Glossy Ibis – Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve, near Canterbury, Kent, 10^th November 1988

So. Alison Bunting and I decided to twitch the long-staying Glossy Ibis which regularly roosted at Stodmarsh.

We travelled from Dorset to Kent to do so on Thursday the 10th November 1988.

We arrived early. I only expected a brief fly-over view at dusk. I was concerned about it being very bad light at dusk, allowing only a very poor view, as it came in during an anticipated 16:00 to 16:40 ‘window’ after a long vigil.

So, when during our walk to the best viewing location we jammed into the bird at only 15:05 (also seeing Hen Harrier but not seeing Isabelline Shrike) I was very happy. As we worked our way back along the causeway flanked by reed-beds on both sides we were attracted to something happening by the presence of two Carrion Crows overhead. I suspected they had been mobbing it as it flew in off the rough pasture area to the south.

When we got on it, it was already dropping in to a lagoon surrounded by reed-beds. It was still reasonably good light (well not too bad!); certainly, we would have probably missed it otherwise. We watched as it dramatically, extrovertly ‘whiffled’ in to roost like a goose, before landing in full view on the edge of the reed-bed. Here it preened, stretched and moved about, giving excellent views.

The long thin neck, and relatively large rounded head and, obviously, a long down-curved bill were all evident in flight.

It was like a black egret in size and shape at rest, apart from the long down-curved bill, which was thick at the base, tapered and kinked.

Subsequently, at long time later I saw one south of Kinross in March 2014 and several together on Fair Isle in October 2017.

Lastly, I should perhaps just indicate that in the late 1980s Glossy Ibis was still a genuine 'rare', hence twitching the long-staying Stodmarsh bird from Dorset. Ignoring the 'many' records prior to 1957 when the Rarities Committee came into being, there had been just 40 records between 1958 and 1987, and there were just two records in 1988, including the Stodmarsh bird. Indeed, the 1988 Rare Birds in Great Britain report noted that the species "(Range is almost cosmopolitan, nearest breeders in the Balkans) Still a few odd ones appear in odd places; the severe decline in Europe has led to speculation that 'our' birds may be from the Nearctic".

However, despite droughts and climate change the species successfully re-colonised Iberia and numbers boomed, and it is believed that it is from here that most records in Great Britain now emanate.

Glossy Ibis, Stodmarsh, Kent, November 1988 (photograph credited to Tim Loseby).

 American Coot – Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve, near Canterbury, Kent, 20^th April 1996

Yet another superb plus, during an unbelievable first few months of 1996. It – the news – broke on the night of Tuesday the 16th April, when I was out with Steve Boothroyd and the pipeline archaeologists, Susan and Bridget. Only after completing the weeks work, oh, and taking in the two Harlequins near Girvan, Ayrshire on the Wednesday, did I take the decision to go for it. Gilly had succumbed to the inevitable, and had offered me the prospect of a long-distance twitch to Kent. I was not enthused all the same, given the distances involved. My various schemes were all thwarted. Paul Pugh had commitments and to travel by any indirect means (with others) would reduce the already short length of the weekend, given the length of a journey to Kent and back.

I was, as a consequence, very indecisive about the whole deal. What to do?

After a couple of meetings on the Friday, I was faced with trying to do a meeting note under the pressure of knowing I really had to go. I cracked, as it was a very nice day, and headed off on what proved to be a perfectly reasonable, no hassle journey to St. Albans, taking just six hours from midday.

As the bird was fairly settled there seemed little urgency, so after a St. Albans night, Mike Thompson, Susie Pearson and I travelled to Stodmarsh, arriving at c.11:00. Greeted by moderate congestion and alternative car-parking arrangements, I was concerned about crowds. Mike had already twitched it earlier in the week, and so, compared to me, was very chilled.

Walking along the Lampen Wall we were confronted by a crowd of 50 or so looking at the bird as it did its’ thing at the junction of the ditches in the reedbed alongside. Always within 50 m and sometimes less than 10 m away it always gave stunning views, complete with nearby Bearded Tits. Strangest circumstances – first for Britain, so close, whilst a relaxed gallery took it in, chatted, purchased photographs, etc.. Oh, and seemingly, there was a Green-winged Teal on view as well, my first, but I have no recollection this whatsoever.

