Cleveland's next new bird?

[Ian Foster]

Hi Damian,

For some reason (maybe because of the observers involved?) I always thought this bird was trapped. When checking references for this update I could find no mention of this so thought I'd got it wrong! Then I remembered I have a copy of Mathers The Birds Of Yorkshire and on checking the Bonelli's record it states "a second example was trapped at Wilton, near Redcar on 20th August 1972". So I then presumed I was correct after all and referred to it here!

Cheers Ian.

[Damian]

Hi Ian,
I think John Mather also presumed it was trapped because of the observers and site involved.
It was stated as just seen in the TBC report that covered 1972.

Regards
Damian

[Ian Foster]

Hi Damian

Thanks for setting the record straight with this. As you say not that it matters one bit anymore. Just shows how things can be miss-quoted!

When you refer to the TBC report that covered 1972 are you referring to Martin Blicks 'The Birds Of Teesside 1968 - 1973?

Cheers Ian.

[Damian]

Yes Ian, that's the one.

Cheers
Damian

[Ian Foster]

Now that the dust has settled, my Head has stopped spinning and my Legs have (just about) recovered it's time for an update.

Friday the 13th of June 2014 will be remembered for one thing only...

Black-winged Pratincole

Following a brief stay at Hauxley in Northumberland on Thursday 12th, this Black-winged Pratincole promptly flew off south giving us all hope that it would find it's way down to Teesmouth.

At approx. 10.30am the very next day the bird was discovered on Back Saltholme and viewable from the hide. Thanks to the finders and local Birders already on site (Cheers Mike) news was out within minutes (probably seconds).

The race for Saltholme was on and by 11.00am a small crowd had gathered in the hide and were enjoying views of this County first as it hawked around Back Saltholme, as the minutes ticked away the Pratincole started to drift further and higher away and it soon became apparent at 11.10am that it was heading off South over the river and soon disappeared as a dot over Middlesbrough (and therefore gracing Yorkshire with it's presence)!

Black-winged Pratincole is a very rare bird in Britain with only approx 37 records. It was new for Northumberland and Co. Durham/Cleveland. Yorkshire has had two previous records, 1909 and a more recent bird at Spurn in June 2001 (I don't think the spurn bird has been submitted but a photo appears in British Birds Vol.92 page 399).

Yet again I failed to predict Black-winged Pratincole for Cleveland but did include Collared Pratincole in my second 10 species! Typical for Cleveland we get the less obvious/expected species first...

Once accepted by the relevant committee's Black-winged Pratincole will bring the County list to 373 Species (please correct me if I'm wrong).

So another year with another new addition! Summer is here and it wont be long before the first returning Waders start to appear. Martin Blick did say my predictions were a little light on Waders and he was right (of course). I reckon we're still long over due a Sandplover so maybe the Snook or Seal Sands will come up trumps? A nice "mongolus" Lesser will do just fine...

Cheers

Ian.

[sidwemn]

Can't tell you what the next new Cleveland bird will be, but I can tell you when. It'll be between 4th & 23rd September - the next time I'm out of the county

Cheers
Martyn

[Ian Foster]

Can't tell you what the next new Cleveland bird will be, but I can tell you when. It'll be between 4th & 23rd September - the next time I'm out of the county

Cheers
Martyn

Little did you know when you typed that...

[Ian Foster]

So June 2014 won't just be remembered for the brief Black-winged Pratincole!

Tuesday 17th June just 4 days after the BWP, news spread early morning of another astonishing first for Cleveland.

Black Scoter

The Black Scoter was reported from The Stray at Redcar for it's second day with a flock of Common Scoter. Very soon locals were on the road and found the bird still present and showing well (for a British Black scoter that is)!

A superb and well deserved bird for the finder (Dave Britton I believe). Not only a first for Cleveland but also Yorkshire!

Black Scoter is a very rare bird in Britain and I'm led to believe this is only the 12th record ever! In fact this bird is only the 3rd record for England following a bird picked up on a railway line in Lancashire in May 2007 and a more recent bird in Northumberland in April and June 2011.

This bird showed well and was photographed till mid evening on Wednesday 18th but had moved on by Thursday disappointing many. Some hoped it would be a long stayer but June is a month that many Scoter move North and several thousand spend the summer just north of Aberdeen. In 2011 the Scoter flock off Aberdeen held all 5 species of Scoter on the British list and it's not to hard to believe our bird could be the very same individual (as could be the Northumberland bird).

In future any Scoter flock will be checked with even more care. Black Scoter has been known to return to favoured area's in the past (Llanfairfechan 1999 - 2007 for one). It's also worth remembering a fair few of us still need Surf Scoter for our Cleveland list...

Did I predict Black Scoter for Cleveland? Don't be daft, of course I didn't!

Once accepted by the relevant committee's Black Scoter will bring the County list to 374 Species (again please correct me if I'm wrong).

