Never Enough Birding: Boobys Everywhere! Saturday 16th September 2023

The upturn in records of tropical seabirds is nothing short of staggering. And terrifying. The Scilly Red-footed Booby remains atop the Bishop Rock as write this, and was incredibly joined by a Brown Booby for a few days last month: two species on the same rock. It’s been no surprise there have been multiple reports of Brown Booby this summer - the seas around the UK are at record warm temperatures. I’ve lost count of how many reports there have been, but they’ve come mostly from the North Sea with birds simultaneously claimed in Yorkshire, Fife, Moray and Norfolk. So, with the Scilly bird, there be as many as five in coastal waters. But who knows really. As would be expected, most of the reports are fly-pasts, but one off Bempton (where else) was photographed on 4th September and tracked further north before settling in the unlikely location of the River Tees mouth a few days later. It’s spent the last two weeks mostly sat on bouys in the estuary, and no doubt felt comfortable in the record September temperatures.

Seeing the Kyance Cover bird in 2019 had been a disappointing experience, as some twitches can be. A lucky few had enjoyed point blanks views of the adult sat on rocks at St Ives in that same week, but like most birders, mine and Andy’s experience was limited to scope views of a less than impressive immature as it fed offshore. The Teesmouth bird was too tempting to miss, even if there will be more by the looks of it.

From the shore on South Gare it had mostly been distant since first being seen in the estuary on 7th September, but enterprising locals had arranged boats out for some birders and the deluge of point blank photos. I was keen for an upgrade experience, but work prevented me from getting away until Saturday 16th.

The heat wave of the birds initial stay had come to an end midweek, with cooler air and stronger winds now settling in. I’d wondered if this might move the bird on, and reports had become a little less frequent.

In the end the changing weather played in my favour. The birds‘ favoured bouys were no longer stable in the now choppy waters, so the booby took to sitting on the decrepit Pilot’s Pier at South Gare, allowing lovely close views.

However it hadn’t been reported after 1pm on Friday 15th. I decided to set off at 7am on Saturday 16th and see what happened. If the booby was not there I could head elsewhere for a seawatch as the forecast was a favourable northerly.

I stopped halfway at Leeds services and there was still no booby news. It seemed likely the bird had departed. So I had breakfast with a decision to make. News of a fly through Upland Sandpiper at Spurn would have been tempting if it had settled. Shortly after, as I chewed on a hash brown, a report of a southbound Fea’s-type Petrel in the Borders was motivational - maybe I’d do that seawatch at Whitburn. I finished-up eating and made for the car, but as I got in news of the booby’s continued presence on the pier came through. Decision made. Hopefully the booby would linger on the pier long enough for me to enjoy close views before heading off for a seawatch. And so it transpired.

When I arrived at 9.35 the Brown Booby was still sat atop the old dilapidated wooden pier in the company of cormorants and gulls, and remained there until 11.07, when it headed out in to the bay. For that hour and a half it mostly chilled, preened, yawned and occasionally wing flapped. Despite being gannet like and brown, there was something very charming about this bird. Slightly comical and for some reason it reminds me of a muppet. I enjoyed being in its presence very much.

I now know that the name of booby is thought to have derived from the Spanish word bobo - stupid. Early Spanish explorers found colonises of booby’s to be comical and the birds were (and still are) stupidly tame. I wonder just how many were consumed on hoard a frigate?

After asking a local birding pal, I decided to drive around to the north side of the Tees to seawatch for the afternoon from Hartlepool Headland. Despite being able to see it from South Gare; it’s a 40 minute circuit. After stopping for food on the way I was at the headland for 12.30 and gave it a couple of hours with locals.

By all accounts it was quite slow, but I don’t get to do much seawatching so to me it was enjoyable. I logged 3 Sooty Shearwaters, 8 Bonxies, ten or so Arctic Skuas and, best of all, a cracking juvenile Long-tailed Skua. There was a constant trickle of Manx Shearwaters, terns and Common Scoter, and four drake Velvet Scoter passed north. A pod of Bottlenose Dolphins lingered and put on a bit of a show too. It was very enjoyable, and I really should make the effort more.