Overall like Coot in general appearance, but it was immediately obvious due to small bill as the (bald) plate was absent. Perhaps slightly smaller than Coot, and yes, the Moorhen x Coot analogy is good. The bill was a strange affair, with a fine, dark sub-terminal band, and a ‘blood blister’ at top of it. Its plumage was dark grey-black, apparent from off-white undertail covert patches.

As I say, all incredibly chilled for a 'first for' the UK. That said, in early 2014 I saw my second in the UK at Loch Flemington, Highland, and other than me, there was no one there, although by then there had been other Scottish records and the bird involved had been around for a good while.

As twitches of 'firsts for' Britain go, this has to be the most chilled ever, though admittedly it had been on constant show for a few days by the time I got there..... .

American Coot, Stodmarsh, Kent, April 1996 (photograph credited to unknown).

Long-tailed Shrike – Howmore, South Uist, Outer Hebrides, 4^th November 2000

My attempt at capturing the Long-tailed Shrike at Howmore, South Uist, Outer Hebrides, in November 2000. I remember being very struck by the peachy-orange lower back as it had a particularly vivid appearance in the light conditions. Unfortunately, the bird confined itself to the deep cover of a willow bush for much of the time.

News of a Long-tailed Shrike (a what?) reached me thanks to my loan pager, whilst I was on the ‘phone to the insurance company regarding the insurance payment for my lost pager on the 3rd November. Bizarrely, I was just explaining what the pager was for to the woman at Directline I was speaking to when the news of this mega, mega came through! I quickly curtailed the conversation and instead ‘phoned Graham Clark, who predictably, was about to ‘phone me.

Graham indicated that he was 90% certain he would be able to go for it and would know for definite at around 16:00, and that he would ‘phone me back after a meeting, having liaised with Christine on the matter. I agreed, in the meanwhile, to research ferry times and so on. I did this and discovered that we would have to travel overnight to be at Uig in time for the Saturday morning ferry, and then we wouldn’t be able to get a ferry back until the following Monday. Memories of my aborted Veery twitch! Less than normal telephone conversations continued during the process of booking the ferry, when first the man I spoke to at the Caledonian MacBrayne offices at Uig regarding sailing times and then the woman I spoke to at the Caledonian MacBrayne offices at Gourock who both were touchingly and genuinely interested in the purpose of the trip and the bird involved.

When I spoke to Graham again, he was up for this and we agreed that he would get to my house by about 21:00, after which we would set off so that we could get at least some sleep in the car, before getting up on Saturday morning for the ferry.

The drive went very well, and for variation we went via the M9, A84, A85, and A82 to Fort William rather than the more traditional M90, A9 and A86 to Spean Bridge, but it still took about five hours to get to Uig (I apparently strained one of my eyes during the latter stages of the drive, which gave me horrendous vision problems of the Saturday, but thankfully after I had seen the bird). Graham was able to get some sleep during the journey, and we both were able to get more sleep once we arrived at Uig. We had parked up around the back of one of the quayside buildings, and on emerging realised (unsurprisingly) we were no longer the only birders there. Although it had taken us five hours it had obviously taken others from down south much longer. We were no longer at the head of the queue having disappeared around the back of the quayside buildings on arrival, but this didn’t matter once we had confirmed our booking.

There must have been some 20 – 25 birders cars waiting for the ferry, and amongst the birders waiting were some very familiar faces. Amongst these were Richard Millington, Steve Gantlett and Ron Johns, and they were soon able to confirm that the bird was still present, which greatly contributed to the pre-twitch atmosphere.

