Blast from the past. Calandra Lark 14th May 2006

 I was reminded of this twitch by a mate of mine, Malc Curtin, in a comment he made on Facebook about Fred driving us home in torrential rain in his underpants! Not pretending to be Superman but a simple expediency after getting soaking wet whilst viewing this rare vagrant which, at the time, was the 12th for Britain with the majority only being one day birds.

The bird was found on the Isle of May on the 12th May 2006. Two years before I started this blog. Understandably the wardening staff didn’t want hordes of people stomping over the island and potentially disturbing nesting Eider until a proper management plan had been put in place so it wasn’t until Sunday 14th May. There was also the added issue that the regular passenger boat going from Anstruther, holding 100 people, was unavailable as was undergoing  maintenance due to a broken gearbox,  so there was no way of getting across. Yet….. there was the possibility we could charter an 8 seater RIB from North Berwick…… we were on! 

Meeting in Cheshire we drove towards North Berwick for our scheduled boat trip at 12.30 in worsening weather. It was touch and go whether we’d be able to make the 10 mile crossing to the Isle of May. We arrived early around 11.00 and found our skipper, who’d already made several journeys that morning, on the phone to a group of birders who’d booked an earlier crossing but who were delayed because of a traffic problem on the A1. He immediately offered us their slot with the advice that, due the worsening conditions, he could probably take the late arrivals across but not pick them up and we’d only have a couple of hours on the island. 

In full waterproof gear and wearing life jackets we set off into a rolling sea. Unfortunately I’d made the schoolboy error of wearing a hat but not pulling my hood up. Others fared even worse as hadn’t even got waterproofs on. The first big wave that hit us went straight down my neck and I spent the rest of the trip shivering and uncomfortably wet. Exhilaration at the speed and crashing waves was soon forgotten as we hung on as we bounced across the Firth of Forth.

An eventful crossing saw us arriving in the sheltered harbour on the Isle of May and met by one of the wardening team who directed us where to walk and where the bird had last been seen. A nervous and uncomfortable wait ensued, as it had just walked into some vegetation, until we all managed ‘scoped’ views. It then flew across towards the lighthouse giving us all good views of the diagnostic dark underwing with a white trailing edge. 

It showed much better here and we spent the rest of our allotted time watching it feed in the short vegetation before heading back to the harbour for our bouncy RIB ride back to the mainland.  Our skipper confirmed we were the last trip he was making that day so we were extremely lucky that we’d arrived early.

The journey back to Cheshire in Fred’s  Red Audi A4, was done in torrential rain with a steamed up interior and our chauffeur driving in his boxers as he’d got soaking wet. Quite what the police would have made of it if we’d got stopped is something we’ll never know……

Since then there have been 6 more records including a long staying, but elusive and wide ranging bird, on Fair Isle that stayed for 35 days in 2021. Most records are in May & June and we’re well overdue another.

Scottish Natural Heritage, the Isle of May Bird Obser-

vatory and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology would

like to thank all visiting birders for being patient and

following the on-site directions to view only from

certain points; their behaviour was impeccable. A

further thank you is due to those who made a donation

to the bird observatory. We hope that everyone took

away memories of a superb bird in the stunning setting

that is the Isle of May

Western Reef Heron. A 1st for Britain.

News of Britain's first Western Reef Heron broke whilst I was on holiday in Croatia. Nothing I could do about that then! but, as the holiday continued and the bird continued to be seen I started hoping that it might stay until I returned. It was found by local birder Simon H R in Foryd bay near Caenarvon. A fantastic looking bird and it was a dark plumage morph which made it easier to pick out from the Little Egrets. It was an easy 1 1/2 hour drive from my house so I started hatching plans to go across Friday afternoon as our flight wasn't due in to Manchester airport until mid afternoon Thursday and the bird seemed to have a habit of flying off to roost late afternoon / early evening and its movements were tide related. Studying the local tide tables whilst in Rovinj airport I realised there was a chance of getting across Thursday evening if the bird was still there. I couldn't really complain if it wasn't. We'd had a wonderful non-birding holiday in Croatia but I'd still managed  Scops Owl, Nightingale, Golden Oriole, Serin and singing Wryneck from our balcony! 

