Snow Goose - 2015 Skokholm

Rare.  Three records prior to 2000 when a small feral population established on Skokholm

One on North Plain on the evening of 5th April 2015 was the first since 2010 (HD et al.).

In June 2000 four pinioned birds reached Skokholm, three of the emaciated individuals making it to the plateau where they were fed. The following year two of the birds paired and produced four free-flying offspring. One of the adults and three of the young survived to 2003 and the three young were regularly seen with Canada Geese around the Marloes Peninsula in 2004.

Two birds were seen in 2005, 2006 and 2007, with one pairing with a Canada Goose in the latter year and producing [5] infertile eggs. A single was logged in 2008, 2009 and 2010, again pairing unsuccessfully with a Canada Goose in the latter two years.

The other Skokholm records are three immatures on 13 June 1971, a Slimbridge ringed bird on 9th May 1975 and five white adults north with four Barnacle Geese on 15th April 1991.

Skokholm Bird Observatory Annual Report 2015 (Richard Brown & Giselle Eagle)

Bobolink - 1999 - first for Pembrokeshire

At the end of September 1999, south-west Wales had experienced a spell of strong to gale-force westerly winds, following the hurricane which east-coast North America had experienced.  We on Skokholm Island knew it was inevitable tht at least one "yank" of some description would be unfortunate enough to be blown across the Atlantic, but nothing appeared on Skokholm, as usual.  So we were resigned to the fact that it would not be us who would see such a bird, especially since it was now two weeks on and we were experiencing light easterlies and clear skies associated with a high pressure system.

On the 13th october, after a morning of doing paperwork in the observatory buildings, Theresa Purcell and I decided to have a sandwich lunch at the lighthouse and do some seawatching at the same time.  However, we had walked just halfway along the main track across the island, which Teresa spotted a bird on the ground in a grassy clearing among bracken.  Despite Therea possessing good bird identification skills, she felt the need to ask me what it was, whereupon I repled "Meadow pipit".  Obviously disgusted in my lack of faith in her abilities, she exclaimed "That is not a meadow pipit" and I realised that I was looking at the wrong bird.  The individual in question flew up onto the top of the bracken and in the first split second that I saw it, I thought "aqualtic warbler", but upon seeing more than the obvious crown and mantle streaks, it was very clear that this was no warbler.  It was most obviously a bobolink, a North American bird!

After the initial shock, followed by taking it all in and releasing a few restrained screams of delight, I ran all the way back to observatory to make a few phone calls.  Too out of breath to use the phone, I picked up my camera and video camera, desperate to obtain photographic evidence, and ran back.  I needn't have worried, Theresa had stayed with the bird which was obligingly sitting in the top of the bracken in the sunshine, contentedly eating craneflies.  Theresa made the necessary phone calls, while I took a long look at our bird.  Juan, Simon, Rob and Shirley crossed from Skomer and just managed to see it before dusk.

Skokholm is home to 46,000 pairs of Manx shearwaters, an estimated 20% of the world population, and is therefore peppered with fragile burrows.  Not an ideal place for a "twitch" and the fact that a boat does not freequently visit means that getting people across is difficult.  However, given the obliging nature of the bobolink and that it seemed content not to move any great distance away from a convenient viewing spot, the Skokholm and Skomer Conservation Advisory Committee decided to spread the news.  Subsequently, then other people saw the bird in what was the first official twitch on the island.  Thankfully it was viewed and greatly admired from the footpath, so none of the many burrows were threatened with trampling.  A flighty bird during the breeding season would probably necessitate a different decision.

Description:

General appearance and structure: First impression was "aquatic warbler" Acrocephalus paludicola, due to the crown and mantle streaks and general coloration of buff and brown.  Following further viewing, it was seen to be a rather large, upright, bunting- or finch-like bird, with a large bill, long tail and long primary extension.  Its pale lores and lack of obvious dark coloration along the lower edge of the ear coverts gave it a very bright facial appearance.  At times it hid in the bracken and moved along the ground, appearing somewhat corncrake-like, due to general plumage and bare parts coloration and its behaviour as it stretched its neck to look around.  In flight the tail was slightly fanned and showed obvious pointed tips to the feathers.

