From 1 January, several taxa will receive updated rarity levels, reflecting changes in status and distribution. Changes to the BirdGuides news service in 2025 will include the downgrading of Baikal Teal, White-winged Scoter, Brown Booby and Scopoli's Shearwater to Rare, and Common Crane, Great Shearwater and Cory's Shearwater to Local. Tundra Bean Goose will also be upgraded to Scarce, reflecting its gradual decline as a wintering visitor. Subscribers may wish to amend their filters and alerts to ensure that they continue receiving reports of species and subspecies that are set to see their rarity statuses downgraded.
The run-up to the Christmas fortnight was rather sedate, with several bouts of heavy wind and rain. While much of Britain and Ireland battened down the hatches, the South-West had a surprise or two in store, including a claim of Britain's first record of Cape Verde Shearwater and an apparent mini-arrival of Pied Crows.
Pied Crow has inspired intrigue in Britain and Ireland ever since the widely-travelled individual of 2018-19. The species has appeared on a near-annual basis since, with December 2024 producing a prolific spell of records from South-West England and the Channel Islands. The Channel Islands and Normandy, France, have played host to an intriguing on-and-off run of sightings since October 2023, which are thought to involve at least one bird wandering with the area's resident Ravens. What is presumably this bird appeared at Mannez, Alderney, on 5-6th. It would be easy to presume that a bird at Torpoint, Cornwall, from 12-17th was one and the same – although two were later reported from Chickerell, Dorset, on 6th (with at least one of these photographed). One at Kenidjack Valley, Cornwall, on 19th presumably related to the Torpoint bird relocating.
All considered, no fewer than three birds (and perhaps as many as five) have been present around the fringes of the English Channel in recent weeks. Just where are they coming from? The species is frequently recorded as a ship-assisted vagrant elsewhere in the world, while records from the southern extremities of the Western Palearctic have steadily increased over recent years. Escapes from captivity likely cloud the picture, however, with the species common in private collections.
Pied Crow, Mannez, Alderney (John Horton / Alderney Observatory).
On 19th, a credible claim of Cape Verde Shearwater was received from Pendeen, Cornwall, passing close inshore inside the site's famed Wra Rocks. Found by an experienced local seawatcher after all other observers had left the site, it would prove the first British record if accepted by the rarity committees. No photographs exist of the record, with the excellent mid-December seawatch also seeing Great and Sooty Shearwaters recorded. The species is a mega rarity in the north-east Atlantic Ocean, with two Spanish claims (one from Estaca de Bares, Galicia, on 5 October 2023 and another photographed off Lekeitio, Basque Country, on 15 September 2024) the only others from the European mainland.
A large gathering of gulls at Duncannon, Co Wexford, on 19th contained an adult Russian Common Gull. Though it is almost certainly overlooked, the taxon has never been conclusively recorded in Ireland previously (though it looks set to be predated by one documented at Arklow, Co Wicklow, in January 2006). The subspecies is one of the most widespread of the Common Gull complex, with a vast breeding range of over 4,000 km heading east from Moscow, Russia. Distinguishing characteristics include striking dark-grey upperparts, closer to Lesser Black-backed than canus Common Gull, and a characteristic primary pattern, including near-all-dark p8 and small mirror on p9.
Russian Common Gull, Duncannon, Wexford (Killian Mullarney).
The adult Azores Gull disappeared from Newlyn, Cornwall, after mid-week. Elsewhere, 15 Glaucous Gulls included the popular lingering juvenile on a dead seal carcass at Old Hunstanton, Norfolk, plus two Ring-billed Gulls still in Ireland, Bonaparte's Gull in Co Antrim and 26 Iceland Gulls. (including adult Kumlien's Gulls at Bigton, Mainland Shetland, and Tralee, Co Kerry). A handful of Little Auks included 107 off Fife Ness, Fife, on 21st, while Grey Phalaropes were off St Ives, Cornwall (two), and Maidens, Ayrshire. A Great Shearwater flew past Ballycotton, Co Cork, on 17th and Pendeen, Cornwall, on two dates.
Glaucous Gull, Old Hunstanton, Norfolk (Jon Heath).
An eclectic Aythya collection at Rickmansworth Aquadrome, Hertfordshire, on 16th consisted of no fewer than three Ferruginous Ducks (adult drake and two first-winter drakes) and an adult drake Ferruginous Duck × Common Pochard hybrid. Additional Ferruginous Ducks remained in London and Warwickshire.
