Teesmouth Bird Club

CLEVELAND'S NEXT NEW BIRD?

In the Spring 99' TBC newsletter (No.13) Richard Taylor wrote an article predicting Cleveland's next new bird and listed about 20 or so species as likely candidates. Of these he so far been correct with 5 species Desert Wheatear, Melodious Warbler, Lesser Yellowlegs, Cetti's Warbler and Long Billed Dowitcher.  Other species that have occurred since Spring 1999 that Richard did not predict are Short Billed Dowitcher, Pallid Swift, Red Flanked Bluetail, Caspian Gull and Wilson's Petrel.

10 years is a long time in birding and things have changed, some species we once thought were almost certain to occur have now gone on to be very rare visitors to Britain for e.g River Warbler and Sardinian warbler whilst others are on the increase like Red Flanked Bluetail and Blyth's Reed Warbler...

What I'm trying to do now is take a fresh look at what we could hope for in the near future taking into account the changes in vagrancy patterns that have occurred since Richard produced his list and in ten years time if I've been correct with 25% of my predictions I'll be a happy man!

Below is my top 10 predictions and the reasons why, some of these are so obvious they were also predicted by Richard and no doubt in ten years time we will still be waiting for them to occur...I've also listed a further 10 candidates.

FEA'S PETREL

One of RCT's predicted species. Each year see's several records of "presumed" Fea's Petrel and although most are from West facing headlands and mostly Irish the English east coast still continues to score this highly prized seabird. Norfolk, Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland have all had several records each so Hartlepool with it's superb track record must one day hit the jackpot...or will they continue to cut across the Tees Bay and be just out of reach?

PALLID HARRIER

The last decade or so has seen a huge change of status for this species. Prior to 1993 there were only three British records but by the end of 2007 the British total stands at around 25! Birds have been seen in several east coast counties and one even over wintered in Norfolk. With several Yorkshire records and a recent claim from Durham, Cleveland could well be next. Seaton Common mid September would be my guess.

RED NECKED STINT

Although there has been a recent(ish) claim of this species in Cleveland I'm led to believe it's not been accepted on a National level so will not be added to the county list (if I'm wrong and I hope I am I can only apologise for including this species here). It's difficult to predict the next new wader for Cleveland and with only about 10 British records this is still a very rare bird indeed but with it's eastern origins and records from other east coast counties Cleveland with it's Superb Wader habitat and Watchers it's got to be a good bet. A nice Adult in August/September on Back Saltholme maybe?

GREATER SANDPLOVER

Again along with Red Necked Stint still a very rare bird in Britain but with several east coast records and it's eastern origin a good candidate.  Early Autumn or even a Winter record from Seaton Snook or Seal Sands?

LESSER SANDPLOVER

Obviously the rarer cousin of the above species but considering more Lesser's have occurred in the last decade than Greater's and Cleveland ability to produce the unexpected it would be quite typical for us to have one of these first...

WHISKERED TERN

It's hard to believe the North Tees Marshes have never been graced with a Whiskered Tern. Spring 2008 saw another influx of the species into Britain with records in Counties to the South, West and North of us! It must surely be only a matter of time, maybe next May on Back Saltholme.

BLYTH'S PIPIT

A difficult choice this one and maybe a bit of a wild card but you just never know...Still a very rare bird and very difficult to I.D but it is being found with increasing regularity as birders get to grips with it's identification (not long ago thought almost impossible) British Birds quoted 17 in 18 years and with a very wide scatter of records so Cleveland could well be next? It's anyone's guess where it'll be found and who will find it but I'd bet my house it won't be me!

LANCEOLATED WARBLER

Once thought to be impossible to find away from Fair Isle, the 1990's saw a spate of east coast records of this species. Recent years have seen a slight return to form but they still must occur. Maybe birders are focusing there efforts elsewhere? The problem is where to look? Any Grassy field, Ditch, Dry stone wall, open turf or Mist net could very well hold a Lancy ! I always have this bird in mind whilst birding South Gare every autumn...

BLYTH'S REED WARBLER

Probably one of the most if not The most overdue species not to have occurred in Cleveland! A few birds have been suspected and it must only be a matter of time before one is clinched in the field or more likely pulled out of a Ringers net! Hartlepool Bowling Green could be the spot. The British total now stands just short of 100 records and 2007 saw a huge arrival of about 20 birds scattered right down the east coast including birds in Durham and Yorkshire leaving local birder's in disbelief that we missed out.

ISABELLINE SHRIKE

With approx 80 British records and so many of these records from Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire we have been very unlucky not to have had an Izzy Shrike. Just like Richard Taylor stated 10 years ago Cleveland is as likely a spot as any for the next. I'll have a guess at Brotton Golf Course late October or early November .

My other Ten candidates in no particular order are...

SQUACCO HERON
COLLARED PRATINCOLE
LEAST SANDPIPER
PECHORA PIPIT
BLACK EARED WHEATEAR
BROWN SHRIKE
STEPPE SHRIKE
WESTERN BONELLI'S WARBLER
IBERIAN CHIFFCHAFF
YELLOW BREASTED BUNTING

So there we have it. Please feel free to question any of my choices, tell me I've gone mad and should give up Birding and please correct any mistakes I've made.

Anyone got any other choices? And if anyone finds any of the above please spread the news fast and try to make it on a weekend or if it has to be mid week please not Boulby or Cattersty gill!

Cheers Ian

I should also maybe have stated the Species Richard predicted that have still to occur within the County that i have left off my list for various reasons, these being Pied-billed Grebe, Swinhoe's Petrel, River Warbler and Sardinian warbler.

It's also interesting to note that of the five non predicted species that have occurred in Cleveland since Richard did his list he was the Finder or joint finder of three of them! Short billed Dowitcher, Caspian Gull and Wilson's Petrel...Quite an achievement!

Cheers Ian.

Hi,

I think I would have been tempted to add Audouin's Gull to the top 10. With a couple just down the coast in recent years I get the feeling this may soon turn up in one of the coastal gull roosts,

Regards,
Jamie

You're right Jamie i should have included Audouin's Gull, it was on a short list and thinking about it now it's probably a lot more likely to turn up before Collared Pratincole, Brown Shrike and Steppe Shrike! The first Audouin's Gull for Britain was only in 2003 and there has now been Five records in total including birds in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. I think i've been mentally scared by having to Twitch Four of them to add it to my British list! How typical would it be for one to turn up on the local patch now...

Cheers Ian.

Some great thoughts there Ian, and with the best part of the autumn to come then arguably the most likely time to add a species to the list is around now.
It is amazing some of the species thought likely in 99 that seem almost impossible now. Sardinian Warbler, River Warbler etc seemed like bankers then with birds turning up both north and south of us but now have taken a downturn in occurrrences.
I would add Sykes Warbler to that list, still rare I know but an increasing awareness of the subtleties of identifying this tricky hippo and our east coast location makes it a good bet in my mind.
Brown Shrike and Black-eared Wheatear are just wishful thinking by the way, no chance! You will have to go to the ends of the earth to see a Brown Shrike!
Amongst the waders I think anything is possible, as I said in 99,so I will go for Stilt Sand. JBD, Back Saltholme, ten minutes to dark.....
Years ago Chris Sharp used to arrange a sweep for the next addition to the list, £1 a go, winner takes all. Anyone fancy resurecting this? My last guesses were Great and Little Bustards and Snowy Owl! I hasten to add that this was because all of the bankers had gone.
One thing is for certain, there will be surprises that no one would predict. I bet Yellow-nosed Albatross was not widely predicted for Derbyshire or Lincolnshire! Someone once thanked me for finding the Short-billed Dowitcher as they had it on the sweep and made a killing and no one was betting on Long-billed at that time.
Cheers
Richard
ps How abouth the next being a new bird for Britain? Spoon-billed Sand anyone?!?!

Another good call there Richard and a species i must admit i totally over-looked! It's got to be a good bet with about 10 British records and a fairly wide spread of records from the Northern Isles right down to Portland. It's a bird i've alway's said i'd hope not to have to travel too far to see as it's only a matter of time before Spurn or Flamborough get one...but like you say why not Cleveland although it would be the first record on the Mainland north of Norfolk!

As for Black-eared Wheatear, yeah prob wishful thinking even Yorkshire hasn't had a Modern day record although three records have been rejected by BBRC! Also i must add it was also predicted by you (sort of) back in 99'...

Now Brown Shrike...Obviously a very rare bird but it's now been recorded in Britain and Ireland on about 5 occasions (Shetland x 2, Fair Isle, Scilly and Ireland). The Scilly bird was mis-identified by many as a Red-backed Shrike so how many others have slipped through? It's a dead cert for the east coast and if a Sunderland garden can get a Sibe Rubythroat Hummersea farm can get Brown shrike! In any case only a Madman would travel to Shetland for a Brown Shrike ;) Where'd you see yours by the way?

So another good call, anyone got any more? Now i've mentioned Siberian Rubythroat it's not such a joke the Durham record could quite easily have been 40 miles(ish) further south...Now that would have looked good in the South Gare Bomb Hole!

I must state by the way not a lot of thought went into the last 10 candidates, although i do believe all are possible and it may have been better titled Other Species considered.

Cheers Ian.

If Richard is going for Spoon-billed Sand for the next new bird for Cleveland and Britain, then I'll go for Eastern Crowned Warbler.

Must be a chance with four records elsewhere in Europe so far !

Damian

Eastern-crowned Warbler would do nicely, cause a bit of a stir. I think if I found something like that I would be incapable of phoning out the news, I would be found there days later!

On a different tack perhaps the next new bird for Cleveland might be courtesy of taxonomic reviews (Bean Geese, Brent Geese etc).
Cheers
Richard

On a different tack perhaps the next new bird for Cleveland might be courtesy of taxonomic reviews (Bean Geese, Brent Geese etc).
Cheers
Richard
[/quote]

Or how about a Cat.D upgrade? White-headed Duck or Ross's Goose? Some would even give White Pelican the benefit of the doubt, all are being considered by the BOURC so who knows...

Cheers Ian.

Good call, WHD and Ross Goose deserve to be upgraded in my mind. Not the Pelican though, never. Nothing to do with the fact that I did not see it! ;D

I do believe WHD and Ross's Goose are being seriously considered for a upgrade onto the british list, it's just a matter of which individual birds are going to be deemed acceptable. Other contentious species that have been recorded in cleveland include Ruddy Shelduck, Demoiselle Crane and Red-headed Bunting. Of these Red-headed Bunting stands no chance (too many captive birds at the time) although i'd shift for a late spring adult or October imm bird now. The Demoiselle Crane Records from Cowpen and elsewhere in Britain in 1967 have alway's held my intrigue and as for Ruddy Shelduck a lot of birders (inc King KEV) are still adamant the 1994 influx was of wild birds. Those four birds at Lovell Hill looked pretty wild to me ;).

King KEV of course is Keith E Vinicombe and not that muppet from up the road that's about to walk out on Newcastle...again  :D

Of similar interest to potential new birds for Cleveland are birds that haven't been recorded for years. I remember GJ used to produce lists of the rarest birds on the county list with the likes of Houbara Bustard, Ferruginous Duck and Little Bittern not having occurred since the 19th century.
Another Lesser Grey Shrike would be much appreciated ( only record in 1974). Great Snipe (2 records in 1976).The Long-toed Stint was a mere 26 years ago. A twitchable Olive-backed Pipit would draw alarge crowd. Surely a second Cattle Egret must be on the cards in the near future?

Good call Chris!!!
A mention that Great Snipe hadn't occurred in the county since 1976 just three days before the South Gare bird turned up.

Now where should I look for that Houbara.....


Martyn

Interesting, your next 10 (+10) species for Cleveland; however I think you are a bit light on waders. There are 23 species on British List yet to occur in Cleveland. Eskimo Curlew is rather unlikely, but some of the other 22 must be as likely, if not more so, than the megas we have had, namely Long-toed Stint, Great Knot and Short-billed Dowitcher.
For the amount of available habitat in Cleveland, this must be as good a county as Cornwall, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk for waders, and we have a few birders, mostly called John, that specialise in wader-watching. I also expect the RSPB Saltholme reserve to provide us with a new bird quite soon.
I would agree with Red-necked Stint, Greater Sandplover and Least Sandpiper (not sure about Lesser Sandplover and Pratincole), but I would include Sociable Plover, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs and Upland Sandpiper.
If the choice were mine, I would request Cream-coloured Courser; then again, lets go insane and predict Willet, Marbled Godwit or Black Turnstone!
PS I wholeheartedly support the idea of resurrecting the sweep for the next new bird for Cleveland, and have my £1 on Canvasback.

You could well be right there Martin with regards Waders, just today oddly enough whilst bored at work i wrote down a list of the 23 species of wader on the British list yet to occur in Cleveland and the very same thought went through my mind! Any of them are possible (as RCT stated back in 99') except Eskimo Curlew and Slender-billed Curlew of course...Killdeer was on a short list but i still think Lesser Sandplover is a good call and yes it will be found by "John".

It may also be of interest to some regarding Cleveland and Waders, 52 species are on the county list (i think) and with this years Terek Sandpiper and Great Snipe all bar one (Long-toed Stint) have made an appearance since 1993! Not a bad total 51 species in 15 years...Other than the Stint, Black-winged Stilt, Stone Curlew and Kentish Plover are the longest standing "Blockers".

So you reckon Canvasback? Not holding back some info from Scailing Dam are you?  ;) ;D ;)

Cheers Ian.