Two new birds for Cleveland within day's of each other in June! Who said mid June was a safe time to leave the County!?!

Cheers

Ian.

[Ian Foster]

Autumn 2014 looks like it has just about ground to a halt (some would say it never got going), so I think now is a good time to update this thread.

I was hoping to have an update with a long list of major rarities and firsts that we all enjoyed but unfortunately this is not the case. Although one new bird for Cleveland did grab the headlines and was enjoyed by a lucky few...the rest of us had to put up with Yellow-browed Warblers and Red-breasted Flycatchers, nice but...

Fea's Petrel

Sunday 21st September - Cowbar Nab.

The regular watchers of Flamborough Head reported a Fea's type Petrel heading North early morning, all birders to the North were on stand by and this Mega rare Pterodroma was picked up at several key sites as it headed along the Yorkshire coast line. The decision for Cleveland birders is of course do you head to (or stay at) Hartlepool and hope for the best? Forget Cleveland altogether and go to whitburn where you will stand a much better chance of connecting or maybe just head to the South of the County and try Cowbar?

Mark Askew was already on-site at Cowbar and was soon joined by myself, Jamie Duffie and Mark Rowbottom. Time passed and just when we were starting to think it had passed us by or maybe landed on the sea further south, Mark Askew suddenly picked the bird up heading North. Jamie and Mark also got on the bird and needless to say I didn't...

A well deserved find for Mark Askew (the regular watcher at Cowbar and Staithes) and well done to Jamie and Mark for keeping there heads and securing this major bird. A moment none of us will ever forget for various reasons!

Did I predict it? Yes but I had it down for Hartlepool. Over the years several Fea's Petrel's have passed Flamborough and then been seen further North so this wasn't a one off event. Hartlepool would be the obvious place to watch from but has always missed out and Whitburn now having scored 5 Fea's types (I think) just proves that these birds cut across the Tees bay to far out for us to see.

The recently published British Birds - Report On Rare Birds In Great Britain In 2013 states the North East coast between Spurn and the Farnes has had 21 records of Fea's/Zino's type petrels beating the Southwest by 3 birds! Although this would be equalled by adding the 3 birds accepted as Fea's (all photographed at sea) so we should expect more records in the future and I bet there will be more than 4 birders sat at Cowbar next time! I on the other hand will prob just stay at home...maybe.

If accepted as a Fea's Petrel - Pterodroma feae this will become the 375th Species for Cleveland.

One thing to ponder is how the various committees will treat his bird. Only 3 birds out of approx 60 records for Britain have been accepted as a Fea's Petrel. All the others, 53 birds to the end of 2013 have been accepted as Zino's/Fea's Petrel only and to further complicate things Fea's has two forms (Fea's and Desertas) that look likely to be split into separate species! Just to complicate things even more, Fea's/Desertas cannot be told apart at sea and it would take very good photo's to get a Zino's accepted! Good luck.

The bird in question was seen by a large number of birders between Yorkshire and Northumberland and was photographed at a couple of sites including Whitburn where it spend the best part of twenty minutes...even I may have got onto it in that time, so maybe just maybe it could get accepted to form rather than an either/or?

Some have no problem counting these birds as Fea's whilst others treat it like counting a "Bonelli's" Warbler Sp or a "Lesser" Golden Plover Sp or even a "Subalpine" warbler (more of this later).

I luckily don't have to make these decisions and all of what I've quickly written above are just my own thoughts.

Cheers

Ian.

[Ian Foster]

When pondering the subject of new birds for Cleveland I like many others naturally think of species yet to occur but of course, as was brought up back in 2008 in this thread Taxonomic changes should also be considered.

Over the last year or so various articles (especially in British Birds) have been published on the taxonomic status and identification of the Subalpine Warbler complex.

It is now fully expected that Subalpine Warbler will be split into three species. The BOURC Taxonomic Sub-Committee will soon publish it's 10th report and it looks like they will propose the split. The BOURC will then decide to either adopt the split or not. This is expected to be published in it's forthcoming 43rd report.

The three "new" species if adopted will therefore be:

Western Subalpine Warbler Sylvia inornata, comprising S.i.inornata of northwest Africa and S.i.iberiae of Iberia and parts of southern France and northwest Italy.

Eastern Subalpine Warbler Sylvia cantillans, comprising S.c.cantillans of southern Italy and S.c.albistriata of northeast Italy, Greece, western Turkey and the Balkans.

Moltoni?s Warbler Sylvia subalpina Found in Corsica, Sardinia and northern Italy.


So from a local point of view there is currently 8 accepted records of subalpine Warbler. Only 1 bird is currently accepted as an Eastern Subalpine, that being the bird at South Gare on 8th and 9th June 2002. A well watched bird at Hartlepool on 7th may 1999 is also believed by some to be an eastern and may well be accepted as such by BBRC following the results of a current review of all Subalpine Warbler records.