Plumage: head very distinctive, with a pale, whitish-buff central crown stripe and dark brown lateral crown stripes.  Pale buff supercilia and a brownish eye stripe behind the eye only, extending to the rear edge of the ear coverts and running just a short way down them whilst becoming very narrow.  No obvious moustachial stripe, quite unlike female yellow-breasted bunting Emberiza aureola. The centre of the ear coverts was buff.  Lores pale, upon close inspection seen to have a bluish-grey coloration.  Chin and throat the brightest part of the whole plumage, a whitish-buff and very obvious at a distance in sunlight.  The nape was more buff-coloured.

Upperparts: Back generally buff with darker streaks.  Mantle with two cream-buff streaks running vertically, edged with darker feathering.  In certain positions the pale streaks formed two inverted "V"s, the outer branch half the length of the main, inner ones.  General feathering of the scapulars was dark-centred, pale-edged.  Median coverts brightest part of wings, broad pale whitish-buff edges.  The other wing bars were far less distinct.  Tertials were, with the exception of the upper right feather, dark brown with a narrow whitish border; the other had a broad buff edge, evidently a fresh one, thus aging the bird as a 1st winter. The primary feathers were dark brown with narrow pale borders.  The rump and upper tail feathers were, as much of the back feathering, dark-centred with pale buff edging.  The tail was similarly coloured, the feathers noticeably spiky, this being particularly prominent when the bird flew overhead, silhouetted against the pale sky.

Underparts: The throat was the most noticeable feature at a distance, being particularly bright buff-cream.  The breast and belly were slightly darker buff but still generally pale as were the thigh feathers.  There was an obvious line down the centre of the breast where feathers overlapped.  The flanks had some darker streaking. 

Bare parts:  The bill was a pale pink, with a hint of darker blue-grey on the culmen and along the top of the upper mandible.  The eye was dark, black-brown, with a narrow white eye ring, most noticeable below the eye.  The legs and feet were pink.

Voice: a rather soft metallic "picc", mainly uttered in flight at a regular interval of about one second, also heard when it was disturbed, as it flew up onto a bracken vantage point to observe what had disturbed it. Theresa heard it first and described it as a "rather less musical chaffinch-like pink" This is the description given in some of the books we subsequently referred to.

Behaviour: At first the bird was rather bold, allowing us to approach to about three metres distance.  It was clambering about among the top of the bracken fronds, which were mainly brown and withering at this time.  It frequently flicked its rather heavy-looking tail, with a slight downward movement before a far more pronouced upward flick.  It was regularly catching and eating craneflies which were abundant among the foliage. Occasionally it flew away, never more than about fifty metres and landed in other bracken patches, but inevitably returned to the original area by undertaking another flight.  Each time it flew it called.  As the afternoon of the 13th of October wore on, the bird became less obvious, spending more time among the bracken, climbing about at half the stem-height, moving from frond to frond.  The moving vegetation was used to relocate the bird.  On the following morning, 14th October, despite twelve people scanning the top of the bracken, it wasn't seen.  The wind had increased ESE 3-4.  It was finally located by accident as it was almost stepped on.  It flew a short distance onto the bracken, and called a few times before flying off again to its favourite patch.  It then remained hidden for long periods, occasionally showing its head and shoulders to an appreciative audience but did, thanfully, sit out in the open on occasion, particularly as the breeze decreased and it became warmer.  During its periods of skulking, it would occasionally stretch its neck up and look around, appearing very corncrake-like.  Tail-flicking was only occasionally seen.

Graham Thompson

Pembrokeshire Bird Report 1999.