Quote from: RCT on August 31, 2008, 10:01:35 PM
Some great thoughts there Ian, and with the best part of the autumn to come then arguably the most likely time to add a species to the list is around now.
It is amazing some of the species thought likely in 99 that seem almost impossible now. Sardinian Warbler, River Warbler etc seemed like bankers then with birds turning up both north and south of us but now have taken a downturn in occurrrences.
I would add Sykes Warbler to that list, still rare I know but an increasing awareness of the subtleties of identifying this tricky hippo and our east coast location makes it a good bet in my mind.
Brown Shrike and Black-eared Wheatear are just wishful thinking by the way, no chance! You will have to go to the ends of the earth to see a Brown Shrike!
Amongst the waders I think anything is possible, as I said in 99,so I will go for Stilt Sand. JBD, Back Saltholme, ten minutes to dark.....
Years ago Chris Sharp used to arrange a sweep for the next addition to the list, £1 a go, winner takes all. Anyone fancy resurecting this? My last guesses were Great and Little Bustards and Snowy Owl! I hasten to add that this was because all of the bankers had gone.
One thing is for certain, there will be surprises that no one would predict. I bet Yellow-nosed Albatross was not widely predicted for Derbyshire or Lincolnshire! Someone once thanked me for finding the Short-billed Dowitcher as they had it on the sweep and made a killing and no one was betting on Long-billed at that time.
Cheers
Richard
ps How abouth the next being a new bird for Britain? Spoon-billed Sand anyone?!?!

What like Flamborough...not that far from the southern edge of Cleveland as the Shrike fly's ;)

Cheers Ian.

Just to resurect this thread who the hell would have predicted a Pacific larid as the next new bird for Clevaland? Just goes to show....
Anyway I will restart the sweepstake if anyone is interested in doing so, £1 a go, winner takes all the money gathered up until the bird turns up. Your guess only counts on receipt of the money by me and the bird must be accepted by the relevant records committee (ie TBCRSC or BBRC), must be accepted onto category A and must be a full species according to BOURC. I will payout before acceptance if the record is without controversy but if there is any then it will await publication of the record, however it will go on the date the bird turns up, not date of acceptance. I will update peoples guesses here so that you can see what is taken. A decision on controversial issues will be made the next time we all meet up in McDonalds ;D and my decision is final.
Any questions feel free to conact me.
Cheers
Richard
For the record my £1 goes on Iberian Chiffchaff.
ps you can guess more than 1 species if you want.

A good idea to get the old sweep going again...My Pounds on Isabelline Shrike (if it aint already taken). A smart spring adult would do! I could be wrong but wasn't it Colin that alway's wins the sweep?

Cheers Ian.

I thought it was Sooty that always got Sweep  :D
Thats Isabelline Shrike now taken, wont go into races at this stage.
Cheers
Richard

Hi,

stick me down for Audouin's Gull. I've still got a feeling we should get this in the near future. I'll pay up over the weekend assuming you dont get blown away....

Jamie

Sooner than might have been expected this particular sweep has been won by Chris Bell who predicted Whiskered Tern.
Well done to him and it can all start again if anyone is interested.

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


Damian

A near miss Damian! Just shows what could actually turn up. Your prediction was remembered and talked about whilst we watched the Eastern Crowned Warbler on Friday  :)

Cheers Ian.

It's a shame I'm not as close with predicting lottery numbers !!!

Hello Everyone,

Just thought i'd bring this thread up to date as since i first wrote this back in Aug 08' we have had (if i'm correct and please let me know if i'm mistaken) three new additions to the Cleveland list, including today's brilliant Black-throated Thrush!

Glaucous-winged Gull - Saltholme area 31-Dec-08 to 10-Jan-09 (Toby Collett)
Whiskered Tern - Saltholme Pools 26-Apr-09 (John Dunnett)
Black-throated Thrush - Hartlepool Headland 03-Apr-10 to ? (Chris Sharp)

Of these three Mega's i only predicted one of them, Whiskered Tern! I got the location correct but got the date wrong by a few days...Nobody could have predicted the G.W.Gull but what a bird it was and lastly today's rare Thrush, we had a very near miss recently with the Newholm, N.Yorks bird but this is still a very rare bird in the north east!

I think this takes the County list to 365 species.

Thanks go out to the finders of these birds and lets hope for a few more additions in the near future...

Cheers Ian.

Hi Everyone,

With the recent update of the Cleveland Listers Life Lists (and surprised but happy to see i'm still in the top 20) I thought it was about time I did an update regarding new birds for Cleveland.

Since the last update on Black-throated Thrush day back in April 2010 another 5 new species for the county have been found...

White-throated Robin, Hartlepool June 2011 (C.Brown, T.Francis, M.Gee)
Sandhill Crane, Hartlepool Sept 2011 (R.Taylor and Co.)
Pallid harrier, Dorman's Pool, Oct 2011 (I.Forrest)
Orphean warbler, Hartlepool, May 2012 (C.Brown, T.Francis, G.Joynt) - BBRC accepted via Twitter
Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Hartlepool, Sept 2012 (T.Francis, R.Taylor, C.Bell, C.Dodsworth) - BBRC accepted via Twitter

Of these I only predicted Pallid Harrier! 2011 saw a major influx of this species into Britain with at least 29 birds accepted by BBRC! If we didn't get one in 2011 we were never going to get one and what a superb bird it was too!

Of the rest...

Who the hell could have predicted a White-throated Robin would spend 5 day's on the Headland? A true Mega of Mega's, this bird and the twitch that followed has now gone into British Birding Folklore.

The Sandhill Crane of Sept 11' tracked down the east coast from Northumberland (previously spending time in Aberdeenshire). Finding itself on the County list, a fair few Cleveland listers caught up with it as it passed slowly south but many more missed out (including me)! Another Un-predictable bird and not expected to occur again any time soon...

Just under a year since the White-throated Robin, Hartlepool came up trumps yet again with another drop everything and run Mega. This time an Orphean Warbler. Another incredibly rare bird and the first to be twitchable since 1981(?). This bird spent all day in the Bowling Green area but departed over night. Again nobody could have predicted this bird.

Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, a dream bird for any East Coast birder! Once thought to be nigh on impossible away from Fair isle (just like Lancey). The Jewish Cemy, Hartlepool (where else) was the chosen spot for this, the latest addition to the county list. Seen by only four lucky observers before disappearing into the mass of scrub never to be seen again. Three P.G.Tips were found on the east coast that day including another bird just up the road at Whitburn! Co.Durham including the Hartlepool bird has now racked up 4 records since the first in 2010 so with a bit of hard work (take the Fair Isle approach and walk the ditches and fields even though they appear birdless) and luck this is one species that may just give Cleveland birders a second chance!

So five years down the line and of the eight additions to the list I only predicted two of them! Just shows what a fantastic run of new rare birds we've been lucky to see (or not as the case may be) not to mention 2nd records of Long-billed Dowitcher and Bridled Tern...etc

Another species has been added to the County list in the form of Siberian Stonechat (split by the BOU in 2012). The first record of this former sub-species was way back in 1960. This along with the yet to be published new additions brings the county list total to 371 species. Please correct me if i'm wrong!

Autumn is upon us yet again and would anyone outside of Cleveland bat an eyelid at us getting a Blyth's Reed Warbler and Isabelline shrike this year?

P.s Almost forgot! Two-barred Crossbill...an influx of this species has occurred recently into Britain and unlike previous influxes they are not all on Shetland/Orkney. Five birds have been found at one site in South Yorkshire today, this must be the most likely new addition to the county list right now?

Cheers and Good luck

Ian.

Glad you have restarted this thread.
Doesn't seem to have generated as much interest as Curlew Sands on the Tidal Pool. Perhaps if one was a bit leggier and lacked a white rump.........
Still my top guess, and as the first flush of Transatlantic waders is just arriving, maybe soon.
Cant really look too far beyond Two-barred Crossbill at the moment due to one of the biggest influxes ever. If every bird club member spent the bank holiday weekend in larch woodland playing Two-barred Crossbill calls we'd be in!!!! ;D
Personally I would prefer some terrifying skulking thing from way, way east on a misty October morning. Last years Pale Legged Leaf Warbler in Dorset pushed back the range of vagrants we can expect on our shores, and why not Cleveland? Still time for a hatrick from Browny!
And on the subject of second records, we must be due another Aquatic Warbler. SE wind this weekend.....

Obviously having a white rump is no bar to it being a Stilt Sand! ::)

With only a couple of weeks of the year to go I thought it would be a good time for an update.

Autumn 2013 looked like it was going to pass us by without any major Rare Bird action then Hartlepool kicked off in great style with a run of quality birds headed by another new bird for the county.

Western Bonelli's warbler

Found by Steve Clifton and Rich Stephenson on 13th October and luckily stayed in the Borough Hall/Croft area of the Headland till the 29th (?). It's long stay giving everyone the chance to add this species to their County lists.

A very rare bird in the North East (also new for Co.Durham) and very seldom as twitchable as this bird was. Watched by hundreds of visitors over it's long stay and very well documented with photo's, video and also heard to call frequently.

Predicted in my 2nd list of 10 candidates I'm glad to say!

Some of you reading this will of course remember this isn't the first time "Bonelli's" Warbler has graced the county list!

A bird trapped at Wilton Woods on 20th August 1972 was accepted as such by BBRC (British Birds Vol 66, page349). Two decades later and following a review by BBRC this bird was considered inadequately documented (British Birds Vol 86, page 521) and was removed from the county list in the 1992 Cleveland Bird Report.

Once accepted by the relevant committee's Western Bonelli's Warbler will bring the county list to 372 species (again please correct me if I'm wrong).

With 2013 about to come to an end the chance of another new bird this year seems slim but how about another Ivory Gull to end the year in style...

Cheers Ian.

Hi Ian,
I don't suppose it matters now but the bird at Wilton was not trapped.

Cheers
Damian

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.

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

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.

Yes Ian, that's the one.

Cheers
Damian

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.

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

Quote from: sidwemn on June 16, 2014, 12:17:55 PM
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... :)

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.

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.

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.

Quote from: Damian on October 23, 2009, 04:01:36 PM
Looks like I was just a few miles out with Eastern Crowned Warbler !!!!


Damian

Unbelieveable!

Ian,
I will have to think of another now!

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.

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.

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.

Quote from: sidwemn on June 16, 2014, 12:17:55 PM
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

Well it's one prediction I almost got right. It wasn't the next new bird that turned up for Cleveland during this period, but the one after that!

Cheers
Martyn

Quote from: Keith Ryan on December 29, 2014, 12:52:37 PM
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.

Thank you Keith. Sorry it's taken 6 month to respond!

Time for an update

June does it again!

Squacco Heron

Spring 2015 has seen a larger than normal number of Squacco Heron's in the UK. With at least six birds seen so far, all in the far South bar one...

late morning on Thursday 18 June the RSPB tweeted "We can confirm we have a Squacco Heron at Wildlife Watchpoint. A very rare sight indeed!"

Within 30 minutes they also had a Wildlife Watchpoint full of anxious Birders all wanting to add this mega rare Heron to their county lists. Time ticked by and the (very) few of us that were on a lunch hour tick and run mission were starting to get a little nervous when all of a sudden there it was in flight! With pressure off we could all relax and enjoy the stunning views the bird gave both in flight and on the deck, often quite close to the hide. luckily the wildlife Watchpoint having it's large windows meant nobody struggled for a view!

Thanks to the combined efforts of Susan Taylor, Arthur Truby and Dean Heward (Visitor, Hide Guide and RSPB Assistant Warden) we can now add the long anticipated Squacco Heron to the Cleveland list.

Squacco Heron is still a very rare bird in Britain with about 160 records but like other Heron species they are increasing. Most records are as expected from the far South of Britain but Northumberland has had two records in the last decade or so, so Cleveland and Durham birders have been hoping for a record and Saltholme was the obvious location.

Much to everyone's surprise the Squacco wasn't present the following day and was thought to have moved on, but on Friday 26th June totally out of the blue it re-appeared in front of the Phil stead Hide giving a few very lucky County Listers a second chance! Again it seems to have been a one day wonder and with a bird seen in Lincolnshire on Saturday 27th maybe it has gone south or is it still lurking in a hidden ditch somewhere?

When I was watching the bird on that Thursday afternoon I was fairly confident I had predicted this species for Cleveland but on checking here I found I only included it in my second list of 10...I'm really not very good at this...

Now we have had a Squacco and with Heron type's all on the increase maybe we will soon get a repeat of Little Bittern? Although not new for the county it would sure feel like it with the last record dating back to 1852! Fancy trying to see one of them at Haverton in your Lunch hour!

Once accepted this will become the 378th species for Cleveland (Including last years Fea's Type Petrel).

So 2015 has continued with the run of new birds for the county. What will be next?

Cheers

Ian.


Other Stuff

Subalpine Warblers - Rather surprisingly the BOURC split Subalpine Warbler into two species rather than the expected three. They retained Eastern and Western as one species (for now at least, pending further research). This further split is very much expected to happen in the near future so the next subalpine in the county will be getting well grilled!

Fea's Petrel - Last years Fea's type Petrel off Cowbar and elsewhere has been accepted by BBRC as "Zino's/Fea's Petrel Group". Until the Cleveland Bird Report for 2014 has been published I will still include this in the totals given above. Whatever the TBCRSC decide to do with this record regarding the county list I will follow.

As 2015 is just about to call last orders I thought a quick update was in order...

2015 - A mixed year for some but still continued Cleveland's good run of 1st's with the superb Squacco Heron back in June. Already accepted by BBRC this will now grace the Cleveland list as species 377!

As expected following the publication of the Cleveland Bird Report 2014 the Fea's "type" Petrel from Cowbar in September 2014 was treated the same as the BBRC and recorded/published as Zino's/Fea's Petrel and not identified to Species level so therefore is not included in the county list totals. Still an astonishing record and well deserved bird for the lucky few! (maybe next time and there will be a next time...).

Other Stuff

Subalpine Warblers - Quite surprisingly the BOURC disbanded it's Taxonomic Sub-Committee a month or two back so it's anyone's guess what will happen in the future regarding this expected split? At least for now we can all just enjoy having Subalpine Warbler on our county lists...

Brunnich's Guillemot - Although I know very little about this a probable/possible of this mega rare species was seen briefly and photographed off the end of South Gare on 9th December 2015! With a recent record off Filey (03/12/13) it's certainly not impossible...check out the finders Twitter account for the pics @saloplarus.