Graham soon located some twitching colleagues from way back when, and besides talking to them we also were able to enjoy chatting to others including Calum Scott, Angus Murray, etc.. I also was surprised to find that Graham Ekins, the Wildlife Inspector from Essex (who I had seen at the Royal Tern and Swinhoe’s Petrel twitches) was there together with his crew. Whilst chatting to him it emerged that they had been for the Hooded Merganser the previous weekend, and this weekend they were chartering a fishing boat in an attempt to ensure that they could successfully twitch the bird without being trapped on the Uists for the weekend. This seemed like a good idea until we all saw the boat in question…. .

Anyway, soon after they had boarded their charter we were loaded on to the ferry. Once we had sailed, besides watching large concentrations of Kittiwakes and auks we were amused by seeing their tiny fishing boat bouncing up and down through the breaking waves. We sailed about 15 minutes after they did, and within 15 minutes we had overhauled them……! Happy sailing!

We soon opted for the full breakfast rather more sea-watching. Once we berthed at Lochmaddy we were amused to find that we were one of the very first vehicles to be disembarked. However, on the journey south to South Uist I refused to enter into the Grand Prix style racing to Howmore, in the knowledge that the bird was going to be there.

After some 40 minutes driving, we arrived at the scene of the twitch, which was basically adjacent to a scruffy coach hire company’s garage complex on either side of the A865, near the Post Office and a couple of crofts which apparently comprised Howmore. We parked up where most birders had parked on one side of the road and then assembled our gear before strolling across the road. Derelict buses and coaches and parts of the same littered the area around the garage yard on both sides of the road. Adjacent to the large garage shed on the opposite side of the road were three small willow sp. bushes adjoining a post and wire fence, and overlooked by the road and the small hump that the Post Office and further derelict buses and coaches occupied. Birders positioned themselves in locations from which they could ‘scope these bushes and we did the same, as it was apparent ‘it’ was in these bushes.

Indeed, it was, but it was never ‘obvious’ in the way that might be associated with a shrike. Rather it was unusually ‘skulking’ for shrike, invariably sheltering low and still in one of the three willow shrub bushes, and occasionally returning to a larder which appeared to comprise a mouse spp. which was impaled amongst the branches in the centre of one of the willows to vigorously feed.

Given this, and the fact that the bushes were still in leaf, it was usually picked out as a result of the peachy brown breast or lower wings.

Over the course of two hours or so it was well-watched, but unfortunately it was largely inanimate throughout this time. As a result, although it was a stunning bird, perhaps what will remain in the memory about the twitch was the sight of an adult White-tailed Eagle Graham and I picked up on whilst scanning the hill behind Howmore (which had also produced ringtail Hen Harrier and Peregrine), circling against a brilliant blue sky above the twitch before defecating in a big way!

We left to go birding elsewhere and returned towards late afternoon when the bird was slightly more active as we watched it from alongside the garage shed.

The following day it emerged that the bird had departed overnight, and then it became apparent why it had been so inactive during the day apart from feeding vigorously on its larder. There were theories that the bird had moved on due to the fireworks displays around the island that night, but as it was a perfectly clear night with low temperatures perhaps this wasn’t too surprising and due to natural migration instincts kicking in. As a result of its absence on the Sunday we were probably the last people to see it.

The bird was a typical shrike excepting the extraordinarily long tail, which was as long again as the birds’ body and head. Although it was bigger than Red-backed, Isabelline (I wrote this a long time ago!) or Lesser Grey Shrike it was smaller than Great Grey Shrike. The birds’ plumage was basically a subtle combination of that that might be associated with a grey shrike spp. and a Red-backed or Isabelline Shrike.

The black eye was surrounded by a black mask, which was flared at the rear beyond the ear-coverts and reached the bill at the lores. Above this was a thin whitish edge separating the mask from the cap, which was grey with a hint of brownish grey. The bill was typical of a shrike and was black with the inner part of both mandibles becoming grey and the base of the lower mandible being pale yellow. The throat and sides of the neck were off-white.

The lower back was a ‘brilliant’ peachy-orange and the flanks were a similar colour. The breast was not as vivid and merged into a whitish colour centrally and on the throat and belly, vent, etc.. The tertials, etc., were mid olive brown with pale fringes.