Sure enough I'd just arrived home at 4 pm Thursday when the news broke it was still there. With a nod from my understanding wife, who'd notice I was getting 'twitchy' on the plane, I set off after dumping my suitcase in the kitchen and grabbing my binoculars and camera! An uneventful journey saw me arriving just as the weather broke and the rain I'd experienced on the way over stopped. Just as well really as my car is usually full of wet weather gear but I'd removed it all to make room for suitcases.

A birder was just levng as I arrived and told me someone was still watching it around the corner from where I'd parked. I'd arrived just in time as the 2nd birder was leaving to return to London and the Western Reef Heron had flown across the rising water and disappeared behind some greenery on a small island with just art of its head showing. Five minutes later and it would have taken me a long time to find it by myself.

Watching it by myself, with one eye on the advancing rain storm, it started moving and flew a short distance to perch up in some 'juncus' before flying down and walking back in to cover again. Two locals out walking their dogs stopped to chat about 'their' famous visitor and as I was leaving a young birder turned up with his mum. He'd missed the bird several times and was grateful to use my tailgate as a stand for his scope. Eventually I had to ask him to move as I needed to get home and unpack as well as getting something to eat as it had been a long time since breakfast in Croatia! 

Not the best photos but I'm pleased how they turned out given the weather and distance.

Western Reef Heron is usually found in Southern Europe, Africa and parts of Asia - I one saw on my February trip to Thailand.Its long been mooted as a first for Britain due to a number of extralimital records in Europe in recent years.  Since January 2026 there have been  3 sightings in Spain, 3 in Italy and 4 in France (Source Birdguides here). The two plumage forms are the white Egretta Gularis and the dark morph Egretta gualaris gularis.

Leaving site slightly later than was expected I arrived home to find a curry waiting for me and my suitcase standing waiting me to dump the contents into the laundry basket. My 1st UK tick since the Siberian Thrush on Shetland last October. (See here).

Many thanks not only to the finder, Simon, but all the other local birders who kept me informed through local WhatsApp groups of the birds presence and those that clinched the identification.

Barn Owls

 I’ve recently been helping out our local Barn Owl because of an illness in the group. I can vividly seeing my first Barn Owls as a kid in Suffolk in an old deserted wooden barn at Ford Hall Farm a few hundred metres from where we used to live. I was exploring the old farm buildings with my old Labrador, Bonzo, when one swooped down hissing and nearly took the poor old dogs head off it was that close. I realised after that we were probably close to its nest. After that we used to see them on a regular basis and when the farm was taken over and renovated they moved to a nearby hollow Ash.

Barn Owls have been regularly seen in our Cheshire village with several boxes being installed by the Wirral Barn Owl Trust (WBOT). We’ve even been fortunate enough to have had one roosting in a Tawny Owl nest box for several months one winter. A pair also evicted our local Little Owls and successfully bred in a natural tree hollow a couple of hundred metres from our house. 

Last year was a very poor year for Barn Owls locally with the nests being monitored by WBOT producing a poor return of only 17 young. This year is shaping up to be much better with over 50 being ringed in a couple of weekends. On the day I attended we ringed 23 including an impressive brood of  7.

As with all raptors and owls the egg laying is staggered so the young hatch at different times. This is a survival strategy as in times of food scarcity the older owlets can turn to canabilism & eat their younger siblings. A pretty gruesome thought & when I explained this to our two youngest granddaughters, aged 5 & 7,  I definitely saw the youngest one giving her older sister the side eye! 

Barn Owl pulli can be aged accurately by the length of the unfurled feather from the sheath of the 7th primary. As Barn Owls have 11 primaries this is best done by counting 4 in from the outer primary. This is measured during the ringing and processing of the chicks and the egg laying date can be calculated from this. Birds were also weighed and data shows that youngsters reach a maximum weight then lose some weight just before they fledge.

Young Barn Owls can be sexed at an early age by the presence or absence of black spotting on the underwing coverts and auxiliaries. Females have black spots whilst the males are generally unmarked. On older owlets it’s sometimes possible to sex by the colour of the mantle feathers with females having much more grey and the males generally having very few grey feathers.

Above & below: female Barn Owl owlet

Above & below: male Barn Owl owlet 

As A fantastic day out and it was a pleasure to be able to help. 