Collared Flycatcher - A bit of a blast from the past this but some reading this may remember checking out an "odd" looking ficedula Flycatcher at South Gare back in May 2008. This bird was dismissed at the time as just a Pied Flycatcher although the possibility of it being a Collared was discussed whilst the bird was present and news spread as such! A couple of local birders have always had doubt's about the true identity of this bird and just recently Ian Boustead was curious enough to forward photo's of this bird to Martin Garner...the feedback was most interesting and there is a very real chance this bird could well be a Collared after all! This bird must surely now be submitted to the BBRC for them to make a decision (don't know how to add a link but it's well worth a look on Martin Garner's superb Birding Frontiers web site for pic's and discussion...Big question is did you go for it?

So here we are again with another New Year upon us...what will 2016 bring?

My bet will be with Pacific Diver. With 7 records up to the end of 2014 and all since 2007, the first record being from inland Yorkshire and a recent record from Switzerland of all places this is a species that needs to be kept in mind...maybe just one day one of those Diver's in Jackson's Landing will be that extra bit special!

Happy New Year!

Cheers

Ian.

I love this thread, thanks Ian.

Quote from: Keith Ryan on January 01, 2016, 05:37:43 PM
I love this thread, thanks Ian.

Cheers keith. Lets hope we have plenty of updates this year!

Ian.

It's just a Bird, It's just a Bird, It's Just a Bird, It's just a Bird...

WARNING - COUNTY LISTING CAN SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH

How time flies when you're having fun! Nearly a year without an update and 2016 was just plodding along without anything to write home about. Early Autumn was a non-event, September came and went (with westerly's) and finally the winds turned Easterly and October kicked into action. Then something very, very special happened!

SIBERIAN ACCENTOR

9th October - Shetland scores Britains 1st ever Siberian Accentor! An influx of these Funky Dunnock's was happening in northern Europe but this still came as quite a shock.

13th October - Britains 2nd was found at Easington, Yorkshire and became one of the most twitched birds ever! I'd guess most reading this thread actually saw this gift of a bird. Watching this bird on Friday 14th I couldn't believe how lucky we were. A Siberian Accentor so close to home...

15th October - Damian Money (Mr Red-flanked Bluetail), one of the County's hardest working "local patch" birders must have thought he was dreaming when he found Britain's 3rd Siberian Accentor on Hunt Cliff, Saltburn just less than a week after the first was found on Shetland!

News spread fast and the race was on! A few "south side" locals were soon on site and were fortunate to get views of this Mega whilst most of us were still en-route and wondering weather we would survive the climb up the Cliffs! A crowd soon gathered but the bird had gone missing! It was thought to have flown into a field that was not accessible and as time went by it seemed more and more unlikely that the bird was still present. A Radde's Warbler found just a couple of hundred yards away became the focus of attention. As the hours slipped away and with Siberian Stonechat and Pallas's Warbler also nearby a lot of birders either gave up, went back to the car park to pay for more time or drifted away to see the other birds on offer...

This is when the unthinkable happened! The Siberian Accentor was still present and all of a sudden was on show. Maybe 30 or so birders were very lucky to still be close enough to get a view (and photo's) whilst the vast majority were just out of range. The bird was only available for a tantalisingly short 90 seconds or so before flying into a close by Copse and did not reappear by dark!

The long walk back to the car in the gathering gloom was not fun for those that missed out (even the Pallas's Warbler didn't help in softening the blow) and neither was the walk back up in the dark the following morning!

A much deserved find for Damian and what a bird for the County.

Most reading this will know of the incredible influx of Siberian Accentors into Europe in 2016. A total of about 237 have been found between 24th September and 12th December. 13 were found in Britain including records for Yorkshire, Cleveland, Durham and Northumberland.

Could one or two still be lurking out there somewhere? Will one be found wintering at a feeding station? Will anything like this ever happen again? My guess is this was a one off event and those that were lucky enough to see this bird up on the Cliffs that Saturday afternoon will be envied forever more.

Once accepted this will become the 378th species for Cleveland

Another year, another addition. Let's see what 2017 brings...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Cheers

Ian.


If you have been affected by any issues in this update please call 01642 0*005769. The Help line will be open until a 2nd more twitchable Siberian Accentor is found in Cleveland. In the meantime don't hold you breath.

Well here we are at the end of another year!

So what can we say about 2017? Not a lot to be honest...I've lost count the amount of times I intended to update this thread but kept putting off hoping something would happen and give me some real news to report.

No new birds for the county this year! I can't remember the last time we had a blank year? Not got any references at hand so maybe someone more clued up could help out with this?

With a dreadful year now over I think we should all just put it behind us, re-group and look forward to the future...Just what has 2018 got in store for us...well a new BOU/IOC taxonomy for a start!

Earlier this year the BOU announced it would be following IOC (International Ornithological Congress) taxonomy from 1st January 2018. This has resulted in a fair few changes for the British List but only one change is relevant to the Cleveland County list...

Taiga Bean Goose (Anser Fabalis) has now been split from Tundra Bean Goose (Anser Serrirostris)

Tundra Bean Goose is a scarce but annual visitor to Cleveland and the commonest of the two species.

Taiga Bean Goose on the other hand is a very rare visitor with only 10 records attributed to this new species! Time to get those note books out...

A review of all previous records of Taiga Bean Goose is currently underway by the Teesmouth Bird Club Records Sub Committee.

With the addition of this new species the Cleveland list now stands at 379 (please correct me if I'm wrong).


Other Stuff

Isabelline Shrike

Long anticipated to make an appearance in Cleveland and frustrating birders year after year..."Isabelline Shrike" has now also been split into two species by the BOU/IOC.

Isabelline (Daurian) Lanius isabellinus

Red Tailed (Turkestan) Lanius phoenicurodes

Very few records of either species (mainly Adult Males) have been accepted to species level. This now leaves a huge amount of records in limbo as either/or's (I've seen at least 7 Isabelline shrikes and none accepted to species level. A "tick" lost)!

So when one of these species does grace the County with it presence lets hope it's an Adult Male just like the stunning Turkestan Shrike seen at Whitburn back in 2006!

For the sake of a prediction I will go with Daurian Shrike as the first to appear. It's believed to be the commoner of the two but will take a multi observer record with a lot of detail and photograph's for an acceptance...


Collared Flycatcher

The record of a bird at South Gare in May 2008 has now been rejected by BBRC. It's believed to be a hybrid Collared/Pied Flycatcher if I remember correct. An incredible record itself!


So there we go 2018 starting with an addition to the County Total...but what could be next?

I'll go with Black-browed Albatross. Most reading this will know an adult bird has visited Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire a few times this last summer. The same bird left Bempton and was seen to fly North close inshore past Whitburn, co.Durham early the next morning! This bird must have passed along the Cleveland coast line very early that morning (last June I think?)...This bird has been spending the last few summer's in the North Sea, mainly in Germany and has made several appearances in Britain...When not out at sea or sat on it's ledge it frequently spends it's time with Mute Swans just like it did at Minsmere in Suffolk...imagine that on East Saltholme one morning!!!


Again I will apologise for any mistakes in the above. You wouldn't think I've had a year to write this!

Good Luck and Happy New Year!

Cheers

Ian.

At last something to write about!

Hooded Merganser

Late Morning on 6th May Oscar Dewhurst, a young Birder studying at Durham was playing Golf (so I am told) on Seaton Carew Golf Course, when adjacent to the flooded field by the Zinc Works Bushes he found a unfamiliar bird, took a photo and had the good sense (probably knowing exactly what it was and how significant it might be) to send the photo to Martyn Sidwell. Martyn was luckily still out in that Local Birding Hot Spot called McDonalds, Hartlepool at the time with several others and on seeing the photo no doubt nearly dropped his Big Mac!

The bird, a young Male was still present and news was spread. As more Birders arrived the bird became nervous and flew from the flooded field and moved to the Hartlepool Power Station Golf Course before moving again into a ditch on Seaton Common.

Although elusive and difficult to find at times it was seen by a large number of Birders throughout the afternoon. It was searched for extensively the next day but was not found and had clearly moved on.

Photo's revealed the bird was fully winged and unringed...

This bird was only the Tenth (acceptable) record of Hooded Merganser for Britain!

My thoughts are that due to it being a 1st Summer (2nd calendar year) bird, fully winged, unringed, quite nervous, unapproachable and the fact it's stay was so brief it will be accepted by BBRC. The time of year is perfect for Duck to be moving North (check out previous records of Ring-necked Duck, American Wigeon, Lesser Scaup and Bufflehead) so any committee would have to come up with a very good reason not to accept this individual!

A previous accepted Hooded Merganser was present on Shetland from 15th April to 2nd May 2006 and a pair of Hooded Merganser were accepted by the Irish Rare Birds Committee from Co. Mayo on 19th to 23rd May 2015.

It's also interesting to note that the population in North America has grown enormously over the last 40 years with a 1,100% increase!


Most reading this will know this is not the first Hooded Merganser to be seen in Cleveland. From August 2009 to April 2010 a Juvenile Male was seen at several sites around the county but due to the early arrival date (especially for a juv that would have had to have crossed the Atlantic) and it's long stay was not accepted by BBRC.


Once accepted this will become the 380th Species to be recorded in Cleveland!

Anyone else got any views on this bird? Would be interesting to hear other peoples thought's...


Cheers

Ian.

Ringed or not?

A couple of photos taken by Derek Clayton appear to show a pale/white darvic ring on the right tibia. Unfortunately the body feathers partially cover it.

I didn't get to see it myself but I understand some people saw the bird stood preening and didn't see a ring.

Opinion seems divided whether or not it was ringed.

Thanks for sharing the photo's Ian.

I had previously looked at these photo's when they were posted in the TBC Rare Birds Gallery. I'd heard a rumour Derek thought the bird was ringed.

When blown up I believe the pale strip (presumably what is thought to be a ring?) is actually feathering? It's the exact same colour as the feathering higher up on the leg. I think the image is a little blurred due to the bird flying and appears to show a band!

Martyn Sidwell's photo's on Twitter and the RBA gallery clearly show all the right leg and there is no sign of a ring of any sort.

Hopefully Martyn will post his pics here for all to see?

Don't think i've heard anyone else think the bird was ringed but could be wrong...these are only my thoughts of course. Anyone else agree/disagree?

Ian.

I saw it scratching with it's right leg and saw no sign of a ring.

The Hooded Merganser's right leg was seen clearly by a number of birders through telescopes when it had a lengthy scratch shortly after we first arrived. No ring was seen by anyone present.

I've attached a couple of photos. I have studied a series of 12 frames, with the right leg stretched forward, back and down. Photos checked on my 26" ProArt Professional Graphics monitor in close detail and I can 't see the "ring" that Derek is seeing in his photos. If there is a ring, where has in gone in my photos? Opinions seem divided, but the vast majority are of the clear opinion that there was no ring. I have discussed this with Derek and we have agreed to disagree. We'll see what the Rarities Comittee make of it.

Martyn

Thanks for sharing Martyn. Superb images!

Ian.

So maybe 2017 wasn't so bad after all!?!

Back on 31st December 2017 I stated that year was the 1st blank year for new birds for Cleveland for a long, long time (I never actually went back and checked when that was in fact...)

Well it appears I was incorrect!

Dark Eyed Junco

On 9th January this year a Lady called Nicky Johnson posted 3 photo's of a Dark-eyed Junco she had taken in her garden in Yorkshire "a couple of years ago" on Twitter.

Instantly Yorkshire birder Mark Thomas asked for the location and she responded "it was in Guisborough"!!!

This record suddenly became a lot more interesting...

Further details have been forthcoming and it is now known the Junco was present in her garden in the Hunters Hill area of Guisborough for several hours on one date only in June 2017!

As one local birder (MRKA) is a near neighbour of Nicky Johnson we now also know the Bird Table the Junco visited is viewable from the road (OUCH)...

So there we have it a new bird for Cleveland identified retrospectively from photo's. It was bound to happen one day and again we have the use of Twitter to thank. Without the ease of digital photography and social media this fantastic record could very easily have been left undiscovered on the finders memory card!

Dark-eyed Junco is an exceptionally rare bird in Britain with just 46 records to the end of 2017 (including this bird). A large number of records coming from Gardens, in fact the comment for this species in the last BBRC report starts with "If you wanted to find a rarity at your garden feeder, Dark-eyed Junco might be high on your wish list".

It's interesting to note 4 birds are already accepted for Spring 2017 with birds seen in Borders, Hampshire, Meirionnydd (where?) and Pembrokeshire.

Once accepted and I personally can't think of any reason it won't be, this will become the 380th bird for Cleveland.

The Hooded Merganser of May 2018 (again when/if accepted) will take the Cleveland total to 381.


One thing to be learnt from this record is if you ever get told by anyone they have a funny bird in their garden it might be just worth a quick visit...


Well that's enough of the past, let's look to the future...2019 surely has to be the year we get Iberian Chiffchaff (spring) and Blyth's Reed Warbler (autumn) hasn't it?

Cheers

Ian

A certain swift in Autumn, 2018 is surely worth a mention.

Always worth a mention Keith but was Cleveland's second record (never thought i'd be writing that), so not quite relevant to this thread...I'm sure the official write up in the 2018 Bird report will be a good read though!

Has to be said that afternoon watching that Little Swift bombing around with a Pallid Swift will never be forgotten. More than one local birder has said it was the best bird and birding event they have ever experienced in Cleveland!


Cheers

Ian.

Good news regarding the Hooded Merganser of May 2018 - BBRC sent a Tweet out today confirming this bird has now been accepted! A tricky bird to connect with and missed by a fair few not reacting quick enough or thinking it would be put down as an escape...Best make it a rule to go see the bird first then worry about it's provenance.


Maybe White-headed Duck, Red-breasted Goose, Ross's Goose, Ruddy Shelduck and even White Pelican could/should make the grade?


Ian.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun
​
So it's now been just over ten years since I started this thread (twenty years since Richard did his predictions) and what a decade it's been!​
​
The County List stood at 362 back in August 2008 and since then we have had a phenomenal 19 new species added including the recently discovered, not yet accepted Dark-eyed Junco record!