The combination of the head pattern and the brownish lower back was reminiscent of male Penduline Tit, whilst the colour of the flanks was reminiscent of Brambling.

Long-tailed Shrike, Howmore, South Uist, Outer Hebrides, November 2000 (image credited to Paul Hackett).

 Pallas’s Sandgrouse – Loch of Hillwell, Mainland, Shetland, 27^th May 1990

My original sketch drawing of the Pallas's Sandgrouse, which accompanied the original write up of this account, now (horrible word) 'colourised', attempting to capture the bird in the simmer dim light conditions.

The most epic twitch trip of all time; involving two eight hour ferry trips to get to Shetland, followed by a manic drive from Lerwick to South Mainland. Dave McAleavy and I were in the middle of our ‘Scottish specialities’ trip, which included seeing various Scottish specialities such as Chequered Skipper, Capercaillie and King Eider on mainland Scotland before continuing on to Shetland, where our trip would ultimately culminate with visiting Fair Isle and staying at the Bird Observatory. Fair Isle Bird Observatory in late May / early June, had, necessarily, been booked some while previously.....!!

As a result, we fortuitously also saw the Pallas’s Sandgrouse on Sunday the 27th May, by which time it had been around for eight days; it had been around since Saturday the 19th May!

The full story is as follows.

Dave and I had commenced our trip during the preceding week; I had recently finished work at ERL and started work at Bechtel on my return, on the 4th June, and ‘doing Scotland’ between times had been planned for some weeks. On the evening of Wednesday, the 23rd May(?) I travelled by train from Luton to Chesterfield, having been seen off by Elizabeth following her visit to St. Albans. I was still in the process of organising all that was necessary in terms of my newly created limited company which was essential to enable me to work on the Shell North West Eythlene Pipeline Project, and so Dad had arranged a meeting with Martin Bruno Accountants in Chesterfield for me on the morning of Thursday the 24th May. After this I presumably travelled by train to Wigan to meet up with Dave...... .

Having driven to Scotland late on the Thursday, we had slept (or not) in Dave’s car at Braco, seeing Black Grouse and Osprey early the following morning, before continuing on to Loch Arkaig for Chequered Skipper. We then continued on by driving to Speyside, where eventually we again slept (or not) in Dave’s car at Forest Lodge before finally seeing Capercaillie the following morning, that of Saturday the 26th May. Later that day (we’d again had a very early start!) we continued our successes by seeing King Eider at the Ythan estuary before catching the ferry from Aberdeen to Stromness. That’s right. Stromness. In Orkney.

For some reason lost in the mists of time the route we took from Aberdeen to Lerwick was via Stromness so, having arrived in Stromness in the evening, we ventured into town and attempted to watch International Friendly football matches in the Stromness Hotel. We hadn’t quite planned for an overnight stay in Orkney, so we sneaked back onto the ferry and found somewhere to crash out on board; we were shattered after two very early starts and two very long days. And we’d only just begun!

The following morning, as alluded to in the Gyr Falcon account, we twiddled our thumbs in Stromness just waiting for the ferry to eventually sail for Lerwick. When we finally departed, we were casually standing on deck and admiring the mightily impressive Old Man of Hoy as we sailed past it. Then someone remarked, “There’s been a Gyr Falcon up there...”. D’oh! Frantic scanning ensued, to no avail. Worse, we would have had time to get there earlier that morning, if only we had known about it!

Anyway, it was possibly about now that we also found out about the Pallas’s Sandgrouse. It was pre-pager days, and I’d not exactly had lots of time to pump coins into a payphone to listen to the Birdline message. And anyway, even if I had know it was there soon after it was discovered during a bird race on Saturday the 19th May, it wasn’t going to stay around for a week or more was it?

Dave tells me that once we got to Lerwick at 20:00 on the evening of Sunday the 27th May, I did indeed feed a payphone with coins and then returned to him ashen-faced saying it was still there and that we had to hire a car that night..... !!!!!!

Now, we weren’t twitching it as such, as we had planned our visit to Shetland for weeks before, but within minutes of arriving in Lerwick we were twitching it!