Desert Wheatear - 1997 - first for Pembrokeshire

Oenanthe deserti

At 14:15 on Friday 12 December 1997, whilst taking a final stroll around the island before our departure for the winter months (planned for the following day), Theresa Purcell and I were surprsed to come across a bird!  Any bird!  For in recent days gale-force winds had blown incessantly, and there were very few signs of life all!  However, on the ground about 20m ahead of us, a pale head appeared from behind a thrift tussock, and my immediate impression was "wheatear".  Then shock set in, for this was the month of December, and it couldn't opposibly be a Northern Wehatear, surely not!  It then emerged into the open, and its pale plumage became apparent.  After having seen an Isabelline Wheatear Oenanthe isabellina at this very spot in September, there was a brief feeling of deja vu. It became apparent, however, that this was diminutive by comparison.  Both Theresa and I excitedly uttered our feelings simultaneously - "Desert Wheatear"!

And the timing was right.  The bird seemed tired, certainly not wary of us, and we continued our approach as it wandered amongth the clumps of vegetation.  Over the next ten minutes we observed the bird from down to 15 metres, during which time it flew a short distance only a rock outcrop and preened, before flying some 100 metres and out of sight on the coastal slope.  It was indeed a desert whatear, the first recorded on Skokholm, and in Pembrokeshire, and we were elated.  But also frustrated that as far as other birders were concerned, the timing was very wrong and nobody else was going to see it.  However, the image of the bird was preserved for posterity on the toilet wall, in the form of a splendid painting by Theresa.

Description:

General appearance: A a pale, eye-catching wheatear.  Features of note included its small size, upright stance and dumpy appearance, more reminiscent of chats; wing feathers broadly edged buff-white, buff-coloured rump; whole tail brown-black; and along with the primaries and alula, the darkest part of the plumage.  There was a slight contrast between upper- and under-parts.

Size and structure: Despite having no other bird alonside for a direct size comparison, the wheatear was immediately noticeably smaller than northern wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe of the nominate race.  It also had entirely different proportions,: a dumpy body, with neck-less appearance (possibly caused by its tiredness), despite it always standing very upright.  The primary extension was shorter than tertial length, mostly obscuring the rump and extending across part of the upper-tail.  The bill was quite slender.

Plumage: Crown, nape, sides of neck, mantle and scapulars all pale milky-coffee brown; wings with lesser and greater coverts with broad pale buff-white edges virtually obscuring dark (brownish-black) centres, but less so on median covnerts.  Tertials and secondaries also dark with pale edges.  Primaries almost black, with pale tips.  The alula, being black, was the darkest part of the wing, and stood out noticeably.

The face had no feature to cause it to stand out, at times appearing a uniform pale sandy-buff.  An indistinct, pale buffish-white supercilium ran form the forehead to over the eye (head-on views showed supercilia to meet above the bill), then to above the rear ear coverts.  It was not visible all of the time, depending upon the position of the bird and thus the angle of incidence of the light, similarly with the loral bar and ear coverts, which were diffuse pale buff.  At one moment the breeze caused the feathers on one side of the throat to move, briefly revealing a diffuse blackish patch at their base.  But otherwise the throat was off-white, a distinct contrast to the upper breast which was buff-peach, forming a breast band, the belly was also off-white.

The folded tail appeared all brownish-black above and below.  This was confiremd as the bird flew, conspicuously lacking the inverted "T" and white sides to the upper-tail of other wheatears.  Also, a particularly noticeable feature was the buff-coloured rump, obvious in flight, but obscured by the closed wings when the bird was on the ground.  The underwing coverts and axillaries were pale, and the upper-wings were almost as pallid, no doubt due to the broad pale fringes to all feathers.

Bare parts: Iris, bill and legs all black.  There was a pale, whitish eye-ring.

Behaviour: The bird was particularly approachable, but appeared tired, thus allowing close views, although it did stand partiuclarly upright at times and frequently wagged its tail up and down.  When it flew off it appeared very chat-like, direct, with whirring wings.  It flew for c.100metres, whence it dipped out of sight.  Unfortunately we did not see it again, and left the island the following day.

Identification: The pale brownish-coloured upperparts, combined with pale underwing, led us to conclude that the bird was of the East Asian race O d atrogularis.  It was probably afemale.

Graham Thompson

Pembrokeshire Bird Report 1997