Lets have a quick recap...​
​​
363. Glaucous-winged Gull - 2008​
364. Whiskered Tern - 2009​
365. Black-throated Thrush - 2010​
366. White-throated Robin - 2011​
367. Sandhill Crane  - 2011​
368. Pallid Harrier - 2011​
369. Western Orphean Warbler - 2012​
370. Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler - 2012​
371. Siberian Stonechat - Upgraded to full species status (not sure how we stand with Sibe Chat still on the County list at the moment)!?!
372. Western Bonelli's Warbler - 2013​
373. Black-winged Pratincole - 2014​
374. Black Scoter - 2014​
375. Eastern Crowned Warbler - 2014​
376. Isabelline Wheatear - 2014​
377. Squacco Heron - 2015​
378. Siberian Accentor - 2016​
379. Dark-eyed Junco - 2017
380. Taiga Bean Goose - Upgraded to full species status from January 2018
381. Hooded Merganser - 2018

That is some list, including some incredible birds...we also had the 2014 Fea's type Petrel that was not accepted to species level and Fea's Petrel has now been removed from the British list.

So that leaves us just 19 species short of the magic 400!

Please correct me if I am wrong regarding any of the numbers.

How many did you see? I managed a cool 15 of them!

Could we have a decade like the last? It would take some beating but you just never know, we have still to record our first records of some regularly occurring species like Blyth's Reed Warbler, Isabelline Shrike of some sort or another and Iberian Chiffchaff. Could some of the current Cat.D species be upgraded? Will any future taxonomic splits help us out (White-fronted Geese maybe)?

In the next couple of weeks (ish) I will be taking a fresh look at what I predict could be our next 19 additions to the list...I recently very quickly wrote down a list of species I think are most likely to occur and it added up to exactly 19 species...

Cheers

Ian

Well I thought I had better get on with this and post my all Brand New Predictions for the County! Spring is upon us and the next new bird could be just around the corner...



Pacific Diver

A relatively "new" species but starting to be found more regular in Britain and the Western Palearctic. The North East has records from both Yorkshire and Northumberland so I see no reason why Cleveland could not see the next. I'll go with a January bird in Hartlepool Harbour/Fish Quay, although an Inland water is not out of the question.


Black-browed Albatross

A Dream bird for any East Coast Sea-watcher but with a regular Adult summering in Germany, often taking a wander round the North Sea we could very well see this magnificent bird pass one of our sea-watching spots. This bird has visited Yorkshire and been seen passing both the Durham and Northumberland coast line. It surely must have flown through Cleveland waters on the morning of 29th June 2017 before being seen off Whitburn...


Pied-billed Grebe

A bit of a long shot this one I think (but aren't they all). Pied-billed Grebe's are a rare bird. I could be wrong but records seem to be slowing down (other than a couple of regular birds in Argyll and Shetland). There has been records from Yorkshire and Northumberland in the past and more recently a bird in Manchester so maybe the next bird in Northern England might just pay us a visit. Scaling Dam or Crookfoot reservoir must be the most likely locations for one of these.


Lesser Sandplover

As with a lot of species records of Lesser Sandplover appear to have slowed down but I still think we could score one of these one day...Maybe someone will get lucky and find one roosting with Ringed Plover at Newburn, it would be a first for the North East as far as I am aware so maybe wishful thinking?


Greater Sandplover

Like it's lesser cousin records are slowing down but last year one paid a visit to East Yorkshire so you just never know...Once over I would have bet on Seal Sands but maybe Seaton Snook might be a better bet?


Stilt Sandpiper

With approx. 38 British Records that include several East Coast birds, Cleveland could very well be next in line for one of these Stunning Waders. Recent years have seen records from Northumberland, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. A Smart Adult on Saltholme West one August evening would do just fine.


Red-necked Stint

Another Wader that we could very well be next in line for. Still a very rare bird and we don't get a fraction of the numbers of Stints we used to but I still think the Tidal Pool could be graced by one of these one day.

Collared Pratincole

Again another long shot and I was very much in two minds weather to include this species on the list but we did get a Black-winged Pratincole so you just never know! Where would one appear is anyone guess, Cowpen, Brinefields and Seaton Common maybe? I'll go with Saltholme getting the double Pratincole whammy...


Brunnich's Guillemot

Once over this species would have seemed highly unlikely to make this list (and still is I hear everyone muttering) but recent records of live birds from Yorkshire and Fife as well as a very unpredictable bird in Dorset just shows we could be in with a chance. A moribund bird in Hartlepool Harbour following a October Northerly Gale maybe?


Brown Shrike

This once Mega rarity has in the last decade become almost annual in Britain. With over 20 now recorded including at least three from Yorkshire I honestly believe we will see this species in Cleveland before either of the "Isabelline" Shrikes. Most likely site? Who knows...Hartlepool, North Gare, South Gare, Hunt Cliff or Hunley Hall are all in the running...


Daurian Shrike

I'm not going to go on too much about these Isabelline Shrikes and I was very tempted not to include either species on this list. A good species ruined by DNA! At the moment only Adult Males are "apparently" acceptable and the chance of one of those is slim (but not impossible). I think Daurian could occur before Turkestan and maybe one day Adult Females will also be acceptable (not sure about juveniles as it seems DNA can't sort them out!). Or even better they get "lumped" again as one species. Still hard to believe we have never has a "Izzy" Shrike of any form...How about a Stunning adult male in early June on a fence between North Gare and the Zinc Works Road.


Iberian Chiffchaff

As I write (April 27th) this species must be The most likely addition to the county list? A lot of people reading this will have travelled to Portland for a bird back in 1999 when it was still classed as a Mega rarity. There has now been just short of 70 British records and the species has even successfully bred in South Wales! This is a species that can and does occur just about anywhere. I always think Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park would be just perfect for one of these.



Blyth's Reed Warbler

If it were Autumn I would be saying this is The most likey addition to the county list. Not that we are out of a chance in late spring of course...It really is frustrating that we have not recorded a Blyth's Reed Warbler. Most East Coast counties have multiple records...we have simply just missed out! It is now classed as a scarce migrant rather than a rarity and one even spent this winter in Manchester!!! Surely, surely this is the year we put this species to bed? I recon Chris Brown will Bag our first BRW.



Sykes's Warbler

A hard one this. Very rare and very good views or a trapped bird will be needed but Northumberland has recorded this species. I believe Yorkshire is surprisingly still awaiting it's first (correct me if I am wrong) so could a Cleveland bird on the South Side please all parties? I bet Damian wouldn't mind finding one of these in his nets up on Hunt Cliff...



Moltoni's Subalpine Warbler

One of those "New" species. Not yet recorded in the North East but records are increasing (could very well be annual) and it's only a matter of time before one is found. South Gare has a good record for Sub Alps so that's where id put my money.



Siberian Rubythroat

Once considered the Holy Grail of British Birding...There has now been about 15 records of this Mega Sibe and although I cannot see it ever going the way of Red-flanked Bluetail, I think records will continue to increase and a Twitchable East coast bird is long over due. Remember one of these visited a Co. Durham garden several years ago...The Outer Bowling Green at Hartlepool or South Gare's Bomb Hole will do just fine!



Collared Flycatcher

They don't come much better than a Male Collared Fly! Records are increasing I believe and birds have graced both Northumberland and Yorkshire (at least twice). Several sites could easily host one of these stunners (St. Mary's, Hartlepool, Locke Park...) but i'll go with Hunley Hall, late May...This May with any luck!


Stejnegers Stonechat

Recently split from Siberian Stonechat and only DNA'd birds are currently acceptable but with Cleveland's excellent track record of Sibe Chats (11 records?) It must be a good contender. It appears this may be a fairly regular vagrant to Britain in late autumn. South Gare must be a good bet and hopefully one will be seen to have a crap on a fence post!


Blyth's Pipit

Another bird i'm not 100% I should have included. Rare and quite difficult to I.D but they are out there and a well twitched bird was found in West Yorkshire a few year ago so you just never know. Old Cemetary at Hartlepool could easily host one of these as could several other sites. Even a wintering bird on Cowpen Marsh wouldn't be out of the question.


Other Species considered and all probably just as likely or unlikely as several that made my list...

White-winged Scoter
Little Crake
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper
Audouin's Gull (had this in my top 19 but dropped it last minute...)
Sooty Tern
Turkestan Shrike
Eastern Bonelli's Warbler
Lanceolated Warbler
Dartford Warbler
White's Thrush


So there we have it, nineteen species listed that would take the Cleveland list to the Magic 400!


Please let me know what your thoughts are and feel free to correct me on any of the above (I wrote most of this from memory except checking a few details in BBRC reports).


Cheers

Ian.

Think I'll pass on the Sykes Ian, they don't do much for me if I'm honest. Id take the rubythroat or Collared Fly though...

Ha! Don't blame you Damian. Think I dealt you a bum deal there... ;D

Incredible to think that three of the species on my prediction list were present in Yorkshire yesterday...

One down, Eighteen to go...

Sooty Tern

This story starts way back on 24th June when a Sooty Tern was seen to fly North past Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire. Could this be the 2018 bird that was seen in Northumberland on two dates and spent a good fortnight or so up in north East Scotland, not forgetting it was also seen briefly of Whitburn?

No more sightings until 9th July when again what was presumably the same Sooty Tern was seen to pass Flamborough heading South...then things got interesting. It was soon seen to pass Scarborough heading North!

The bird was motoring along and Ian Kendall was quick thinking enough to position himself at Cowbar and was soon watching the Sooty Tern pass close in heading North (the mind boggles to think what this moment must have felt like)!!! I don't have any more detail and can't wait to read Ian's full account when published...

Panic now set in and a good 25 or so Birders headed to Hartlepool (remember that once great Sea-watching Hot-spot?)!

Time went by and hopes started to fade...then news came through...the Sooty Tern had passed Whitburn Obs heading North and was then subsequently seen at various points until it reached Seahouses, Northumberland! All hope was gone.

I purposely didn't update this thread in the vain hope we would all get a second chance had the bird returned south at any point but as the summer past and autumn came and (as I write nearly) went this Mega Tern wasn't seen again...Maybe next year?


Once accepted this will become the 382nd Species for Cleveland.


Other stuff

Siberian Stonechat

Most reading this will know the history of this "species" and the British list. We waited a very long time for Siberian Stonechat to be upgraded to species level and when it finally did, it was added to the Cleveland list. I think we have had eleven records so far?

All was well and good for a few year but now "Siberian Stonechat" has been split again into two species...Siberian Stonechat (Saxicola maurus) and Stejneger's Stonechat (Saxicola stejnegeri)!

BBRC has recently stated they will (for now at least) only accept birds supported by DNA analysis! This has left the vast majority of British records of "Siberian Stonechat" all 408 of them as an either or and therefore not countable!

None of the Cleveland records have now been accepted to species level, so in my opinion should be removed from the County list! Maybe not a popular view...

Until this has been decided and announced by the Teesmouth Bird Club Records Sub-Committee I will leave Siberian Stonechat on the list and included in the total number for the county.

A putative Stejneger's Stonechat was seen at Whitburn in Co. Durham just this week gone (a lot reading this will probably have seen this bird) so maybe we won't have to wait to long before we can add one, if not both of the Eastern Stonechats to the Cleveland List? Just remember to have a sample pot at hand for any "droppings" left behind...DNA, it's the modern way!

As ever please feel free to comment and correct me regarding anything at all...as usual this was written very quickly whilst drinking a 5.9% IPA!

So Autumn 2019...not quite a classic (unless you're called Ian Kendall)...do we still have time for that Star bird? Remember what happened last November? It might not be quite over just yet...

Cheers

Ian.

Siberian Stonechat...Off the list!

Anyone who has been paying attention and read the latest minutes of the TBC Records Sub-committee January 2020 meeting will now know that Siberian Stonechat (Saxicola maurus) has been removed from the Cleveland List! This is of course due to the BOU following IOC taxonomy who have split Siberian Stonechat from Stejneger's Stonechat (Saxicola stejnegeri). BBRC now only accept DNA supported records as the field identification is for now at least regarded as unsafe...

Regarding British Birds Rarities (of which Siberian Stonechat is), it is of course TBCRSC policy to abide by their decision. So it is only right that this species should be removed from the list as none of the 11 Cleveland records have been accepted to species level supported by DNA!

As I have said previously, Splits don't always result in Ticks!

With this deletion the County list now stands at 381 (including pending Dark-eyed Junco and Sooty tern). Please correct me if I am wrong.

All 11 previous records of what I now refer to as "Eastern Stonechat" are listed below.

Hartlepool Headland - 26th October 1960
Hartlepool Headland - 13th to 15th May 1985
Seaton Carew Cemetery - 9th to 13th October 1991
South Gare - 23rd to 24th October 1993
Hunt Cliff - 16th to 17th October 1999
Boulby - 26th September 2001
South Gare - 20th October 2004
South Gare - 24th October to 2nd November 2004
Hummersea - 29th September 2007
Seaton Common - 3rd to 4th December 2011
Hunt Cliff - 13th to 15th October 2016

Having a quick look at these records, it's quite obvious late September to late October is the prime time to find one of these beauties and the same would apply to Stejneger's Stonechat too!

Hopefully it won't be too long before we get another chance with Siberian Stonechat and this species should now be added to my list of predicted species for the County list. In fact it's got to be one of the most expected has it not?

So what do we have to look forward to in these troubled uncertain times. Will Covid-19 (not Corvid as I call it every single day...) write spring 2020 off the calendar? Will we ever be allowed out of the house ever again? Maybe buying one of those new houses just North of Old Cemetery wouldn't have been such a bad idea after all!?! It just goes to show we should never take anything for granted ever again...

Well if we all stick to the guidelines maybe we will get through this as quickly as we can. God help us all if it carries on through the Summer and into Autumn... Lets all take our permitted walks daily and maybe one of us will get lucky with Cleveland's first Iberian Chiffchaff! A species that can turn up just about anywhere...

Oh and remember if a County Mega does turn up any time soon...anywhere is within walking distance if you set off early enough...(only joking of course...)!

Stay safe everyone and lets hope we all get together soon for the next Big one!

Cheers

Ian.

BBRC Announcements

If you follow The BBRC on Twitter you will have noticed that both the Dark-eyed Junco from Guisborough June 2017 and the Sooty Tern from Cowbar July 2019 have now been accepted (as expected) officially.

Well done to both of the finders of these Mega Rarities, both birds only seen by the sole finders!