Bolt’s hire car duly sourced, there followed a drive ‘of confusion and tension’ as my notes put it. In a convoy with other birders who had been on the ferry we arrived in the vicinity but then couldn’t find the bird at all, despite frenetic chasing about. Probably to try to maintain some sort of cool, I withdrew to view from afar the antics of the birders. Anyway, our intrepid fellow travellers located, or rather, were directed to, their object of desire. Although by now it was 22:00 the light was still reasonable (thank fuck for the simmer dim……..).

However, the bird was not very active, to put it mildly. Initially, it was resting head on, in a stubble field. At this time I noted that an analogy would be Grey Partridge x female Pheasant as all that was viewable was the orange looking head and strongly barred sandy buff upperparts. However, seemingly realising our plight, this star bird first preened, then wandered around, confronted a rabbit, flapped its wings and then returned to its previous, inactive, mode. 

Needless to say, we were back for more the following night, having been to Hermaness on Unst and back...... .

Pallas's Sandgrouse, South Mainland, Shetland, May 1990 , 'live' at the scene, indicating the simmer dim light conditions, if nothing else (photograph credited to Dave McAleavy)

Pallas's Sandgrouse, South Mainland, Shetland, May 1990  (photograph credited to Robin Chittenden).

Pallas's Sandgrouse, South Mainland, Shetland, May 1990 (photograph credited to Robin Chittenden).

 Black Scoter – off Llanfairfechan, Gwynedd, 16^th November 2005

Black Scoter, off Llanfairfechan, Gwynedd, November 2005. Follow the huge yellow beak-on! 

My attempt at capturing the joys of looking for rare scoters in amongst flocks of common ones, in poor viewing conditions, involving less than good light, a swell, distant birds which are constantly diving / changing position, etc.. The huge yellow schnozzle certainly helped!!!

In September and October 2005, I had quickly learnt a lot more about Common Scoters in the Irish Sea than I had ever imagined I would. This was as a result of my involvement writing a report on the initial year of post-construction ornithological monitoring for the North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm, off the North Wales coast (the one they always show library footage of), on behalf of ERM Scotland. And on the 15th / 16th September 2005 this work had even involved a (night and) day on the fantastically well-equipped Prince Madog survey vessel during one of the current monitoring surveys visits, during which we sailed from Menai Bridge out to the site off Rhyl and back, seeing small packs of Common Scoter as we did so.

I had idly wondered about the Black Scoter that was frequently reported off Llanfairfechan then, but at this time this was solely that, idle wonderings. After all, it was only the North American subspecies of Common Scoter…… .

However, just under a month later, (but too late!), circumstances changed. On the 14th October 2005 the BOURC announced that it had made the decision to formally treat Black and Common Scoter as two separate species, thus making it far more attractive to twitch the one off Llanfairfechan. This bird was a regularly returning bird, having first been recorded between the 10th March and the 8th May 1999. It was either missed (or not reported) or elsewhere the following winter, but in was reported there, (albeit intermittently) on the 19th, 20th and 28th January 2001 and between the 17th December 2001 and the 8th April 2002, between the 3rd November 2002 and the 28th April 2003, between the 28th September and at least the 31st December 2003, between the 28th October 2004 and the 30th April 2005, and from the 3rd October 2005 onwards....... .

So, it was there, and it was now a full species, a tick in its own right. I just needed to find the excuse to go....... .

As luck would have it, salvation was at hand in the form of a Green Heron, which turned up at Red Wharf Bay on Anglesey on Monday the 7th November, although it had probably been around for at least eight days before it was first reported. This bird was proven to be the same one that had previously (and frustratingly for me, given that I could go to see Eddie Leahy in County Limerick whenever I wanted) been seen at Schull in County Cork, Ireland between the 11th and 13th October 2005.

Now the combination of both Black Scoter and Green Heron were (almost literally) an attraction and a half, and I began to plot how best to arrange a trip to take in both at once.

