Rare Bird Alert weekly round-up: 14 - 20 November 2012

The week's highlights:
Asian Desert Warbler briefly in Kent
Desert Wheatear in Kent
White Gyrfalcon on South Uist
Buff-bellied Pipit in Down joined by another
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler continues its stay in Fife
Seven Hornemann’s Arctic Redpolls still on Unst
Six Hornemann’s Arctic Redpolls still on Unst

Headline birds
This week was dominated by a calm and mild southerly airflow. Unsurprisingly, this brief ‘window of opportunity’ revived the autumn somewhat and produced a tiny scattering of typical late autumn scarce passerines. There were also, as might be expected, one or two eastern rarities, the best being an Asian Desert Warbler but, more predictably, there was also a Desert Wheatear. Otherwise, the story was increasingly one of a steady descent into winter. When the bird listings are dominated by wildfowl and Waxwings, you know winter is on its way!

The Asian Desert Warbler was seen briefly (and photographed) at Samphire Hoe Country Park, 2.5 miles WSW of Dover, Kent on the morning of 18th. This beautiful and delicate little sandy Sylvia is now a difficult species to catch up with in Britain and, with the last as long ago as 2000 (at Spurn, Yorkshire), this bird would have been highly popular if it had stayed. The 2000 bird was in spring, as was the one before that, singing and nest-building at Blakeney Point, Norfolk in 1993, but historically Asian Desert Warbler has always been a late autumn bird, with a run of eight such records between 1975 and 1992. Arrival dates for these fall between 13th October and 20th November so this week’s bird conforms neatly to the long-standing pattern. The first record of all, at Portland Dorset in 1970, presumably also arrived in this country in late autumn but was not discovered until 16th December. As might be expected, all records have come from the east and south coasts apart from the famous long-staying bird at Meols, Cheshire and Wirral in October/November 1979. The Samphire Hoe bird is the second for Kent, following a bird at Seasalter in November 1991.

Somewhat overshadowed on 18th was another desert rarity from Central Asia - a male Desert Wheatear, also in Kent, at Harty Marshes, Sheppey. Though now an expected ‘last autumn vagrant of all’, this is still an exciting discovery and of course a very attractive species too. This was the 12th record for Kent.

Arguably the most exciting and charismatic rarity of the week, however, was the gorgeous white Gyrfalcon found (and photographed) sitting on a rock at Bornish, South Uist on 18th. It didn’t linger but it did manage to fly through the observer’s garden before it left. This bird was doubtless the more surprising for appearing outside the traditional March/April ‘slot’ but the location was about as traditional as it gets.

A few birds from the autumn lingered into this week, most notably the surprisingly hardy (or confused) Eastern Olivaceous Warbler at Kilminning, Fife. Though now reported more erratically (anyone who wants to see it will surely have done so by now) it was still present and correct on 20th. A blast of hard weather will no doubt kill it or move it on but if mild conditions persist it will be fascinating to see how long it remains. This would be a bizarre bird indeed for Christmas, let alone a New Year’s Day list! Before this bird, only two Eastern Olivaceous Warblers - the memorable duo on St. Mary’s, Isles of Scilly in 1984 and 1985 - had lingered even as late as the second half of October.

Also lingering was last week’s new Buff-bellied Pipit between Ballykinler Beach and Tyrella Beach at Corbett’s Beach, Down, still present along its favoured stretch of coast until 18th when, astonishingly, it was joined by another one, though only one was present next day. Late arriving and wintering are not unprecedented in this species so it will be interesting to see how long this bird now remains. Buff-bellied Pipit has seen a meteoric rise to prominence this century, with only six records prior to 2000, since when (to 2010) a further 17 have reached Britain and 13 more reaching Ireland. Could this species one day rival or overtake Red-eyed Vireo as the commonest transatlantic passerine? It has a long way to go but watch this space! Intriguingly, however, the prize for spotting Britain’s first Siberian Buff-bellied Pipit remains unclaimed. There lies a suitable challenge for someone!

Finally, bringing up the rear in the list of autumn ‘hangovers’ is the still remarkable number of Hornemann’s Arctic Redpolls on Unst, Shetland, reaching 7 on 19th, 4 at Baltasound and 3 at Uyeasound. In the light of my comments last week, could these be potential winterers? There is no precedent for this of course, and it’s doubtless unlikely, but it will be interesting to see what these birds do. Hornemann’s Arctic Redpolls are typically seen in late September/early October before fading away to who knows where. Mid-November birds are exceptional so we are in uncharted waters with these.