If this Covid 19 Lockdown continues could someone else be lucky with a Garden Mega find?

So with these two birds accepted is there any other potential new birds for Cleveland on the Pending list?

Well a whole load of Ross's Geese have now been removed from the BBRC's Wip file! The previous file had various records down as Cat E, so some people believe that they have all been put down as escapes. With no official announcement we will just have to wait and see...

Regarding the BBRC Wip file, the latest version has the 2011 Red-breasted Goose as back in circulation! Some observers have always believed this bird to be acceptable, others not! If you remember this bird was first found on the coast below Hunt Cliff on 30th September. It quickly moved inland to Scaling Dam Res where it stayed put until 1st November and was last seen on the sea off Cowbar on 9th November. It them moved down into Yorkshire (Inland of Scarborough I think) and eventually teamed up with some Barnacle Geese and moved North West to the Solway!

The bird was not accepted as wild by BBRC from Cleveland and Yorkshire but was accepted as wild from the Solway! This is how I remember the story went but am willing to be proved wrong...

So could this bird now be accepted as wild after all or will BBRC look at it another way and put the Solway record into Cat E as it was from Cleveland and Yorkshire?

I personally believe Wildfowl should be given the benefit of the doubt until proven guilty. If they show no obvious signs of captivity then they should be accepted. A very difficult group of species to judge of course with so many held in collections throughout the UK and Europe. Every birder will have their own opinion on these birds but one thing we should all agree on is a level of consistency...

Lets watch this space and see how this develops...

Cheers

Ian.

One down Eighteen to go...again.


The last two days of May were quite frustrating for local birders. With the Covid 19 Lockdown restrictions relaxed to some extent, birding was back on the agenda! Could Spring 2020 be saved?

Saturday 30th started with a search for a possible Upland Sandpiper at Saltholme that was seen all to briefly the night before. Sunday 31st felt like May was going to slip away rather uneventful, then at 12.45 came some Jaw Dropping news...

Calandra Lark

Sometime just after 12 noon, Graeme Joynt and Tom Francis had a Calandra Lark fly right past them whilst sat at Greatham Creek! The bird was lost to view heading North and a search failed to relocate, so presumably it went straight through...

Just reward for two of Cleveland's most persistent, hard working and ever present in the field Birders! It just goes to prove if you put the hours in the rewards will come...

For the rest of us, well we were just left a little shell shocked! It really was over before it began. Calandra Lark does not have a habit of hanging about and this one stuck to the rule book! We all wish it had landed and so do the finders. To quote British Birds from the 2011 Rarity Report "This species is notorious for short stays and fly-over records, and has a predilection for islands." Says it all really...

With only about 20 British records this is still a major rarity and the mainland has not had one Twitchable bird to date! The very few that have stayed for any length of time have all being on Islands and you still had to be quick off the mark to connect with one!

So did Calandra feature on my list of predictions? Don't be daft...

Once accepted this will become the 382nd species for Cleveland.


Other Stuff

Subalpine Warbler

It has recently been announced that the I.O.C are to finally split Subalpine Warbler into two distinct species, Eastern and Western. I wont go into to much detail now but Cleveland has had at least two confirmed records of Eastern Subalpine Warbler but Western may not have occurred at all? A review may be in order but as "Subalpine Warbler" was dropped as a BB rarity in 2006 a whole load of records were not assessed and a review by BB would be a huge undertaking and they don't even have access to all the records. They have subsequently been assessing Eastern birds and more recently Western as well but the whole situation is a bit of a mess! At least we are not going to lose a species from the Cleveland total as like what happened with Siberian Stonechat!

Blyth's Reed Warbler

There is a very wide spread and larger than normal arrival of this species happening right now in Britain (and Europe I believe) with singing birds turning up in many east coast counties. With birds north, south and even west of us, never before has there been a better time to add this species to the county list...Get out into the field and get looking, you might get lucky and you might just bump into a Rose-coloured Starling too...


Cheers

Ian.

Outstanding prediction by Ian Foster in April 2019:

"Stejnegers Stonechat
Recently split from Siberian Stonechat and only DNA'd birds are currently acceptable but with Cleveland's excellent track record of Sibe Chats (11 records?) It must be a good contender. It appears this may be a fairly regular vagrant to Britain in late autumn. South Gare must be a good bet and hopefully one will be seen to have a crap on a fence post!"

Hopefully, will be confirmed with DNA. Well done to all involved in finding, photographing and collecting faecal samples. Would be great to have both Eastern Stonechats on the list within a few weeks.

Gary

P.S. The earlier predictions had lots of shrike possibilities in there but not the Masked. An amazing couple of weeks!

Cheers Gary,

I also wrote this in March 2020!  ;D

"Hopefully it won't be too long before we get another chance with Siberian Stonechat and this species should now be added to my list of predicted species for the County list. In fact it's got to be one of the most expected has it not?"

A full update will be forthcoming in a few weeks, we should have the results of the Stejneger's Poo by then. Lets hope it comes good!

Who knows what might happen in the meantime...

Cheers

Ian.

Autumn 2020 update, as promised...Where to begin?

Thursday, 24th September 2020 I suppose...



Siberian Stonechat

Early afternoon, news filtered through that South Gare stalwart Nick Preston had found an "Eastern Stonechat" in the famous Elders!

This being Cleveland's first "Eastern" Stonechat since the recent split and its subsequent removal from the county list (much of what I have previously written about) it was going to be a popular bird and very quickly the counties keenest listers were on-site watching this great looking bird!

It very quickly became apparent we were watching a classic looking "Maurus" type and therefore a presumed Siberian Stonechat! The bird showed very well for the rest of the day and was enjoyed by many.

The following couple of days were extremely windy and it was no surprise that the Stonechat was nowhere to be seen, likewise when the wind calmed down somewhat, it was no surprise that Nick again re-found the bird in the Sueda area of the Gare.

On hearing this news, I immediately made a beeline for the Gare with the sole purpose of trying to collect a faecal sample for DNA analysis. A dropping was collected on Thursday but there was a small element of doubt as to whether it was from the Stonechat itself...

Joined by Martyn Sidwell we closely watched the bird feeding and we quickly established its favoured feeding area, a sheltered patch on the edge of the Sueda with an overhanging Bramble branch...It was soon seen to have a Poo (What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon...the joys of modern birding eh!?!) and Martyn made a run for it (I had not seen him move this fast since the day he thought Verrills Chippy was closing early...) and was successful in finding a fresh dropping right below its favoured perch! Bingo!

A 2nd sample was soon after collected from the top of a dead Thistle head, our work here was done!

The samples were duly sent off to Aberdeen University for analysis and we could do no more than hope the droppings contain some DNA. A couple of weeks went by and the results were in...

DNA had confirmed Nick Preston had found Cleveland's first confirmed record of Siberian Stonechat Saxicola maurus, as was suspected from the start! A very much deserved county first for Nick having put so much time and effort into finding so many rare birds at the Gare over the years!

I do believe this to be the first "Sibe Chat" to be found in Britain this year so should be accepted as the 18th national record.

Once accepted this will become the 383rd species for Cleveland.


So now Siberian Stonechat has regained its rightful place on the county list what would be next...well we didn't have to wait too long to find out!




Masked Shrike


Late September and early October was looking pretty classic for east coast birders!

More easterly winds and rain, a load of rain, overnight and into Saturday 3rd October had given birders high expectations...The only problem was, the rain might be so heavy no birds might be found!?! We needn't have worried...

Co. Durham birder (yes a cross county boundry poacher!) Stephen Addinall chose the scrub opposite Spion Kop Cemetery, Hartlepool as his starting point and at approximately 09.00 had found a Grey looking Shrike at the far Northern end! News was released as a Woodchat Shrike and local birders were soon on site. To be fair to Stephen he had only seen the bird briefly and did express some doubts about the bird to the first birders that joined him in trying to relocate it. He really wanted to see this bird again...

Sadly, other than a brief sighting when the Shrike flew south deeper into the scrub (Jungle more like...), the bird appeared to have gone missing...

Luckily Geoff Iceton, a cemetery scrub regular, continued to search and after a couple of hours he was fortunate in re-finding the bird! Now with more eyes looking and suspicions of the date and easterly winds, alarm bells began to ring! In fact they were going berserk! Along with Tom Francis, they confirmed Stephen was correct to doubt his initial identification, he had in fact just found Britain's fourth and more importantly Cleveland and Co. Durham's first ever Masked Shrike!!!

An outstanding discovery! I won't go into too much more detail other than the Shrike stayed put for a couple of days and was twitched by the masses!

The finders account is a great read and can be found on the Rare Bird Alert website https://www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/RealData/Articles.asp

A real Top Drawer find, totally unpredictable and surely to be remembered in years to come as one of the greatest birds ever to grace Cleveland and another exceptional bird for the Borough of Hartlepool...

Typical Cleveland, we get a Masked Shrike before the much more expected Isabelline or Brown...

Once accepted this will become the 384th species for Cleveland.


Well, two county firsts in just ten days and still a huge chunk of the Autumn to come...could we be on for a Hat Trick?




Mid October and yet again the wind had turned East!

Co. Durham scored BIG again, this time with Britain's fourth Taiga Flycatcher!!! Every East coast birder that could be out, was out in the field and South Gare in particular was on fire! With Short-toed Lark, Dusky Warbler, Great Grey Shrike and a Firecrest all present on Friday 16th, Saturday on the Gare was going to be busy...

Stejneger's Stonechat

Late morning, Saturday 17th October whilst chatting to Mike McGrory about what we had seen, he casually mentioned to Martyn Sidwell and myself that a few birders had seen a "pale" Stonechat near the Shrike Bushes...

We wasted no time in heading straight there and we were also joined by Colin Dodsworth. We arrived to find a small group looking over the reedbed but not looking particularly interested in anything and I was actually surprised to hear a Stonechat was actually present!

Within a minute the Stonechat appeared, and we were instantly struck by its pale appearance and face on showed a faint supercilium...it then flew and showed off its extensive pale, un-streaked rump and Martyn even noticed the dark underwing!

We now knew we were watching something good and due to the colour of the rump and darkish mantle, we spread the word of a probable Stejneger's stonechat!

For the second time in three weeks birders were making a dash to the Gare for a rare Stonechat! Luckily the bird performed for all to see and although not as confiding as the recent Siberian Stonechat it did show well at times and with some perseverance Jason Birch and myself managed to collect a couple of faecal samples! Not to be outdone of course Martyn Sidwell (The S**t Master General) also collected a sample the following day, so we were again in with a good chance of some DNA confirmation!

Once again, the samples were forwarded to Aberdeen University and after a couple of nervous weeks the results came back..."I come bearing good news. The Stonechat sample worked a treat and the results we got back show the bird to be a Stejneger's as was hoped". What a result!

Never have I been so relieved to have got an identification of a bird correct! The sample could so easily have not contained any DNA and it would have left this bird in limbo, but as it now stands it will sail onto the Cleveland list!

An incredible "Eastern Stonechat" Double Whammy for South Gare and for once I predicted it!!!

With only eight British records prior to 2020, Stejneger's Stonechat is a very rare bird indeed but as a relatively "new" species more records are sure to come. This Autumn has seen another five "Eastern" Stonechats thought to be this species and several more either/or's...

Once accepted this will become the 385th species for Cleveland.


What a whirlwind of a few weeks for local birders and what a great feeling to secure both Siberian and Stejneger's Stonechats to the county list! I can now stop having to write about them every time I update this thread...

As ever, please feel free to correct me on anything at all and please contribute anything you like regarding new birds to Cleveland...




Other Stuff


Scopoli's Shearwater?

Bit of an odd one this. From the 9th to 11th August a "Cory's" type Shearwater was present in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, in fact two birds were present for a day or so...One of the birds was quickly flagged up as a potential Scopoli's Shearwater (only the third British record if accepted) and was seen by more than a fair few observers on its last day! So, what has this got to do with Cleveland? Well this particular bird was quite distinctive in having extensive white markings on its right wing due to feather loss. This is where it gets interesting...On 9th July a "Cory's" Shearwater was tracked heading north up the east coast passing various sites in Yorkshire and was picked up by regular "South side" sea-watchers Ian Boustead and Mark Rowbottom as it passed Cowbar. News was promptly put out as a Cory's Shearwater and Ian also very importantly reported it as having "Distinct pale patch on right upper wing"! This "Cory's" is now widely thought to be the very same bird as seen in the Firth of Forth.

Having no idea how the BBRC will treat a record like this, not sure if this kind of scenario has happened before in birding and also due to some debate as to whether the bird will be accepted as a Scopoli's due to difficulties with the finer points of its identification, I will for now leave this bird out of the totals for the county, but surely this must have been the same bird? If it does get accepted from Scotland will it be also accepted from Yorkshire and Cleveland? I have not a clue, however IF it does get accepted, I do know it will become one of Cleveland's most difficult (as in impossible birds to "grip back"...) A fine reward for all those hours the observers have put in, sometimes sat staring at empty sea's over the years...


Red-breasted Goose

I mentioned in a previous post that the Red-breasted Goose from 2011 was back in circulation with BBRC, well on the last BBRC work in progress file, it was unceremoniously dumped back into Cat E (for Escape...). It was not published as such in the latest BBRC report, in fact it wasn't mentioned at all, so I would guess its game over for this particular bird unless you saw it whilst it became "Wild" in south west Scotland later in its stay!


Ruddy Shelduck

Recent years has seen a growing frustration within the birding community of the treatment Ruddy Shelduck has been handed in regard the now almost expected summer upturn in numbers, especially on the east coast and Cleveland in particular. A pattern does appear to be forming of birds "over shooting" the moulting grounds in the Netherlands and reaching the UK. These birds are of course highly suspected to be from feral breeding populations and therefore could be countable as Cat C5 birds over here (Vagrant naturalized species – species from established naturalized populations abroad, e.g. possibly some Ruddy Shelducks Tadorna ferruginea). Quite ironic they use Ruddy Shelduck as an example...Some recent discussion can be found here https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=379234. On the back of this, a file has been forwarded to the BOURC and it's been said it will be looked at and the outcome should be known in 2022 when the BOURC is to publish a review of CAT C species...