The most sensible way was to wait a few days and tack the trip onto my planned trip south sometime before Thursday the 17th November when Gary, Chris, Steve and I would be meeting up for our annual lads weekend away, this time in Cologne.

However, this was a high-risk strategy as it would involve a substantial delay before I got there; always twitch early and so on.

Life was complex enough at the time, so I had to be patient and just hope the Green Heron would stick. Certainly, there was every chance of the Black Scoter doing so, as it had been present for the past few winters, but the already highly mobile Green Heron…..?

Anyway, for a variety of reasons I made arrangements with Gillian not to have the girls overnight on Thursday the 17th November, and so once I had dropped them off at school on Wednesday the 16th November, I was a free man until I collected them again on Tuesday the 22nd November.

As such, I packed everything the night before and then once I had dropped the girls off at school, I hurtled along the M8, M74, M6, M56 and A56 to north-west Wales. My original plan was to get to Red Wharf Bay and see the heron and then stay overnight to give myself time to locate the potentially tricky and tidal Black Scoter the following day.

However, the journey went well, and once I was in Lancashire there was a pager message saying that the Black Scoter was showing off the café on the promenade in Llanfairfechan. This caused me problems, as now the temptation was to take this in first, and then go on to the ‘biggy’.

This I then did. By the time I reached Llanfairfechan it was probably around 14:00, and I had to navigate my way to somewhere nearby to park, make sure I was looking in the right place, locate the bird, take it in, and then move on quickly to continue on to Red Wharf Bay to repeat the process.

Recollections beyond the very basic are minimal to say the least. I have vague memories of getting off the A56(T), finding somewhere to park, and then crossing the trunk road to get onto the promenade. Once there, I was well and truly on my own. Fortunately (or not) the stage of the tide cycle and state of the waves were in my favour and once I had set up my ‘scope and had a quick scan I was quickly able to locate the scoter flock(s?) offshore, and easily enough one with a huge amount of yellow-orange on the upper mandible. Little more to say really. Certainly not the best views as quite distant and not the best light, or the longest, as I had a bird to see, but..... .

Seemingly, this bird was about the sixth individual ever to be recorded (difficult to determine exactly because of returning birds). Given the specific status of Black Scoter changed in October 2005 there may have been an increase in interest in the species (and so more effort put into finding and reporting them); having previously looked for them at Lunan Bay in Angus and Dundee, for example, I saw another off Murcar in Aberdeenshire with Stuart Green (possibly after seeing the Sandhill Crane at Strathbeg in 2011?).

Black Scoter, off Llanfairfechan, Gywnedd, photographed during one of its prolonged stays; I saw it in November 2005 (photograph credited to Steve Young).

 Gray-tailed Tattler – Burghead, Moray, 28^th November 1994

So, there I was at Birmingham Airport, on Sunday 27th November 1994, on my way back from the Department of Environment Wildlife Inspectors Annual Seminar in Birmingham, along with several other Scottish-based Wildlife Inspectors, namely, as best I remember, Roger Broad, Roy Dennis, Brian Etheridge, Rick Goater, Alan Heavisides and Eric Meek.

The pager, which had caused ‘interest’ throughout the weekend, proved its’ worth when it announced the presence of a Gray-tailed Tattler at Burghead, in Grampian(!!?!). I, in turn, announced this news to my colleagues, to mixed response, although closet twitchers may well have been amongst my colleagues.... (who included two ex-Fair Isle Bird Observatory wardens and a future Chairman of the British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee and Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust, for example…… )!!

I had no such reservations, and planned my strategy there and then. Once back in South Queensferry I ‘phoned Nick Smith and altered my plans for the whole week. Having freed up Monday, I plotted my approach, and as a result Gilly agonised over whether or not she was going to be ill.

She wasn’t, so I set off alone at 07:30. As I got to Pitlochry the pager armed me with the good news of the birds’ continued presence and so I made a pit stop to ‘phone work to make my excuses, and fuel-up for the rest of the journey.

