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ASIAN DESERT WARBLER ON HOLY ISLAND

Asian Desert Warbler, The Snook, Holy Island 16 June 2020 (Mike Watson) CLICK ON IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX

‘NORTHUMBERLAND OWES US’, we thought, referring to the pair of Ivory Gulls, which Rocket and I had missed on another of our miserable dips, now seven(!) years ago. However, we were pretty sure that the Asian Desert Warbler found by my old friend Mike Carr yesterday evening on Holy Island would stay a few more hours until we got there. Lucky for us it did but it was a strange journey, having to drive there in convoy in separate cars, owing to the Covid-19 social distancing rules. We chatted over the phone on handsfree a few times along the way, passing the Angel of the North, ‘Wow, what’s that?’ said Alexander and soon afterwards we passed signs to my old home village, Whickham before we raced up the A1 to Holy Island (or Lindisfarne). This was Alexander’s first visit to Holy Island and the ebbing tide still covered the causeway as we joined a small queue of cars waiting to cross at Beal, which was very exciting for him! A couple of whimbrels flew overhead calling and a Little Egret was out on the saltmarsh. I mentioned how Mike Carr and I had to push Andy Mould’s old mk I Ford Capri off the causeway on a rising tide in 1984, with water up to our knees and a fountain of seawater spraying up out of his gearbox. The car died the following week on an aborted trip to the Peak District.

The desert warbler was less exciting for Alexander though, as it remained inside the cover of some small isolated pines on the Snook for long periods, in poor light and usually mostly obscured. It did give up in the end and he could at least see its beady yellow iris through my binos. Even though it was my third in the UK after the Plymouth and Blakeney Point birds in the 1990s, and I have seen lots in the Middle East, I couldn’t say no to another in one of my favourite places. The visit brought back memories of my first BB rarity, which was here on 3 October 1981, a Scarlet Rosefinch found by Colin Bradshaw in the garden of Snook House and then there was the male subalpine warbler I found here with Keith Regan in May 1989 (I must get around to checking which subspecies that was). I had been thinking lately about going a little further afield than Lancashire for the first time since lockdown started, now that the rules have been relaxed a bit. So I was pleased to see only a small crowd, of around 40 people at any one time and it was nice to catch up with another old birding friend Ian Fisher. The rain held off and it turned into a grand day out among a carpet of marsh orchids!

Asian Desert Warbler, The Snook, Holy Island 16 June 2020 (Mike Watson)

‘Are we going to drive across?’


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MORE SANDERLING ACTION

Sanderling on Alston No.#1, 24 May 2020 (Mike Watson).

‘EVERY ARCTIC-BREEDING SHOREBIRD THAT LANDS AT ALSTON IS A PRIVILEGE’ is what Gav said about the first of this year’s Sanderlings and in the continuing strong westerly winds our walks elsehwere on our local patch had not been productive, so a trip to No.1 was the obvious choice this morning. It was feeding along the sheltered west bank of the ‘velodrome’ that is Alston No. 1 at the moment. Alexander is getting there in stalking birds and was able to get very close to it, being much smaller than me! He also managed to move it along to me, down to within minimum focus at times, it was easily the tamest of the eight Sanderling I have seen here so far this month. Fab-u-lous!

We still have a lot to learn about where the Sanderlings occurring in the UK breed in the Arctic. It could be Siberia (there is a recovery from there ringed on the Norfolk side of the Wash) but Tees-side-ringed Sanderlings have staged in Iceland, maybe bound for East Greenland or even the Canadian Arctic? It is amazing to think where the little bird today is bound for. Bird migration is awesome! Thanks to Gavin Thomas for finding today’s Sanderling.

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SANDERLINGS AT ALSTON

One of five Sanderlings at Alston Reservoirs (all images by Mike Watson) CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LIGHTBOX

‘HAVE YOU GOT ANYTHING THIS MORNING?’. ‘Five Sanderlings on the east bank of number one’ was Gavin’s answer. Great, Alston’s No.1 reservoir is only 2km away from Red Bank, Ribchester as the crow flies, where I was at the time (Carrion Crow is the commonest bird on my Ribchester patch BTO Birdtrack walks these days by the way) but with lockdown easing I don’t feel bad about driving to Alston now. The Temminck’s Stint earlier in the week remained on the wetland and therefore out of range of the camera but number one usually offers photo opportunities. I had only managed a couple of Little Egrets of note during a quiet walk along the riverbank this morning so the Sanderlings were an exciting prospect. We chatted about the small number of Arctic-breeding shorebirds that we get in spring in East Lancashire, for instance where was their last landfall? Knowing how far shorebirds fly non-stop on migration we might get a surprise if we knew? Gav’s right in saying that every time we get to see an Arctic shorebird at Alston it is a privilege!

In fine sunny weather shorebirds do not usually bother to stop here so we look forward to rain in spring for this reason but it seems that today’s blustery northwesterly wind was also enough to do the trick. The low water levels at the moment at Alston mean that shorebirds will see a lovely pale halo around the water as they fly over the Ribble Valley, which ought to be something of a magnet for them. Also the increased distance from the water’s edge to the top of the bank right now also means that the zillions of tresspassing dog walkers are less likely to flush shorebirds as they walk around, unless their dogs are off the lead of course. Happily the Sanderlings were confiding and approached me along the stone bank, they look great at this time of year in their lovely ‘Kelloggs Frosties’ breeding plumage. I was also happy not to flush them and leave them refuelling for their next flight.

I plan to write something about my birding during lockdown soon, now we can talk a bit more freely about it. I have certainly reconnected with birding and even Alexander has shown an interest too. I have managed to see over 100 species in the Ribble Valley between Pendle Hill and Alston during the lockdown as well as taking my Ribchester patch list over 100, which is not bad considering it is mostly agricultural land inland on the ‘wrong’ side of t’Pennines and how little wetland habitat it has. Thanks to Gavin Thomas for finding the Sanderlings, they brightened up my day!

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PENDLE HILL DOTTEREL

My first dotterel on Pendle Hill for four years, how times have changed! CLICK ON IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX

DOTTEREL IS BECOMING A RARE SIGHT ON PENDLE HILL. As their numbers become fewer, they are ever more difficult to find as they stopover in East Lancashire on their way north each spring. Ironic that this year has seen the least disturbance on Pendle in recent memory, with hardly anyone making the hike up there, following the dubious closure of the Pendleside footpath. It would still have been a great place to keep your distance from other folks and much less risky than lots of places that were kept open. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this subject and came to the conclusion that the trip to the supermarket is infinitely more dangerous! Nevertheless, the finder rightly didn’t want the news broadcast despite the easing of lockdown allowing local folks to visit, in the knowledge that it would attract twitchers from much further afield. We were already aware of a birder making three c.100 miles round trips to Pendle the previous week in the hope of a dottie. We also thought that if this showy bird by the path to the trig point wasn’t battered by loads of toggers, as usually happens, it might attract some more during its stay but this proved not to be the case even with the lack of the usual endless stream of hikers and dog walkers with their animals off the lead. There really are fewer dotties now than even 10 years ago, a sad situation! The concensus is that this is a first summer female, any other thoughts are welcome.

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