BBRC Report - Some reading this will recently have received the BBRC report for 2019 published in British Birds magazine, for those that don't subscribe (well worth thinking about by the way...) or may not have read it too closely, there were a few hints within that could eventually affect the Cleveland list...

Little Shearwater

For a very long time now BBRC have had all records of "Little Shearwater" marked as back in circulation and under review due to taxonomic changes and difficulties with identification. Well, the latest report states "the long-delayed review of the complex formerly known as Little Shearwater will at last be under way by the time you read this"...

It will be interesting to see how this plays out! Could it be yet another species group that is deemed no longer identifiable in the field like the Zino's/Fea's/Desertas Petrel group? We'll probably have to wait a long time for the results to be published so for now, let's just enjoy having Little Shearwater on the county list and dream of seeing one...

Ross's Goose

Long thought to be overdue it's acceptance onto the British list, well it looks like a decision could be not too far off! Referring to files passed over to BOURC the BBRC report states "we are in the process of handing over a file of Ross's Goose Anser rossii records to BOURC with a view to finally getting that species admitted to Category A of the British list"! Positive words indeed...Cleveland has had one record of a potentially wild Ross's Goose, a bird seen to arrive with a skein of Pink-footed Geese on Back Saltholme on 5th October 2007. It didn't hang around too long and was seen to fly off south after a few hours or so...missed by quite a few county listers! Could our bird be getting added to the county list soon? Let's wait and see...

Subalpine Warblers (Oh God, not again I hear you say...)

I won't go into too much detail (as I have none) but BBRC have said "Coming soon will be a wholesale review of all Subalpine Warbler records in an attempt to apply uniform criteria to all past records and allocate as many as possible to species level". Well good luck to the team that get landed with that lot! With something in excess of 860 "Subalpine Warbler" records to go through that is going to be a massive task to undertake...


Just before I go...

I would like to dedicate this update to our friend and fellow county lister Keith Ryan who sadly passed away today. Keith and I often talked about rare birds in Cleveland and he understood more than any other the absolute Joy that it was to see a new bird for the county. Not just for the bird itself but also for the occasion and the pleasure that it brings to our community!

R.I.P Keith.

2020 What a year eh!?!

As if Calandra Lark, Siberian Stonechat, Masked Shrike and Stejneger's Stonechat wasn't enough! 2020 wasn't ready to go quietly and just as the Autumn was coming to a rather abrupt end local birders were given one more shock...

Hudsonian Whimbrel

Mid-Morning on November 4th. Nick Preston and Keith Cowton were birding South Gare as usual, when Nick heard a Whimbrel calling and found the bird on the Redcar Bay side of the Gare. Obviously a very late date for a Whimbrel they watched it with some interest and after approximately 15minutes or so (?) the bird was seen to fly off strongly towards Redcar and it was seen to have a dark rump!!!

News was quickly spread via Twitter but with the bird already having flown, it didn't quite create the "drop everything and run" panic it deserved! Those that could quickly spread out and searched all likely habitat but the trail soon went cold...

The following hours/days saw a plethora of "Whimbrel" reports, the most interesting came from North Gare, with a bird present for an hour or so before flying off towards South Gare just prior to Nick and Keith finding the Hudsonian!!!

Hudsonian Whimbrel is a Mega of a bird to find in Britain with only 11 previous records! None from the east coast but interestingly there were reports of possible Hudsonian Whimbrel from Spurn, Yorkshire in July and Eyemouth, Borders in September of this year...could one bird have spent the summer and autumn somewhere on the east coast?

Don't bother to check the list to see if I predicted it...I did not!

Once accepted this will become the 386th species for Cleveland.


Well, that looks like that's it for 2020, not a bad haul considering! Let's see what 2021 has instore for us all?


Happy New Year!

Ian.

Re: Ruddy Shelduck

Recent years has seen a growing frustration within the birding community of the treatment Ruddy Shelduck has been handed in regard the now almost expected summer upturn in numbers, especially on the east coast and Cleveland in particular. A pattern does appear to be forming of birds "over shooting" the moulting grounds in the Netherlands and reaching the UK. These birds are of course highly suspected to be from feral breeding populations and therefore could be countable as Cat C5 birds over here (Vagrant naturalized species – species from established naturalized populations abroad, e.g. possibly some Ruddy Shelducks Tadorna ferruginea). Quite ironic they use Ruddy Shelduck as an example...Some recent discussion can be found here https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=379234. On the back of this, a file has been forwarded to the BOURC and it's been said it will be looked at and the outcome should be known in 2022 when the BOURC is to publish a review of CAT C species...

Discovered this in an old Birding World.

Birding World
Volume 3 Number 8

Bird News August 1990

Ruddy Shelduck
An influx included a female on Stronsay (Orkney) and five flying over Staines Reservoir (Surrey) on 5th, two at Cley (Norfolk) on 23rd-31st, one at Snittisham Pits (Norfolk) on 26th, two at Dungeness (Kent) on 24th and two at Rutland Water (Leics). It seems likely that most originated with the apparently established population breeding ferally in the Netherlands – so they are presumably tickable as 'Category C vagrants'!

Clearly the late summer arrival of Ruddy Shelducks has been happening for decades. Now they are present throughout the year too. Definitely, time to revisit their status 30+ years on from this article.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

Time for an update!

Since my late autumn 2020 update (reply # 74), BBRC have been quite busy and made a few decisions resulting in last autumns Siberian Stonechat, Masked Shrike, Stejneger's Stonechat and Hudsonian Whimbrel all being officially accepted and therefore added to the Cleveland Count list! Very well done to all the observers involved with these sightings.

We are however still waiting on decisions been made on the Calandra Lark and Scopoli's Shearwater from last year...

The Scopoli's Shearwater, if you remember, at the time, I did not include in the species totals. Not knowing how this sort of sighting was going to be treated as it was identified to species level at a later date further north and only presumed to be the same bird based on a white patch of feathers on one wing! Quite an unusual set of circumstances... However, this bird has now been accepted as Britain's 3rd Scopoli's based on the photographs taken in Lothian last August and has also now been accepted from Whitburn, Co.Durham on 21st July 2020 and from two sites in Norfolk on 15th August, on its way back south! On the back of these acceptances the sighting from Cowbar on July 9th 2020 has now been submitted to BBRC, so could very well be accepted also. I therefore will now add this species to the species totals pending acceptance.

With the previously mentioned acceptances, the county list now officially stands at 385, with the pending Calandra Lark and Scopoli's Shearwater the list could very well be 387!


So, that's the update on last year's birds put to bed, do we have anything new to report?

I was going to update this thread at the end of June but come the 1st day of July something potentially quite phenomenal happened!!!


Soft Plumaged Petrel

Sometime mid-morning on 1st July 2021 a Pterodroma Petrel species was seen to pass Flamborough Head in Yorkshire heading north. News was released as a "Fea's type Petrel" as is the norm. Observers just up the coast at Bempton and Filey looking for the fabulous Black-browed Albatross (I do hope everyone interested has paid this bird a visit, still present as I write this nonsense. It is truly magnificent!) failed to pick up the bird...however at 12.01 it was seen to pass Long Nab, Burniston, Scarborough. This is the trigger point that gets Birders further north heading for the coast...

Now, everyone has their own reasons, but on that day very few made the decision to get to Cowbar...Luckily though, at 13.55 Mark Rowbottom had made the right decision and very skilfully picked up the "Fea's type Petrel" passing north, or north west if you like into Cleveland from Old Nab, Staithes! What must have only been a minute or so later another four (?) Birders, namely Bert Mitchell, John Money, Ian Kendall and Ian Boustead connected with the bird passing Cowbar.  Congratulations to all observers present in making the right decision to head to the cliff top!

As expected, the handful of observers waiting at Hartlepool missed out yet again (bloody wind turbines?)... Equally as expected the bird was then seen passing Whitburn, Co. Durham and various sites in Northumberland!

These day's a "Fea's type Petrel" in the North Sea is not that unusual, Cleveland was even graced with one on 21st September 2014 passing Cowbar, an unforgettable experience for all concerned for various reasons...

One thing has changed though with passing sea birds...digital photography. As each year passes by, more and more birds, including sea birds are being photographed. In the not so far past, birds that were seen offshore were reported but very few were accepted due to the brief nature of the sighting. These day's birds are being photographed and more and more birds are now accepted. Who, twenty years ago would have believed a record of a White-chinned Petrel in Orkney, or a Giant Petrel species passing the Co.Durham (and presumably Cleveland) coastline?

Now back to the current bird, mid-evening of July 1st, photographs of the star bird started to appear on Twitter. Very soon, several birders started to have grave concerns over the identification of this Petrel. All the photographs taken from the first sighting in Yorkshire to the last in Northumberland appear to show characteristics consistent with Soft Plumaged Petrel, a new species for Britain and only the third for the Western Palearctic! Those birders that had seen the bird must have been totally mind blown as the story and identification unfolded...Phenomenal!

As it stands nobody has expressed any doubts about the identification, so it is expected to be accepted. An incredible record of a probably never to be repeated species!

Once accepted this will become the 388th species for Cleveland. (including the pending Calandra lark and Scopoli's Shearwater).


Other Stuff

Okay, I am not going to bore everyone with a Subalpine Warbler update as I have no idea what is going on with that species group...are they even identifiable in the hand?!?

One thing I do know though is that the BOURC are still in the process of reviewing the status of Ruddy Shelduck and have confirmed they are also reviewing records of Ross's Goose and White-headed Duck. Cleveland has of course recorded all three of these species in an apparent wild state, although Ruddy Shelduck is fully expected to be from the large feral population in the Netherlands of course...

If these species are added to the British list, or in the case of Ruddy Shelduck added to Cat C5 and the birds recorded in Cleveland are accepted we could see the Cleveland list increase by three species, so including the pending species detailed above the Cleveland County list could very well stand at a very respectable 391!

Anything else...

Marbled Teal

Nah...let's just not go there...

Autumn is just around the corner folks. No doubt we will be knee deep in Yellow-browed Warblers before we know it...with favourable weather, could this be the year we bag a BRW?


Cheers

Ian.

Calandra Lark Makes The List!

Anyone paying attention will have noticed that BBRC announced the acceptance of the Calandra Lark from May 2020 last week. Very well done to the finders, another species unlikely to be gripped back any time soon...

That only leaves us with the Scopoli's Shearwater outstanding from last year. With the 2020 BBRC report due to be published in just six weeks' time, maybe we will get some news soon?

Autumn is now upon us. let's hope for a Beast from the East!

Cheers

Ian.

I do very occasionally get a prediction right...

Brunnich's Guillemot

Saturday, 27th November saw Storm Arwen (The best named storm ever...fans of Lord Of The Rings will agree) hit the North Sea! Birding on the coast was interesting to say the least and was almost impossible, it was quite apparent Sunday 28th had great potential once the winds had eased.

Friday 26th had gave a hint of what might come when a Brunnich's Guillemot was found in Norfolk but sadly, true to form for this species, it soon died!

Sunday found all seven of Hartlepools most regular watchers in position early doors and were soon rewarded with a close in, fly by Brunnich's Guillemot! Very well done to Graeme Joynt for first calling the bird allowing Mr Dodsworth, Francis, Iceton, Regan, Sharp and Sidwell the chance to soak in the features as it passed by. Very well played all!

This was the first Brunnich's to be found in the North Sea that day and opened the floodgates to more reports from a multitude of sites ranging from North Yorkshire to all points north! Whitburn, Co.Durham scored an incredible three birds including two birds that were photographed! Maybe more birds passed Hartlepool that morning but attention had soon switched to looking for a White-billed Diver heading north from Flamborough...

Once accepted this will become the 389th species for Cleveland (Including pending Scopoli's Shearwater and Soft-plumaged Petrel). As ever please feel free to correct me on anything I have written (my typing is currently fueled by a tidy 6.6% IPA).

So, there we have it, yet another new bird for Cleveland seen on a Seawatch...


There is a saying within birding that there are two types of Birder. Those that do Gulls and those that don't. The same should now also be said of those that do and don't Seawatch. The last few years have seen records of Sooty Tern, Scopoli's Shearwater, Soft-plumaged Petrel and several "Fea's types" passing our short stretch of coast line, there has even been a possible sighting of an Albatross that was surely the regular North Sea Black Browed. The Sea is where it's at these days and as they say you have to be in it to win it! Those that put the effort in this year won big, very big!



Other Stuff

Again, very little has changed since my last update but the BOURC has very recently accepted Ross's Goose onto the British list. A bird from Lancashire first seen in December 1970 becomes the first record, taking a very chilled 51 years to be accepted! Hopefully the BBRC won't take so long to decide which of the other Ross's Geese are now acceptable and the Saltholme bird from October 2007 could very well be in with a chance.


As another year comes to a close, thought's shift to what is to come next. Could 2022 really be the year that the mythical beast that is Blyth's Reed Warbler finally falls? We'll see...

Happy New Year to everyone.

Cheers

Ian.

At Last, a bird to write about that most of us actually got to see!

Greater Sand Plover

On the evening of Thursday 25th August 2022 Paul Hinley struck Birding Gold. When checking the waders at Redcar he found Britain's 19th but more importantly Cleveland's first ever Greater Sand Plover! A legend of a find, I bet he didn't expect to be adding that to his Redcar and Cleveland year list!!!

What a Bird! What an absolute brilliant bird...You can only imagine what went through his mind when he clapped eyes on that?!? A stunning summer plumaged adult male showing incredibly well on the sea front.

Luckily there was a good hour of daylight left when the news was out and after a brief scare when the bird was flushed by a microlight, all local birders that made a dash for it enjoyed great views as the evening light dwindled away (rumour has it Jamie Duffie saw two Sand Plovers as he got a lift straight from the Pub six pints down)...Fortunately for those that did not make it the first night, and following a sleepless night (well it was for me at least...) the bird was still present the following morning giving crippling views by the Bandstand and was eventually visited by a huge number of birders from all over the country for the next week!

The very same bird had previously been seen at St Combs, Aberdeenshire on the 20th and 21st August, so did a very similar movement to that of the 1999 Short-billed Dowitcher! During its stay at Redcar, it often moved further along the beach and also graced the South Gare recording area on several occasions.