Norway in search of Knot.

 I’ve recently returned from Arctic Norway where I joined a team monitoring and trying to catch migratory Red Knot fattening up before they fly to their breeding grounds in Canada & Greenland. The journey involve4 three flights from Manchester with stops in Oslo & Tromso before arriving in Lakselv in daylight at midnight! Steve kindly picked me up and drove me the hours journey to our accommodation in Brenna. On the way I saw my 1st Mountain Hares, Elk and Reindeer of the trip. All three would become a daily sighting over the next two weeks.

Reindeer

Elk

A sleepless night ensued as the sun didn’t really set and kept me awake. I soon sorted the sleeping arrangements by clearing a windowless storage cupboard that was just big enough to lay my mattress down and let me sleep in darkness! 

My bedroom! 

Introduced to the rest of the team at breakfast the days plans were discussed with potential catching sites being surveyed and Knot flocks counted and legs checked for colour rings or flags. Incredibly we picked up birds from the Wirral that were flagged at Hoylake in 2024 as well as birds from Lancashire, the Wash and further afield from Dutch & Polish schemes.

37C at time of ringing in Hoylake in Feb 2024

 

37C in Borselve, Arctic Norway May 2026

Of course there were opportunities for observing other wildlife and White-tailed Eagles, Willow Grouse and Rough-legged Buzzard were seen daily. Lekking Ruff were seen at several sites - a real treat as full summer plunged male Ruff are incredible looking birds and rarely seen in the UK. The same plied to summer plumages Temminck’s Stints that were seen in good numbers. Displaying Wood Sandpipers was also a new experience for me. Bluethroats sang from every suitable habitat and Willow Warblers were seemingly everywhere. Willow Tits were relatively common and we’re quite different to the birds we see in the UK being very monochrome with very little buff / brown in the plumage. They are a different race than UK birds and very distinctive. 

Willow Grouse 

Later in the trip we started seeing the first migrating Long-tailed Skuas and Arctic Skuas .

Arctic Skua

We only managed one small catch of 33 Knot as they really weren’t playing ball. A roost site one day held no birds the following day. They seemed to be moving around at random unlike our winter catches in the UK where the high tide roosts are regularly in the same places.

These birds were fuelling up ready for their transatlantic migration with the heaviest birds being 200g. Around 30-40% heavier than wintering birds in the UK.

Canon netting involves lots of lying around waiting for the birds to come into the catching area. A very uncomfortable experience in the low temperatures and on rocky shorelines! The trick is to wrap up in as many layers as you can.

White-tailed Eagles were seen daily and were often perched up on rocks viewable from our accommodation. One of the birds photographed was ringed and it'll be interesting to see its history. These magnificent birds of prey are slowly colonising the UK after their reintroduction taking young from the Norwegian population. Their appearance caused panic in the waders and gulls and quite often the first sign of an eagles presence was the alarm calls of gulls or Oystercatchers. 

One day was particularly memorable for me not because of the birds but because of a close encounter with an Otter. I'd decided to walk the shoreline in either direction from our accommodation to check all the bays that we couldn't reach by car. I saw an Otter fishing but it couldn't smell me as I was down wind. It could see me but didn't seem to be to concerned apart from the snorting and tail slapping. I managed to get within a few metres of it whilst it fished and then hauled out  on a rock to eat its prey and have a snooze. 

The scenery was stunning with the mountains still having a snow on the highest passes. With almost 24 hour daylight there weren't any sunsets effects of the sun through the clouds and the cloud formations made up for it.

With the snow melt came the small alpine plants. Dwarf willows and birch were every where. Small alpine flowers such as s Rock Campion, Mountain Avens and Birdseye Primrose were beginning to flower and I learnt a lot from Steve and Rachel as they hunted in roadside ditches or rock screes for new plants! 

Dwarf Willow

Birds-eye Primrose

Rock Campion

Alpine Azalea

Mountain Avens

In total I recorded 94 species of bird in the two weeks I was there,. An amazing number considering how far north we were. The total included two new birds not recorded in the area before - Green Sandpiper and Hen Harrier. A fabulous place and a great experience working with a dedicated team studying Red Knot.

Bar-tailed Godwits

Short-eared Owl

Waxwing