I was back to work after Shetland, but mid to late October is very often the peak period for mega rarities; birders eyes remained fixed on the all important weather charts. And the forecast for 19th October onwards looked potentially impressive, with a prolonged period of easterlies predicted. The autumn had been exceptional for American birds - would the east now deliver too? The forecast included a ferocious storm ('Babet'), which delivered high winds and torrential rain for several days; if there were birds they would not be found until things calmed down. You have to wonder how anything survives these ferocious events, but it does.
On Friday 20th Shetland struck, initially unbeknown to most of us. An Olivaceous Warbler on Whalsey was initially identified as the rare but expected Eastern form, although some doubts were expressed in the evening. On Saturday morning, the bird was trapped and measured, confirming it as Britain's first-ever (but long anticipated) Western Olivaceous Warbler. As rare as rare can be. But I had work commitments on the Monday and travel options following Storm Babet were very limited. A Shetland trip would take a couple of days that I didn’t have, so this was one of those birds I could really do without. Of course the usual front runners booked-out the small remaining number of Sunday flights from Aberdeen, with the intention of staying on overnight. The bird itself was showing well that afternoon and I was gripped, even though this one lacks any of the pazaz of our recent American avian baubles. I kept re-running travel options, but none worked. I'd gone in to procrastination mode, so had to park the notion and accept it needed to stay several days for me to get there. As ever in this situation, news of continued presence the next morning was eagerly anticipated; if it had stayed it would be successfully twitched which only adds to the pain of being unable to go. When that news was negative on Sunday 22nd, I’ll admit to being relieved. I don’t want others to dip, I never do, but I was thankful to be free from the torture of being unable to go. That’s what listing does to you.
Meanwhile, on the same Saturday (21st) there was news of a Black-headed Bunting at Flamborough Head on the east coast. A moderately rare but unexceptional autumn rarity and it's presence seemed unremarkable. The expected deluge of rarities hadn’t materialised following Storm Babet, but there had been a decent arrival of commoner migrants and the bunting had presumably arrived with them. Over the course of the day, despite the olivaceous-coloured distraction from Shetland, questions began to emerge on the bunting’s identity and red-headed was mooted by some. Red-headed bunting is one of those species that must occur in the UK as a wild bird, but they are common in captivity and have a long history of escapees. As such it is not officially on the BOU list despite everyone believing wild birds do occur. The wild bird trade was banned in Europe in 2000 and records dried-up, confirming the regular escape situation. Since around 2005 there have been only a few records, none of which were widely twitched. And then separation of black-headed and red-headed buntings in autumn is exceptionally difficult. So it’s not overly surprising that no record has yet made the grade. Regardless, the species is very much on birders’ radars and I think we all anticipated going for the next one (preferably a singing spring male, but beggars can't be choosers).
It soon transpired that the Norwegian Rarity Committee has recently completed a thorough review of their Red-headed Bunting records, including a review of identification criteria for autumn birds and also moult strategies. In short they have apparently concluded that several of their recent records should be considered wild birds. During the review process, they looked at other European records of both species, highlighting a Shetland (Skerries) 2010 bird that they believed could be categorically reidentified as red-headed bunting. On this basis, it is understood the BOU is currently considering acceptance of the 2010 bird as the first UK record. Of course there must have been many wild birds here, but the BOU process somewhat oddly requires a 'first' before others can be admitted. On the assumption of acceptance of the 2010 bird, the current Flamborough bird seems to be a shoe-in for BBRC acceptance, assuming identity is confirmed. The Norway experts have been sent photographs of the Flamborough bird and believe it comfortably identifiable as Red-headed, and DNA has been obtained so one way or another the identity will be confirmed.
So this bird was worth seeing. I was still tied-up with commitments and work, so had to wait on the Sunday whilst others went. Unlike the Olivaceous Warbler I was relaxed on this one - it seemed likely to stay and even if it didn't there would be more. It's also a very uninspiring bird. Still, Flamborough is a lot easier than Shetland so not a tick opportunity to dismiss, but not one to fret over either.
I went to work on Monday 23rd already knowing the bunting was still present. It had been difficult to see on the Sunday but seemed to be performing better, today - perhaps due to lower numbers of people. Following my meetings I was on my way at 11.30, but was quickly stopped by an M62 incident and lost an hour. I eventually got to the Flamborough North Landing car park at 3.15 and walked the 15 minutes to the favoured area. There were half a dozen birder present who told me it had been showing intermittently and, after about 15 minutes, it appeared with several Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings in a hawthorn bush. It continued to show in the same area for the next 30 minutes and so showed well. Red-headed Bunting pencilled-in. It's a remarkably tatty bird, with missing tertials and greater coverts. That is usually taken as a sign of captive origin, but apparently the Norway review found that it is normal for immatures to commence a partial moult on migration and it's therefore common for them to look pretty grim in October. Have we been writing-off other birds on this basis too?
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| After the recent run of dazzling Yanks, the eastern offering this autumn is decidedly drab by comparison. Had it lingered the Shetland Western Olivaceous Warbler was similarly dull toned. There's nothing like subtle beauty. |
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