Last seen the following Thursday when it was reported to have been flushed by a plane and (up to now at least) hasn't been seen since...

What an absolute pleasure it was to watch this bird, it made a change to connect with a county first following a seemingly endless list of "finder only" birds, this being the first Twitchable "first" for nearly two years!

So, Cleveland has finally recorded a Sand Plover. A real top-class bird and as waders go, it's right up there with the very best of the Rares joining the likes of Long-toed Stint, Great Knot, Short-billed Dowitcher and Hudsonian Whimbrel...Cleveland has now recorded 57 species of wader and looking at my list of predictions, I still think we are in with a very good chance of adding Lesser Sand Plover (coincidentally one of these was found in Kent on our Greater Sand Plover's final day), Stilt Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint and Collared Pratincole...in reality almost any species of wader on the British list could well make it onto the county list.  It was also very pleasing to have Greater Sand Plover on my prediction list!

Once accepted this will become the 390th species for Cleveland (including the still pending Scopoli's Shearwater, Soft-plumaged Petrel and Brunnich's Guillemot). Please correct me if I am wrong.

Other Stuff

Not a great deal to report on to be honest. The BBRC and to a lesser extent BOURC have gone more than a little quiet recently so we are still waiting on the outcome of the Scopoli's Shearwater, Soft-plumaged Petrel and Brunnich's Guillemot records as previously mentioned.

The "Little Shearwater" review didn't get off the ground as quickly as expected so all of Cleveland's records are now officially back "in circulation". Also, the reviews of White-headed Duck and Ruddy Shelduck have not been finalised/published as of yet, nor has the list of acceptable Ross's Goose...

One thing of interest though, on the latest BBRC work in progress file, a record of a Brunnich's Guillemot from South Gare on the same day as the Hartlepool bird was listed as in circulation, from what I gather this bird is believed to be different from the Hartlepool bird based on plumage and was also seen a little earlier, so if accepted this will become the first for the county leaving the Hartlepool bird as the second. With the BBRC report for 2021 due out in just over a month, it could very well make for interesting reading...


Right, I think I have waffled on enough, Autumn is yet again upon us so time for a new prediction. Normally I would hope for the enigma that is Blyth's Reed Warbler but forget that, I am going with Eastern Yellow Wagtail, a species that for some reason I missed off the last prediction list but with roughly 30 British records, mostly recorded in the last decade I think this "new" species could very well be found in Cleveland this year. That patch of beach on Hartlepool Headland where the Bluetail was a few year back is my bet.

Cheers

Ian.

A Little Bit Of History Repeating...

Collared Pratincole

On Wednesday 12th October a Pratincole was seen and photographed at Cresswell, Northumberland. It was seen for only 20 seconds or so! Fortunately, there looks to be just enough detail in the photographs to identify the bird as a Collared. So, what has this got to do with Cleveland? Well, nothing at this stage other than if you cast your mind back eight years when we got our first Pratincole, the famous short staying Black-winged Pratincole, that bird had also been seen at Hauxley, Northumberland just the day before...could history be about to repeat itself? It certainly crossed the minds of several birders I spoke to the next day...

Thursday 13th October there was a larger number of birders and photographers at Saltholme than normal due to the continued presence of Cleveland's 4th Lesser Yellowlegs. At 14.55 a Tweet went out by @WildFozzy, "COLLARED PRATINCOLE self found. Back Saltholme from Hide". This was more than enough to trigger mass panic and the race was on to get to Saltholme! Frantic phone calls were made and within ten to fifteen minutes or so the Saltholme Pools hide was starting to get busy.

Out of breath birders arrived to the news that the bird having last been seen on a muddy spit, was now lost in the long grass and since it was last seen "everything had been up a couple of times"...The finder was adamant that the best chance to see it, was if it flew back in as it had done three times previous and he wasn't wrong! At approx. 15.25 the shout went up as the bird was seen to fly in from the direction of Saltholme West, viewing was difficult as it headed straight for the back, western edge of Back Saltholme, looking into the sun and was steadily heading away, it looked to bank back round, it was hoped it was going to head back towards the hide, but it soon turned again and rapidly headed off south.

Those in the hide could not believe what was happening as it did the exact same thing the Black-winged Pratincole of 2014 did, it headed straight off south and disappeared as a dot over Middlesbrough.

A great find by "WildFozzy", he saw the bird well including seeing the Chestnut Red underwing and also managed to get a few photo's. Clearly this was the same bird seen the previous day in Northumberland and also a Pratincole species, "most probably Collared" was seen in Lincolnshire the following day and at a 2nd site in Lincolnshire on 18th. On the 20th what is strongly believed to be the same bird was found once more, at Slimbridge WWT in Gloucestershire! A bird on the move...

Once accepted this will become the 391st species for Cleveland (including the still pending Scopoli's Shearwater and Soft-plumaged Petrel). Please correct me if I am wrong.

Another new wader for Cleveland, the 58th species recorded in our small county, just 50 days since the Greater Sand Plover was found! Nice to knock another predicted species off the list (subject to acceptance of course), and I even predicted the location! I really would like to know though, why Pratincole's appear to not like Saltholme?!? The Black-winged Pratincole was only present for about 35 minutes and the Collared was only on site for maybe an hour or so, with only approx 27 minutes from the news getting out to its departure!

If we are ever graced with another Pratincole, my only advice is to get there as fast as you possibly can!


In Other News

Brunnich's Guillemot Makes the Grade!

With the recent publication of the British Birds, Report on Rare Birds in Great Britain 2021 we have finally found out that the Hartlepool Brunnich's Guillemot of 2021 has been accepted. So has the bird seen passing South Gare prior to the Hartlepool sighting!

Congratulations to Graeme Joynt and Nick Preston, the finders of this bird! I say "this bird" as BBRC have accepted them as one and the same, even though they were described as being in a different plumage stage at the time!?!

Three birds were also accepted from Whitburn, Co.Durham that day, these are also linked to the Cleveland sightings, as it is presumed that the Cleveland bird is one of the three Whitburn birds and also seen at several sites in Northumberland! A game changer maybe with this difficult to clinch species? The Cleveland bird/birds are the very first non-photographed flyby Brunnich's to be accepted by BBRC! This gives some hope to those that missed out on this great opportunity...

Other Stuff

The BBRC report for 2021 gave a few clues to what is happening regarding birds seen in Cleveland.

Firstly, the identification of the 2021 Soft-plumaged petrel has been accepted by BBRC and is now in the hands of the BOURC. We still don't know of course if the sighting from Cowbar has been accepted. You would like to think the full details will not take too long to be announced, if the identification is agreed to be sound, then the provenance is a no brainer...

Little Shearwater - The review is said to be "near completion". An eagerly awaited review, that could potentially see the removal of a species from the county list? It will certainly make for a very interesting read once published and could be a timely reminder that modern day taxonomic change does not always result in more "Ticks". That said we don't know what the criteria is for a "Little Shearwater" to be accepted so there is still hope yet!

Scopoli's Shearwater - The report from Cowbar in 2020 has still not been accepted, nor deemed not proven (rejected is the commonly used term). It's gone suspiciously quiet regarding this sighting and the original sighting from Yorkshire. Make of that what you will...

Ross's Goose - A full review of all records is now underway. The criteria set for acceptance looks to be "For a bird to be considered as apparently wild, it should arrive at an appropriate time of year in the company of other Arctic-breeding geese, have a full set of wing feathers, be unringed, and depart with other geese in the spring". Also, the BOURC decided "that being an adult is not a bar to acceptance for newly discovered individuals", Well, having read that, our bird from October 2007 should fit the bill no problem. Another eagerly awaited decision.

Think that about covers things for now?

Can we expect anything new in the near future? Autumn is sadly soon to be coming to a close, we still have time for a surprise or two though. November often delivers a biggie...maybe a Blyth's Pipit on the Power Station Field? Too dull? Ok, lets go for an Alpine Accentor at Seaton Snook!

Cheers

Ian.

A Spring Update

BBRC Has Spoken...On April 6th the BBRC published an up-to-date Work In Progress file ( https://www.bbrc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/WEB-WIP-6-4-23.xlsx ). A much-anticipated update. It certainly made for interesting reading regarding the Cleveland list, with potentially four new additions included within the file!

Scopoli's Shearwater - Accepted

Finally, a decision has been made on the Scopoli's Shearwater seen passing Cowbar on 9th July 2020. Only the third British record. Unusual circumstances maybe, but an incredible record nonetheless! One species we won't be getting back any time soon I would wager...

Soft-plumaged Petrel - Identification accepted by BBRC

Another Monster Rare Seabird! The identification of the bird seen passing Cowbar (That place again...) from 1st July 2021 has now been accepted by BBRC. Of course, as it's potentially the first ever sighting of this species in Britain, this bird is now in the hands of the BOURC to make the decision whether to add this species to the British list or not, but let's face it, it is going to make the grade! As with the Scopoli's Shearwater, I would think this was a once in a lifetime sighting!

Collared Pratincole - Accepted

The ever so brief Collared Pratincole from Saltholme on 13th October 2022 has now been officially accepted. The third Pratincole to be seen in Cleveland. However, this Collared and the two sightings of Black-winged in 2014 and 2015 were seen by relatively few observers, so a repeat of either species is eagerly anticipated...




Very well done to all the finders of these birds. The stories of the findings of all three and the aftermath will become the stuff of legend...until a second one of either appears. Very much likely I would say in the case of the Collared Pratincole.

So, that's three down but a fourth was mentioned...

Oriental Turtle Dove?

On 19th November 2022 (Not 15th October as is dated on the BBRC WIP file!?!), a report of a Turtle Dove seen at South Gare filtered through...A "still" from a video taken of the bird was shared on twitter by the finder (Twitter name SCANNERMAN @bobhogrunner). Several of us, hearing the report made a beeline for the Gare. The date alone, a very late date for a Turtle Dove set off the alarm bells as Oriental might be more "expected" this late in the autumn, also the photo appeared to show a dark, chunky looking "Turtle Dove"! We all (and when I say all, I mean maybe five or six of us) arrived to the news that the bird was seen on the wires near the old life boat station but had soon flown off in the direction of the Cabin Rocks/Quarry. A thorough search failed to re-locate the bird and it was presumed it had flown right through and left the area. There were no further sightings of this bird.

The images supplied, although not pin sharp, were sufficient to cast some doubt on the true identification of this bird and as it has been forwarded to the BBRC, the initial observer presumably agrees with the doubt over the identification? Another decision we will await with interest.

With the addition of Scopoli's Shearwater and Collared Pratincole the Cleveland list now officially stands at 390, with the BOURC pending Soft-plumaged Petrel the list could very well be a respectable 391!

Other Stuff

The findings of what seems like the forever ongoing reviews of "Little Shearwater" and Ross's Goose have yet to be finalized/published. The recent BBRC WIP file and an article on the acceptance of Ross's Goose to the British list published in British Birds journal failed to give any clues to the outcome regarding the Cleveland records of both species.

With the count down to the magic 400 now underway, what could be next? My money's on Iberian Chiffchaff...Not exciting enough? Well, how about a Rock Thrush on Cabin Rocks, South Gare? The stuff of dreams...

As always, please feel free to comment or correct!

Cheers

Ian.

A Quick Summer Update

Spring 2023 was quite a cracker with some fabulous birds being found in Cleveland but sadly nothing new for the list, however there has been some news to relay...

Just three months since the last update the BBRC has recently published another Wip file! https://www.bbrc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Web-WIP-4-Jul-23.xls    No birds on the file we don't already know about but a couple of decisions have been made.

Greater Sand Plover - Accepted

As expected, and to be honest on my last update I had forgot this bird hadn't actually been officially accepted!

Oriental Turtle Dove - Not Proven

Sadly, this bird was deemed as "Not Proven" and that's fair enough I suppose...still think this may be a case of the one that got away, just a shame it didn't hang about...

So that's just about everything accepted or not. We are just waiting on the BOURC to officially add Soft-plumaged Petrel to the British List and the results of the long-awaited Little Shearwater and Ross's Goose reviews of course...

Autumn is just about here now and with Birders attention recently drifting towards flying insects and err flowers...maybe we could do with something to give us all a lift? A possible Red-necked Stint was reported from Northumberland just a few days ago. One of those would do just fine!

Cheers

Ian.

Booby Mayhem!

Where to begin with this one...

Brown Booby

Sunday 3rd September a Brown Booby was found off Flamborough Head in Yorkshire but soon disappeared. An incredible record. Next day it was seen again at Filey Brigg before being relocated at close by Humanby Gap. All good for anyone wanting to add this Mega rare seabird to their British or Yorkshire list.

On its third day the bird was still present in Yorkshire, but by midday had gone missing...Now this is where it starts to get a lot more interesting, at 16.20 a report came through that the Brown Booby had been seen off Sandsend and Whitby, just a short eight miles or so from the Cleveland County boundary! A few of us made for the coast in the vain hope the bird would continue north but hopes were soon dashed as the Booby was seen to pass back south past Filey Brigg and ended up again at Humanby Gap.

Next morning however the Booby was again heading north and was seen to pass Long Nab, Burniston, Scarborough! As I have mentioned before, this is the trigger point for birders further north to get in position...

Martyn Sidwell and Nick Preston were quick enough to get themselves to Cowbar (where else) and were very soon rewarded with very close views of the Brown Booby circling with Gulls off Cowbar Nab before continuing off north very close inshore at 08.45! A very well deserved find for two birders who are out in the field pretty much daily, putting the effort in! You really do make your own luck in this game!

Others further up the coast were now on standby and expectations were high...however as time slipped by, those at Marske and Redcar started to realise it had surely passed them by and at 09.51 this was confirmed. The Brown Booby was seen to pass Hartlepool Headland and had been seen by about 10 observers. Well done to Graeme Joynt (who was first to pick it up heading north) and Co. for intercepting this Monster rare seabird on the move!

Those that missed this bird were left questioning the choices they made this morning and as further reports came through of the bird being tracked up the East coast past Co. Durham and onto Northumberland, it appeared this was a massive miss that will take some getting back and some getting over...