Then it was on to Speyside and beyond, until finally I reached my destination, successfully navigating into Burghead itself, and then to the appointed spot / stop. Some 20 or so cars were parked up on the green behind the seawall. I assembled my kit, and, typically, as I got ready to join the ‘throng’ it dispersed! However, it was apparent that the bird had moved east along the shore. The shore was backed by a loose rock wall, and was comprised of rock outcrops with pools and expanses of sand in-between. The seawall was separated from the houses and the maltings by a green shore-walk area, which afforded a fine vantage point. Jim Pattinson (?) and others moved along the track in search of the tattler. I asked Jim whether the bird had moved this way, and he indicated it had and that it frequently moved along the shore in this manner. We scanned the waders, and Jim suggested that it had doubled back again.

However, I spotted it close to us. It remained in sight for the duration of my stay, some 50 – 60 minutes. I watched it feeding at less than 30 m range for most of this time in a scene that was – for me – very reminiscent of those involved with the Wandering Tattler at Galveston. At this point I must declare that I had ‘previous’ with tattlers; Mike Thompson and I found the first Wandering Tattler for Texas on St. George’s Day in 1992, just 2½ years earlier.

Anyway, it was a really smart bird – and in my opinion quite distinct from Wandering Tattler.

It had a blackish eye-stripe in front of the eye, with strong supercilium, and a browny-grey crown. Also apparent was a pale grey-brown upper breast and neck, with a paler chin and throat. The bird had darker grey-brown upperparts with dark grey wing tips with faint flecking on coverts. The underparts were white other than a very faintly barred area on the flanks. It had chunky (short) yellow legs, parti-coloured straight medium length pale-yellow and grey bill with long nostril slot, and black eye. Build most similar to Terek(?) Sandpiper or perhaps Green(?) Sandpiper. Overall, it was a very distinctive wader.

An epic twitch. A memorable bird which was well-watched and even car-ticked!

An image of the Gray-tailed Tattler, at Burghead, Moray,  in November 1994  taken by yours truly. It is in there, but let's just agree this is a habitat  shot.

Gray-tailed Tattler, Burghead, Moray, November 1994 (photographer unknown)

Gray-tailed Tattler, Burghead, Moray, November 1994 (photographer unknown)

 Masked Shrike – Innergellie House, Kilrenny, near Anstruther, Fife, 30^th October 2004

So, a bit of context is necessary here.

As was the routine at the time, I originally wrote this account soon after seeing the bird on Saturday the 30th October 2004.

It was an excellent bird and an excellent twitch, and there was a lot to relate. And I had done so, in some detail. And then there was one of those inexplicable word-processing glitches, I somehow completely lost the file. Gone!! Completely vanished from the inner workings of my p.c..

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! All that creative genius, gone!!! Forever...... . I was completely demoralised and became disenchanted with the idea of writing any up such accounts, let alone attempting to re-create what I could never re-create.

And anyway, as has been alluded to in other such accounts from this ‘era’, by now life had got very complicated, and I was struggling to balance everything – work, life 1, life 2, etc.. Something had to go, and certainly one of the things that went was writing up the new species accounts as soon as I could after seeing a new bird.

This remained the case for the next 30 or so ‘ticks’, for ten or eleven years, until my desire for real birding excitement was rekindled by the Isle of May, St. Agnes, Unst, etc., with Ken Shaw, et al..

For instance, when we found the White’s Thrush on Unst I ended up doing a ‘Finder’s in the Field’ account for the Rare Bird Alert website; in effect, this was the same idea, but made even more ‘live’. Even then there were still gaps; although in principle every new bird from Little Bustard at New Year in 1988 (266) to Ovenbird (445) existed in either a hand-written or word-processed form, there were some very significant gaps from Masked Shrike onwards, certainly until White’s Thrush (476) and even beyond in a very few instances.

So, one of the major projects I tasked myself with doing during the COVID-19 lockdown was word-processing (in a standard format) all existing accounts, and filling all the gaps (i.e., writing at least something!) for those species for which there wasn’t any proper write-up. Of the 260 accounts this involved, this, symbolically, was the very last one I tackled..... .

