The Double!!! Epic FA Cup Final Victory & Stonking Heron First

26th / 27th May 2023

The end of May bank holiday weekend has delivered some amazing birds over the years - it's very much the business end of spring. For the previous week the winds have been in the east and there was a sense of anticipation. Or at least hope. We’d had a near miss midweek with a belatedly identified UK first - an apparent Indian Golden Oriole on Holy Island in Northumberland. Photos seem to confirm the ID, but the bird was already gone. A massively rare bird had slipped past us. Whilst perfectly understandable, it was a shame it wasn’t identified early as we may have just made it. Then Shetland scored with a Green Warbler; not the major rarity it was until very recently, but still very much mega. Both the oriole and the warbler had travelled a long way to get here. And then the shrikes and Icterine warblers just kept coming (to the far north east and Shetland at least). It felt rare. Surely something from the east was on the cards?

Saturday 26th May was FA cup final day. My beloved Man United were at Wembley against Man City.; the cup-final ultimate derby and a repeat of last year’s defeat. Much as it pains us Reds to say, City are miles better than us right now and I was expecting to get hammered. I was sure we would lose badly, so was resigned watching between my fingers and hoping that we were not embarrassed. But despite this you have to watch anyway. Malc joined me and brought with him more optimism than I felt warranted. But he was right, United played their game of the season and deservedly won. Football, eh?

Man United 2 - 1 Man City. Absolutely brilliant. The weekend was off to a cracking start thanks to the boys in Red. 

Glory Glory Man United.

On Sunday I had a lazy start to the day, then pottered about birding locally. The highlight of another trip to the limebeds was the continued presence of Redshank chicks and mating Ringed Plovers. Two Common Terns flew straight through - a patch tick for me. But migrant wise it was thin pickings. I was just pondering whether to go further afield when an image was posted on the TT WhatsApp group. It was an adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron, an American species, sat on a bridge railing. The photo was pixelated and clearly taken on a phone at close range, apparently in Mayo earlier in the day. At first the poor-quality images suggested it may be ringed, but that soon proved to be an artefact of low resolution. The location was well inland, and it was an adult, so it seemed unlikely to be a new arrival. There are previous European records and this is a species that has been on the radar, so no-one really considered it likely to be an escape if true. We now just needed to know whether it was a hoax, and of course if it was still there. The road signs in the photo background were Irish, so certainly not a US photograph. Shortly after, the video was posted from which the photo was a screen grab. Evidently no rings. No doubts now.

Irish birders were soon there and searching, but with no immediate success. They reported a heavily vegetated river with limited access, so lots of places for a night heron to see out the day. But it was all clearly legit. So much for a bird from the east.

I spoke to several other Brit birders. All were sat on the fence about going. I think there was a sense of disbelief. Wait for news or go anyway? It seemed likely the bird had been present some time, but it was also possible it was moving north with spring. I was free for once and so preferred to go on spec rather than wait until later in the week when work was busier. Others preferred to wait, and I could understand that. We all thought it likely to have been there a while, and also likely to stick around, so there was no sense of urgency. Eventually I agreed to team-up with Andy Clifton, John Pegden and Richard Bonser, and go anyway. Just as that was settled, news of the bird being refound was broadcast. The Irish birders were watching it. Immediately others were coming. I was soon booking a ferry for five - John, Andy, Alan Clewes, Malcolm Goodman and me. My house was a sensible meeting points, so I chilled and awaited there 11pm arrivals, before we set off in my car for Holyhead ferry terminal. I’ve managed to accumulate nine speeding points in the last year, so my days of pushing the limits are over and I wanted plenty of time to make the ferry, which we duly did. I’m going to have to get used to driving sensibly, but that’s no bad thing.

We sailed at 02.15 and I attempted 3 hours sleep in my overly priced cabin. By 05.30 we were in the car and disembarking, so just a 3-hour drive to Mayo to go. News of the birds continued presence came just after 6am and our journey was relaxed. The general view was that the bird may disappear to roost before we got there, so if needed we would wait until dusk when it would likely reappear. We had a ferry booked for 8.30pm, but could amend to the next day if plans changed. For once I had a free work-day and so was happy enough either way.

We needn’t have worried. On arrival in the pleasant village of Balcarra we parked next to the community centre and took the path along the side of the narrow river for less than a hundred yards. The stunning YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON had flown up into the trees but was conveniently perched in full view. As easy as that. We stayed for a couple of hours but the bird stayed on it's perch. Thankfully it was wide awake, so constantly preening, stretching and being alert. Whilst I would have stayed and waited for it to start feeding, it was understandable that others wished to get home for work, and they had a longer journey. As is often the case, it became a sociable affair and a good opportunity to catch up with fellow listers and the ever friendly Irish birders.  It was a lovely day and a pleasant spot to linger. The bird was unconcerned by people, as they often are in the US. Local people reported the bird had been around for ages, at least 3 weeks and some even suggesting years. We'll never know, but who cares with a bird that looks like this.

Massive crowd of about 25. Imagine if this was in the UK?

Grey Wagtail. 

We were back in Dublin for the 2.30 ferry, and spent a bit of time looking from the decks. In Dublin harbour there were a dozen or so Black Guillemots, along with a handful of Arctic terns and more numerous Common Terns. And as we neared Anglesey there were good numbers of Manx Shearwaters, a few Kittiwakes, a Fulmar and a couple of Sandwich Terns. 

Back home for 9pm - a 22 hour round trip. 

So much for a bird from the east, but I'll take it! A lovely twitch and an excellent double weekend. Next!