UK Bird Species 2008 To Date
May 9, 2008
Wed May 7, 2008 4:17 pm
With the further addition of 17 species in the past 15 days, the total number of species now recorded in Britain and Ireland in 2008 now surges forward to 338 species. The new additions are -:
LITTLE BITTERN
BLACK STORK
Eurasian Honey Buzzard
Corncrake
CASPIAN PLOVER
AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER
BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER
UPLAND SANDPIPER
Little Tern
European Nightjar
PALLID SWIFT
European Bee-eater
CITRINE WAGTAIL
Golden Oriole
Woodchat Shrike
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW
Ortolan Bunting
Members area updates
April 27, 2008
UK400 Club year, county and life, lists updated along with Black Lark article added to members area.
Scandanavia Birding Trip
April 26, 2008
Although I am away in China from 25 April to 5 May (trip rescheduled after Oasis Airways went bust), I have four short trips later in May to fill, including 3-dayers in Morocco, Madeira, Poland and Italy. All are dawn-dusk birding and full-on but crammed full of birds and never short on events and laughter. Please email/phone asap if interested.
Later in the summer, I shall be returning to Scandinavia in an attempt to see all the owls, 3 woodpeckers, Willow Grouse, Bluetails, perhaps Lancey, Arctic Warblers, Sibe Jay, Sibe Tit, Pine Grosbeak, Tereks & Broad-billeds, King & Steller’s Eiders, Gyrfalcon, Brunnich’s Guillemots and much much more. There are possibly two spaces left on this trip. Email me if interested.
Staggering fall of birds in Kuwait
April 18, 2008
A combination of torrential rain and gale force southerly winds carried along by a fierce electrical storm resulted in a staggering fall of passerine birds in Kuwait, numbering many thousands of birds over a large area. This afforded me and my group some of the most enjoyable Western Palearctic birding ever, and took me back to the golden days of Eilat spring migrations of the 1980’s. The numbers of bird species such as Pied Wheatear, Ortolan Bunting and Common Redstart was truly staggering, and gives some insight into the continuing success of populations in Iran and further north and east.
Amongst the many highlights of the 5-day trip was the finding of the first ASIATIC PIED MYNAH/STARLING Sturnus contra for Kuwait (this species is fairly common in the UAE after a successful introduction in 1989 and occurred at the same time as an ARABIAN GOLDEN SPARROW) and my first ever SOCOTRA CORMORANTS in the Western P, whilst I relocated the overwintering adult LONG-TAILED SHRIKE which had not been seen for over two weeks.
Other highlights included 3 Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins, Desert Fox, 7 Little Bitterns, 22 Steppe Eagles grounded in the desert, large numbers of Montagu’s Harriers, an immature male SHIKRA, huge flocks of migrating Lesser Kestrels, Corncrake, Little Crakes, 54 CRAB PLOVERS, 120 Collared Pratincoles, c1,000 mainly breeding-plumaged LESSER SAND PLOVERS, 87 Broad-billed Sandpipers, 200 Terek Sandpipers, 150+ Red-necked Phalaropes, 100+ Lesser Crested Terns, 7 White-cheeked Terns, 40+ Bridled Terns, male NAMAQUA DOVE, Scops Owl, BLUE-CHEEKED BEE-EATERS, 2 European Rollers, 2 ORIENTAL SKYLARKS, BLACK-CROWNED FINCH LARKS, HOOPOE LARKS, several thousand Red-throated Pipits, leucocephala Yellow Wagtail, 20+ GREY HYPCOLIUS, White-cheeked & Red-vented Bulbuls, 25 WHITE-THROATED ROBINS, many Eastern Rufous Bushchats, a male ‘vittata’ Pied Wheatear, 3 Rock Thrushes, Savi’s Warbler, 8+ BASRA REED WARBLERS, Eastern Moustached Warblers, Upcher’s Warbler, several adult Barred Warblers, Menetries’s Warblers, Eastern Orphean Warblers,Semicollared Flycatcher, 9 COMMON BABBLERS (including several recently fledged young), Pallidirostris Saxaul Grey Shrike, abundant Turkestan & Daurian Shrikes, Common & Bank Mynahs,large numbers of PALE ROCK FINCHES, a pair of YELLOW-THROATED PETRONIAS and 150+ Ortolans
When it rains it pours…
April 15, 2008
The database that supports this site appears to be corrupted and as a consequence many parts of the public area are currently unavailable. A major update and format change was being planned and would have been implemented in the next few weeks but in the circumstances that change will now take place sooner rather than later.
Please bear with us while we endeavour to implement these changes and accept our apologies if you find pages not found in the meantime.
Tony
Apologies
April 14, 2008
Apologies to UK400 Club members and website visitors but due to a MS Windows corruption I have been unable to update , or even access the website for the last two weeks, hopefully this is now almost resolved.
The newly updated UK400 club “definitive Western Palearctic list” will shortly be available for members to download in the next couple of days along with updated UK400 club lists.
Tony
SOCOTRA CORMORANT - Kuwait
April 14, 2008
Just in the nick of time !
A single SOCOTRA CORMORANT has returned this spring to Zour Port in Kuwait but more importantly, a juvenile LESSER FRIGATEBIRD is showing well this evening, along with 100 or more BRIDLED TERNS.
The Frigatebird constitutes the first record for Kuwait (Lee Gregory, Justin Lansdell, etc). With luck, the bird will still be present tomorrow. I shall be there with a group from 11th-16th April
Escaped Black Kite - info request
April 14, 2008
Knowing that 4 BLACK KITES (1 Asiatic Black-eared and 3 European) have escaped from a damaged aviary at London Zoo (all adults, in perfect flight condition but all DOE ringed with metal rings), it has become very difficult to assess the origins of the three birds recorded in East Anglia this week. It is vaguely possible that all three DO relate to the London Zoo scenario but equally they could all be natural vagrants associated with this week’s SE winds and
arrival of other southern species.
There have been (at least) two different birds in Norfolk and another in Suffolk, the latter frequenting Boyton RSPB reserve for several days. In Norfolk, the two birds were seen together over Salthouse - then one flew west and the other drifted north. The bird that drifted west was seen inland of Cley (by MAG, RM, et al) and then seen drifting over Wiveton Downs and later over Burnham Market. The other bird drifted in over Blakeney Point and was seen by several observers towards Morston over the end of the Point and those observers could look inland and see the bird seen inland of Cley as it headed over Cockthorpe.
I would be most grateful to hear from anyone that gets excellent views of the legs and feet of any of these Black Kites and details of any rings.
I am indebted to Mark Golley and Matthew Deans for information relating to the above occurrences
| Photo of the Suffolk bird came be seen at www.freewebs.com/suffolkbirding (April 2008) |
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