Ferruginous Duck (left) with Common Pochard, Rickmansworth Aquadrome, Hertfordshire (Ian Curran).
Ferruginous Duck × Common Pochard, Rickmansworth Aquadrome, Hertfordshire (Ian Curran).
In Somerset, the adult drake Baikal Teal was last noted at Greylake RSPB on 18th. Both the American Coot and Bufflehead remained in Shetland. Six Lesser Scaup included a new first-winter female at The Wilderness, Fife; elsewhere were five each of American Wigeon and Surf Scoter, 12 Green-winged Teal, 12 Smew and 20 Ring-necked Ducks.
Baikal Teal (centre) with Eurasian Teal, Greylake RSPB, Somerset (Andrew Jordan).
Green-winged Teal, Newport, Pembrokeshire (Tommy Evans).
Ring-necked Duck, Glasgow, Clyde (Mark Darling).
Warwickshire birders welcomed a Tundra Bean Goose at Ladywalk NR, though it seems likely to be the wandering resident West Midlands adult deemed of suspect origin. The apparent Taiga Bean Goose remained near Burton Constable, East Yorkshire, with a count from Slamannan, Forth, reaching 123. Up to six Snow Geese lingered, with news elsewhere including the adult Ross's Goose in Ayrshire, Co Dublin Grey-bellied Brant and two Richardson's Cackling Geese.
Grey-bellied Brant (centre) with Pale-bellied Brent Geese, Blackrock, Dublin (Jack Tynan).
A surprising run of three swifts on 18th included an interesting bird photographed over Global Marine Cable Depot at Portland Harbour, Dorset. While far from conclusive, it shows a bird perhaps most similar to Little Swift, if you squint a little. Unfortunately, local birders would fail to relocate it. Others – best identified as either Common or Pallid Swifts – overflew North Gare, Cleveland, and Steart WWT, Somerset.
An Amur Stonechat was a surprise find at Theddlethorpe, Lincolnshire, on 16th, though it wouldn't be relocated. Amur has undoubtedly proved the rarer of the species pair this autumn, with a first-winter male in Suffolk in November the only other record. A paltry two Great Grey Shrikes – lingering birds in Staffordshire and North Yorkshire – were reported, alongside two Eurasian Penduline Tits, 19 Shore Larks and 16 Yellow-browed Warblers, plus a Little Bunting still in Cornwall. Three Hoopoes included a new bird in Derbyshire, while the Co Cork Pallid Harrier lasted another week.
Eurasian Penduline Tit, Ouse Fen RSPB, Cambridgeshire (Jon Heath).
Shore Larks, Old Hunstanton, Norfolk (Jon Heath).
Yellow-browed Warbler, Newlyn, Cornwall (Ian Curran).
The adult Grey-headed Lapwing was back at East Chevington, Northumberland, on three dates and looks set to remain in situ to entertain the masses over the festive fortnight. Long-billed Dowitchers remained in Devon and Norfolk, with a White-rumped Sandpiper in Suffolk seemingly embedded for the winter and a Kentish Plover still in Somerset.
Grey-headed Lapwing, East Chevington NWT, Northumberland (Martyn Jones).
Western Palearctic
Belated news of a major regional rarity concerned a giant petrel species – probably a female Northern Giant Petrel – found dead near Samandağ, Turkey, on 18 November 2013. It is just the fourth WP record of giant petrel and, if confirmed to species, would be the first definitive occurrence of Northern Giant Petrel.
Western Willet, Little Blue Heron, Pied-billed Grebe and five American Great Egrets all lingered on Terceira, Azores, with a Double-crested Cormorant still on Faial and an American Coot on São Miguel. An African Crake reached Lanzarote, Canary Islands.
Western Willet, Cabo da Praia, Terceira (Simon Buckell).
A drake Baikal Teal was at Alkmaar, Netherlands, and a Sociable Lapwing visited Camargue, France, while Serbia's first Ring-necked Duck was in Belgrade and the German Sandhill Crane continued for another week.
Israel boasted a Pied Bush Chat and a trio of Lesser Flamingos were in Kuwait, with a Reed Cormorant photographed at Abu Simbel, Egypt.
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