through flocks of Zonotrichia sparrows in California for Golden-crowned or Harris’s Sparrows..... . But that’s another story.

As is seeing my second, one for my Scottish, and indeed Isle of May, lists, in August 2026 after my very good friend David Steel, the National Nature Reserve Manager on the Isle of May, excelled himself by finding just the first Yank passerine (and third Yank) for the Isle of May, just a couple of days before I arrived to facilitate a Bird Observatory Committee ‘Gathering’ on the island. As such, I was able to take in the bird in excellent company three days running and commence the ‘Gathering’ with a committee twitch, as you do.

Game cover habitat shot, Willingham Woods.

White-throated Sparrow, Willingham Woods, Lincolnshire, winter 1991-92 (photograph credited to unknown).

White-throated Sparrow, Willingham Woods, Lincolnshire, winter 1991-92 (photograph credited to unknown).

White-throated Sparrow, Isle of May. Fife. August 2026 (photograph credited to Will Cresswell).

 Red-breasted Goose – Caerlaverock Wildfowl and Wetlands Reserve, Caerlaverock, Dumfries and Galloway, 6^th October 1991

Sunday the 6th October 1991. Tomorrow is another day. Within a day of attempting a Red-breasted Goose at Inner Marsh Farm (and within seven days of my fateful trip to Sumburgh for the Sandhill Crane; I’m giving up birding and all of that),

I went to Caerlaverock with Neil Tasker, having seen him at Inner Marsh Farm, for this, a far more credible bird. After we had worked for it very hard for 2.5 to 3.0 hours and obtained two flight views of it amongst large flocks of Barnacle Geese it finally succumbed.

The flight views were very skilfully obtained from the tower hide by watching distant flocks as they moved, eliminating Barnacle Geese and picking out the goodie, as it was smaller, darker and quicker in flight than its hosts.

Finally, after teasing us for ages, it was located in a feeding flock of Barnacle Geese near one of the towers and once located here it was predictably obvious. It made itself more so by being separate from the flock for most of the time, indeed Barnacle Geese shied away from it.

It was well ‘scoped whilst resting and feeding and the stunning pattern was sketched (as it couldn’t really be described!).

Best of all, it looked wild!

Not something I’ve seen subsequently (partly as, conveniently, I didn’t need it for Scotland!) but I have since seen one on the Belgium/Netherlands border.

Red-breasted Goose, polders north-east of Antwerp, Belgium, March 2022 (photograph credited to Paul Pugh).