By then I had obviously written all sorts of vacuous nonsense, so I now felt better that I was writing yet more, instead of the highly detailed factual account that once existed (very briefly....).

So here goes. Before the news was released on Saturday the 30th October, Mark Oksien, Alan Lauder and Ken Shaw, plus the original finder Tom Glass (who had first seen it on the 29th, but, unfortunately, he was the only one to see it that day) and various other Fife birders at the scene (and expert birders in Shetland and elsewhere) had agonised long and hard about the identity of the bird. Sure, it wasn’t right for a juvenile or first-winter Woodchat Shrike, but was it right (enough) for a juvenile or first-winter Masked Shrike? That was a big call on a Saturday in October when a potential first for Britain had been found in the East Neuk of Fife (I remember Stuart Green raging, “What the fuck were they playing at – it’s an obvious Masked Shrike?!?!?!?”, down the ‘phone at me at some stage.......!).

Anyway, catching and ringing it was authorised and organised, and once it had been processed the weight of argument was convincing.

It was therefore put out as a presumed Masked Shrike early on the afternoon of Saturday the 30th October.

I had Ellen and Tessa that weekend (I’d only recently returned from a fantastic October half-term raid to the Scillies with Elizabeth, where we had seen Cream-coloured Courser and I had seen Ovenbird). Fortunately, the tap, modern and ballet dance lessons (or were they still so young it was gymnastics?) hell I had to endure on such Saturday mornings had come to an end. I’ve no idea whether we rushed home so I could collect my optics, etc., or whether I’d done so whilst they were doing their lessons, or whether maybe they were already in the car for some reason.

I also have no recollection whether we had to get extra clothing and footwear for them, given they were going bird-watching; I somehow doubt it – I would have adjudged what they already had on would ‘do’.

I’ve no doubt though that I made sure they were catered for before we left, or maybe the news didn’t break until we’d come home and had lunch.

Anyway, once it did, I am very sure they were both bundled into the car for an exciting journey to Kilrenny in Fife. This was an hour long, usually.... . No, I had my very young daughters in the back; I sure I was the exemplary driver.

I, like a very high proportion of the birders throughout mainland Britain, was making my way to Kilrenny (or at least planning to) asap. Being only an hour away, and being able to depart (presumably?) very soon after the news first broke meant that only birders based within an hour or so were ahead of me. As a result, when I arrived in Kilrenny (how had I navigated there beyond knowing it was beyond Anstruther?) it was relatively easy to park, despite Kilrenny being a very small place. There were a good number of birders there, but it was all perfectly manageable. Better, the bird was showing and had been doing so for a good while, meaning that, although more birders were arriving all the time, many of those who were already there were leaving, or at least moving away, chatting and celebrating. I knew many of them, at least by sight; after all, they too were birders based in south-east Scotland and immediately beyond. Better still, immediately adjacent to where the bird was showing was a children’s play-park. How good was that? Ellen and Tessa were promptly pointed in the direction of the play-park, and I was obviously promptly pointed in the direction of the bird.

It truly was the dream scenario for a birder twitching a first for Britain with one daughter who had just turned six, and another who was just four and a half. I subsequently asked Stuart Rivers whether it was Scottish Ornithologist’s Club policy to provide play-parks at all twitches. A jokette that completely bombed, given the audience….. .

I cannot remember too much more about actually seeing the bird other than ‘scoping it at a reasonable but acceptable range across the park as it rested and watched for, and occasionally actively chased and captured, prey from the lower branches of large sycamores, etc..

Seemingly I returned for more on the 14th November (when I saw two parakeets at Denburn Wood.....).

It was a small shrike, with a long narrow tail. It had plumage which was broadly similar to that of a juvenile Woodchat Shrike with a barred crown and back, blackish mask, broken white shoulder patch, white patch at the base of the primaries, black primaries, primary-coverts and alula, and slim black tail with white edges. It had whitish under-parts. It looked cold grey with no warmer tones.

Hurrah!

Masked Shrike at Kilrenny, October 2004 (photograph credited to Tony Davison).