The older you get the more you realise how much bird distributions shift over time. Sometimes it’s subtle, like the loss of local breeding Willow Warblers as it’s masked by singing migrants. Others are considerably more clear, like the rapid increase of Black-winged Kites in the Low Countries leading to recent breeding and a very conspicuous range extension of this beautiful and characteristic species. A British record has seemed inevitable, just a case of when. Perhaps in the non top distant future it will be a breeding species too. On Sunday 16th April a probable Black-winged Kite was reported by the A14 in Suffolk, seen by a birder from a moving car. Locals were quickly on scene but only found a pale buzzard. The red alert was rapidly stood down and the wait continued. Then, utterly remarkably, just two days later a birder working in Wales happened across it or another Black Winged Kite way out west in Powys, central Wales. It was filmed and this time there was no doubt, and news was out within minutes. Whether this this the Suffolk bird (if it was one), or an incredible coincidence didn’t matter.
I was at work, but had fortuitously kept the afternoon free to go birding and properly catch up with Pete Brash, a long standing and valued pal from both my early twitching days and the Cape May years, not to mention many a trip to Scilly. We’d somewhat lost contact and I was looking forward to getting together so the bird news was also inconvenient. Happily Pete jumped at the chance to come along and headed to the office, as did Malc
The bird had been seen at 10.30 am and we rolled on to site just after 2. Remarkably few birders were around and most of us spread out to search the valleys. It wasn’t to be, but it was an enjoyable afternoon regardless. There were many Red Kites and Buzzards, but the raptor highlight was prolonged views of a female Goshawk hunting the hillside below us, and a daytime Tawny Owl unusually right in the open. Two lovely Yellow Wagtails and a single House Martin were my first of the year.
The wait for a twitchable Black-winged Kite continues, but either this one will reappear or there will be others and it’s a bird I very much hope to savour here someday (my last were in Morocco on the early nineties).
This was in many ways an enjoyable dip. We gave it a good go and I enjoyed the company. My last twitch with Pete was the 1989 Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, but hopefully the next birding adventure won’t be quite so many years away. The 1.5 hour drive flew by and we ended up in the Leigh Arms for dinner. If Carlsberg did dips…
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