All the other records in the past (by me at least) have been presumed to be Western but this is now no longer a given. Local birders that were lucky enough to see the 2002 South Gare bird will have Eastern Subalpine for there County list but it's a strong possibility that all the other records will end up in the either/or category and will not be countable! Taxonomic splits do not always result in extra ticks!

The 8 Subalpine Warblers recorded in Cleveland so far are listed below

Hartlepool Headland - 08/05/1975
Wilton (Lovell Hill) -  28/05/1978
South Gare - 30/09/1983
South Gare - 22/05/1994
Hartlepool Headland - 07/05/1999
South Gare - 08-09/06/2002
Brotton - 03/05/2008
Hartlepool Headland - 28/05/2008

Anyone else got any thoughts on this subject?


Whilst on the subject of recent splits and Warblers it was interesting to note that the superb Orphean Warbler at Hartlepool in May 2012 as most of us already know was accepted to form as Western Orphean Warbler. In the recently published BBRC report for 2013 a bird in Pembrokshire in 2013 was accepted as the 3rd record for Britain, therefore the Hartlepool bird was only the 2nd record for Britain following the first at Portland in 1955! Four other "Orphean" Warblers are now in the either/or category.

Sorry for this being so poorly written.

Cheers

Ian.

[Ian Foster]

Looks like I was just a few miles out with Eastern Crowned Warbler !!!!


Damian

Unbelieveable!

[Damian]

Ian,
I will have to think of another now!

[Ian Foster]

Looks like I spoke too soon! never write an autumn off until...well, until it's not autumn anymore!

Thursday 30th October, a large arrival of Thrushes and a scattering of fresh in Yellow-broweds on the East coast was totally eclipsed when Ian kendall goes and finds one of the all time greats!

Eastern Crowned Warbler

Late morning news filtered out of a Phylloscopus warbler, poss Eastern Crowned at Hunley Hall G.C, Brotton! Although elusive on the first afternoon it luckily hung on for three days allowing everyone the chance to see this eastern Mega!

Only the third record for Britain and North East birders have been well and truly spoilt as most will know the first was in Co.Durham as recently as 2009!

Not predicted by me and not even on the British list when I started this thread but Damian Money was bang on with his prediction! I'll look forward to his next vision...

Once accepted and lets face it with the superb views it gave and all the incredible photo's doing the rounds it can't fail, this will become the 376th species for Cleveland (including the recent Fea's).

A fantastic and well deserved find for Ian and one we will all remember for a long time.

Cleveland has produced some fantastic birds with White-throated Robin, Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Sandhill Crane, Western Orphean Warbler, Black Scoter and now Eastern Crowned Warbler amongst others in just the last 4 years!!! It makes you wonder what will be next?

We are all still looking and waiting for the ever elusive Isabelline Shrike and Blyth's Reed Warbler but maybe we will enjoy the likes of Siberian Rubythroat or Rufous-tailed Robin first...nothing seems impossible these days!

Cheers

Ian.

[Ian Foster]

As if Black-winged Pratincole, Black Scoter, Fea's Petrel and Eastern-crowned Warbler wasn't enough, 2014 just kept on giving...

Isabelline Wheatear

Sunday 23rd November mid afternoon a report of a Wheatear at Seaton Snook raised a few eyebrows with the locals...any late Wheatear is worth a 2nd look and with a few Desert Wheatear turning up recently this species was on a fair few Birders radars!

Luckily Tom Francis and Chris Bell were on hand (as usual) and after a bit of searching found the Wheatear still present, the initial disappointment of it not been a Desert Wheatear was soon forgotten when alarm bells started to ring. This bird looked like something all together a lot more rare!

A huge call to make I.D wise and with fading light all credit goes to them both for sorting this out so quickly and allowing 30ish local birders the chance to see this bird on it's first day. A fair few of us realising how un-fit we are trying to run the couple of hundred yards on sand...I thought I was going die before getting to the weigh bridge!

As we all know the bird stuck around for a few days and became one of the most photographed Isabelline Wheatears ever!

Thanks to the original finder Gary Flakes (please correct me if I'm wrong) for putting out the news. The use of Twitter to put out general bird news and not just very rare and scarce bird news proved it's worth in gold. Would anyone have rang out a late Wheatear onto the pagers in the past?

With only about 32 previous records this is still a major rare bird in Britain and was also a new bird for Co.Durham as well as Cleveland. You don't need to ask weather I predicted it or not...

Once accepted this will become the 377th species for Cleveland (Including the recent Fea's Type Petrel)

So 2014 turned out to be a incredible year Cleveland...what will 2015 bring?

Happy New Year!

Ian.

[Keith Ryan]

This topic has got to be the most entertaining and interesting on our forum, keep up the good work Ian, a happy new year to you too.