Now for the greatest re-location of any bird in Cleveland Birding History!

Sorry for going on a bit but this is a story worth telling...early afternoon, things started to get a bit complicated. All of the reports of the Booby north of Hartlepool were reported to be unconfirmed? To quote Birdguides "some observers have expressed doubt about sightings north of Hartlepool Headland". Ok so some observers have some doubts, well this happens a lot in birding, we're a funny bunch. A report then came through from Souter Lighthouse, Whitburn, Co.Durham at 12.49 that the bird had passed by at 12.15...quite odd as it had already been reported further north than this. Almost simultaneously a report came through that the Booby had been seen on the water off Paddy's Hole, South Gare before flying off towards Seaton Snook!!! What the hell was going on?!?

This was all very confusing and let's be honest, it all sounded too good to be true! Could the Brown Booby be actually in the river mouth off South Gare? Again a few of us not taking any risks made a dash for South Gare and Seaton Snook. Incredibly after maybe 20 minutes, there we all were, in a state of utter euphoria watching an Adult Brown Booby flying around the river mouth! We were all absolutely mind blown by the experience and there were a lot of very happy and quite astonished Birders on both sides of the river that afternoon. A day to remember!

We all have to thank Alan Wheeldon and Tim Burton for the re-find of this bird and putting the news out. They have made Birding History!

The Brown Booby has now settled in on Teesmouth and was still present today and is showing incredibly well on the old Pilot Pier as I write! If you are reading this and have not been to see it, well do yourself a favour and please get yourself to South Gare! This is a mind-boggling bird to see with such ease!

Blimey, what a bird! Only first seen in Britain in 2019 and now with maybe 12 records, we are sure to see more sightings from around our coast lines...Red-footed Booby has now also been seen twice in Britain including a bird still present in Isle Of Scilly waters that was also joined by a Brown Booby on one of its days. Anyone want to predict when one of those will make it up the east coast? Strange things are happening at sea!

Once accepted, this will become the 392nd species for Cleveland (including the still to be BOURC accepted Soft-plumaged Petrel).

Really sorry for dragging this update out, but this bird and the circumstances around the finding are the stuff of legend!

As usual, please feel free to comment and correct anything I have written.



Other Stuff

White-headed Duck

Just yesterday the BOURC announced the results of the long-awaited review of this species. Sadly, for anyone wanting to add this species to their British and Cleveland list, they have decided to retain the species in Category D (D for Doomed?)...Not a particular popular decision with a lot of birders, that have long believed this species deserved a place on the British List.

The BOURC have stated the species is "a likely vagrant" and "British records were likely a mixture of wild and escaped captive birds". Yet they couldn't decided on which individual should be treated as the 1st wild bird, so it's been left in limbo until another review is to be undertaken, if ever...seems a very strange decision as other species that are widely held in captivity have gained acceptance to the list including the likes of Hooded Merganser, Baikal Teal and Ross's Goose to name just a few.

https://bou.org.uk/british-list/changes-to-the-british-list-15-sept-2023/

So sadly, that appears to be the last chance for our White-headed Duck. A great bird all the same!

Ok, so that's all for now. Here we are in mid-September already! Could the next couple of month see another addition to the Cleveland List? Let's hope so... I'll go with Brown Shrike on Seaton Common, first week of October, found whilst looking for the fabled BRW... 


Cheers

Ian

Quote from: Ian Foster on February 10, 2019, 09:22:14 PM
So maybe 2017 wasn't so bad after all!?!

Back on 31st December 2017 I stated that year was the 1st blank year for new birds for Cleveland for a long, long time (I never actually went back and checked when that was in fact...)

Well it appears I was incorrect!

Dark Eyed Junco

On 9th January this year a Lady called Nicky Johnson posted 3 photo's of a Dark-eyed Junco she had taken in her garden in Yorkshire "a couple of years ago" on Twitter.

Instantly Yorkshire birder Mark Thomas asked for the location and she responded "it was in Guisborough"!!!

This record suddenly became a lot more interesting...

Further details have been forthcoming and it is now known the Junco was present in her garden in the Hunters Hill area of Guisborough for several hours on one date only in June 2017!

As one local birder (MRKA) is a near neighbour of Nicky Johnson we now also know the Bird Table the Junco visited is viewable from the road (OUCH)...

So there we have it a new bird for Cleveland identified retrospectively from photo's. It was bound to happen one day and again we have the use of Twitter to thank. Without the ease of digital photography and social media this fantastic record could very easily have been left undiscovered on the finders memory card!

Dark-eyed Junco is an exceptionally rare bird in Britain with just 46 records to the end of 2017 (including this bird). A large number of records coming from Gardens, in fact the comment for this species in the last BBRC report starts with "If you wanted to find a rarity at your garden feeder, Dark-eyed Junco might be high on your wish list".

It's interesting to note 4 birds are already accepted for Spring 2017 with birds seen in Borders, Hampshire, Meirionnydd (where?) and Pembrokeshire.

Once accepted and I personally can't think of any reason it won't be, this will become the 380th bird for Cleveland.

The Hooded Merganser of May 2018 (again when/if accepted) will take the Cleveland total to 381.


One thing to be learnt from this record is if you ever get told by anyone they have a funny bird in their garden it might be just worth a quick visit...


Well that's enough of the past, let's look to the future...2019 surely has to be the year we get Iberian Chiffchaff (spring) and Blyth's Reed Warbler (autumn) hasn't it?

Cheers

Ian

Who would have thought back in 2019 when I wrote this we would get a 2nd chance to add this species to our county lists! Incredible...

Soft-plumaged Petrel added to the Cleveland list!

The BOURC have finally made a decision on the record of Soft-plumaged Petrel tracked up the North East coast on 1st July 2021. Adding the species to the British list. The bird has been accepted from Old Nab heading into Cleveland and Cowbar, so is now also officially added to the Cleveland list. Congratulations to the five observers that connected with this bird in our small recording area.

The Cleveland list now stands at 392 species with only the decision on the October 2007 Ross's Goose awaited. We should hopefully have an answer on this bird soon, with the publication of the 2023 BBRC report due this October (Edit - Publication now delayed until December 2024). The review of Ruddy Shelduck seems to have stalled so lets put that to the back of our minds for now.

Well, only another seven or eight species needed to reach the magic 400 for Cleveland, or maybe not?

The International Ornithological Congress (IOC) have recently announced the lumping of Lesser Redpoll, Common (Mealy) Redpoll and Arctic Redpoll into one species "Redpoll". The BOU follow their taxonomy so in due course, and once it's officially announced we will lose two species from the Cleveland list! It's also rumoured that Hooded Crow and Hudsonian Whimbrel could go the same way! The recent trend for splitting has now been turned on it's head and it looks like we could be in for another period of taxonomic uncertainty! What else could we lose? Green-winged Teal maybe? Interesting times ahead...a case of one step forward and two steps back maybe?

What's Next?

Here we are at the start of another autumn. What could be in store for us in the next few months? Could the LBJ that is BRW finally fall? I'm sure I say this every autumn (and spring), how about another new Wader for the list? Hudsonian Godwit has just been recorded in Cheshire, we get our fair share of Godwits so maybe we will be next in line for this wandering bird, presuming it's the same individual that has been seen in Fife and Shetland in recent years? How about a Western Sandpiper or Greater Yellowlegs, both species have been recorded in the Netherlands in the last few days. We could aim even bigger and hope the recent Dutch Red-wattled Plover gets relocated on Cowpen Marsh!

Either way, hope to see you all at the next BIG one.

Cheers

Ian.

Some you win...some you lose...

Ross's Goose added to the Cleveland List

Following the BOURC decision to add Ross's Goose to the British List in 2022, it seems like it's taken an age for the results of the BBRC review of all British records to be finalised and made public. The BBRC report for 2023 has just been published in British Birds and a full list of all 18 accepted records have now been listed.

The bird found at Saltholme on 5th October 2007 by Martin Blick has now been accepted as the nineth British record. This bird had previously been seen in Northumberland from 20th to 30th September before dropping in on us for a tantalising few hours on 5th October before being re-found in Norfolk the very next day, where it stayed until 9th January 2008 before moving to Lancashire (possibly via Yorkshire) on 31st January and last seen there on 4th May, presumably then heading off with the Pink-footed Geese it associated with to Iceland?

For those that made the effort to see this bird, it has always felt that it had good credentials. A view also shared by the BBRC. There were a fair few winners who made the right decision that day, but some Birders didn't make a move and will now be eagerly awaiting another record. I have always said it's best to just go and see a bird and worry about it's origins later, especially when a County first is at stake!

This bird has now taken the official Cleveland list to 391 species (see below for an explanation). Please correct me if I am wrong!

Losers

Well, in my last update I talked about the proposed lumping of the three Redpoll species to just Redpoll. Although this decision has not officially been published by BOURC as far as I am aware, although a report is due soon I believe, it appears to be universally accepted that this is the case so I have amended the County total to reflect this and also fall in line with other threads regarding the Cleveland list/statistics.

I am now also hearing rumours that Siberian and Amur (the Stonechat formally known as Stejneger's) Stonechat is to be lumped. I for one will not be too happy with this decision, one because I don't feel the science/ DNA supports such a theory but also because I have spent way too much time thinking, twitching and writing about this species pair over the years for them not to be classed as separate species! Also what about the amount of time Martyn Sidwell has spent over the years searching for Stonechat Sh**e!!! Was it all in vain...time will tell!

Other Stuff

For once I don't think we are waiting for a decision on anything other than the long awaited and now possibly forgotten Ruddy Shelduck review?

We could very well be in for a period of taxonomic uncertainty. So I suggest we all get out in the field as much as possible and try to dig out a County First. The superb Grey-headed Lapwing that graced Northumberland and elsewhere from May 2023 has just made a very surprising return, presuming it's the same bird that is. Maybe, just maybe it might move south and give us all a great end to 2024 or set 2025 off to a flying start...

Cheers

Ian.

Blankety Blank, Blankety Blank, Blankety Blank!

Time for a quick update, although sadly not a great deal to update on!

With the year end looming ever closer, it looks like 2025 is going to be a blank year for additions to the county list. Prior to last year, also a blank for additions, the last blank was way back in 2006, so we have had a great run...

So what is there to update on regarding potential additions to the list?

Western Subalpine Warbler

Some of you may recall there is a old record of a female "Subalpine Warbler" trapped at Lovell Hill, Wilton way back on 28th May 1978. The written description details the tail pattern and it was also heard to call. These point towards the bird possibly being a Western Subalpine Warbler. It was known that photographs were taken, but until recently these had not been found. The photo's have now been unearthed and have been forwarded to the Teesmouth Bird Club Records Committee. Surprisingly the photo's actually depict a male bird and also back up the evidence that it could very well be a Western!

The record has now been resubmitted to BBRC as a Western Subalpine Warbler. However the BBRC are due to carry out a full review of all past "Subalpine Warblers" and considering there are currently c800 records in the either/or category it could sadly be a very, very long time before a decision is forthcoming. We will just have to wait and see. For that reason, I am not going to add it as a pending species on the list.

Anything else?

The BOURC has just published it's 58th report  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.70009 . As previously mentioned up thread, the lumping of Teal/Green-winged Teal, Carrion Crow/Hooded Crow and Siberian Stonechat/ Amur Stonechat has now been officially announced, that is three species off the Cleveland list! The total as it now stands is 388 species. Hopefully this will be the end of the "lumping" for a while, I have not heard any rumours of anything else we are to lose for now at least...

Ruddy Shelduck (Oh God, here he goes again...)

In the above attached BOURC report, under the Files Under Consideration heading, Ruddy Shelduck is listed as "Eligibility for Category C5.2 is being considered". Maybe the chance of Ruddy Shelduck being added to the county list is not yet dead and buried?

So, that's it for now, 2025 has been quite a slow year for birding locally, in my opinion. Lets hope 2026 gets us back on track to the magic 400!

Merry Xmas Everybody (It's Christmas!!!)

See you at the next Big one!

Ian.

Too Little, too late...

Little Crake - Coatham Marsh 13-04-2026

I ended my last post with "See you at the Big one"...Well unfortunately the next "Big" one was a "Little" one and more unfortunately by the time the news became public the chance of a big gathering had long, long gone.

On the morning of Monday 20th April Gordon Douglas (gdougydouglas.bsky.social) posted on BlueSky "Brian Douglas saw this bird at Coatham Marsh on 13/04/2026. We believe it is a Little Crake. Confirmation or identification would be appreciated". The text was accompanied by a heavily cropped, yet excellent photo of an Adult female Little Crake! Unfortunately with the news being a week old, the news of this bird generated little interest and although a few us searched the more likely looking area's of Coatham Marsh that afternoon and the following days, there was no sign or sound of the bird. More information did come forth and it was established that six photo's were taken of the bird on "Long Lake" but again a search sadly resulted in a no show...

Little Crake is a very rare bird in Britain with just 108 records to the end of 2025. However the stats give a misleading impression of how rare this species is with  only 49 of these records having occurred since 1950. The vast majority of records are from southern Britain and to give an idea of how rare this species is in the North East, there has only been one modern day record for Yorkshire, a one day bird in 2019 and no records for either Co.Durham or Northumberland!

I have often thought we might get a record of Little Crake and it was in my list of "Other Species considered", but considering how rare this species is and how difficult they can be to observe, I feel there are far more species more likely to be found...this makes the record even more astonishing and has left some of us pondering what could have been and how great it would have been to be fortunate enough to stumble upon such a bird!

An incredible record of a very rare and hard to connect with species! Very well done to the observer... Once accepted (presuming more detail will be forthcoming for a submission to the BBRC) this will become the 389th species for Cleveland. Please correct me if I am wrong!

So there we have it, the first new bird for Cleveland since the 2023 Brown Booby. I feel Spring 2026 has been a little on the slow side so far...Have we already had and missed Bird Of The Year? Anyone want to predict what will be next? Iberian Chiffchaff maybe? As I write Co. Durham's second is still present at Hardwick Hall Country Park just a mere 10 miles from the Cleveland boundary! Surely we are going to land one some time soon...

Cheers

Ian.