It was disappointingly dull today (never trust the weather reports), but I had some time in the middle of the day and took a short walk along the edge of some woodland. No sign of any woodpeckers (I was in the area where occasionally there are great spotteds). There were plenty of jackdaws though, and rooks flocking overhead. Plus the inevitable gull; but nothing worth pointing the camera at.
I was just heading back when I spotted a small bird flying in a dead straight line across the field toward me, and at great speed. Its wing-beat was rapid and I knew on sight that it wasn't one of the usual suspects round here. It was difficult to judge the size, but it was somewhat stocky. For once I was sufficiently organized to grab some shots. They're very grainy (light was terrible), and none too sharp. But with some help from the forums over at Wild About Britain, the initial view is that I caught a very rare southern sighting of a Little Auk, but during the evening the opinion has shifted to a guillemot. Edit: Birdforum opinion favours the little auk.
The Little Auk is (according to my RSPB guide) very rare inland, and normally seen in and around the North Sea (some way to the north from here). A guillemot is more likely (they range further south), but still an unusual and unexpected sighting. Whichever it was, it's clearly way off-track. I assume it must have come down the coast (I was 5-6 miles inland) and was trying to navigate itself back to more northerly territory (that was the rough direction it was flying), choosing to go overland and away from the southern coast.
No apologies for the low quality of the images this time!
Camera note: taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
Post edited 22.18 and again 00.03 on 8/11/07
SittingFox
5 Nov 2007Oh wow! :eyes:
Definitely one for the red letter day list! :up: :hat:
Words
5 Nov 2007Scrub the red letter day, the consensus has shifted to a guillemot. Still an excellent sighting though!
SittingFox
6 Nov 2007Ah well… :p
Certainly a guillemot is still a big surprise, though!
Dudley
6 Nov 2007:up:
Flying Red Fox Blog
7 Nov 2007Very nice:) Yes Monday did go rather grey when it was meant to be sunny but yesterday made up for it almost, it certainly feels colder now and i heard the Weather forecasters predict Wintry showers by the end of the week yikes!
Words
7 Nov 2007It's going to get colder at the weekend, but still relatively mild for the time of year. At least that's what the forecast is. A slight chance of rain on Thursday, but we may be ok.
Words
8 Nov 2007Well opinion is shifting back to the little auk! That's the view over on the BirdForum. I may never know for sure.
SittingFox
10 Nov 2007I know very little about marine bird ID but looking at this, the bill is certainly on the short side for a guillemot. I'd personally be tempted to add it to my local list with a *unconfirmed disclaimer 😉
Whatever it was, perhaps it moved southwards to evade the onset of the bad weather in the North Sea?
Words
10 Nov 2007I've shown the photos to a local seabird expert who is certain it's a little auk, not only because a guillemot wouldn't get blown that far inland but also the underwing colouring and bill shape. He reckons to see about one little auk every year or so inland. That tallies with the view of a researcher up at Aberdeen who says much the same about little auks being the more common inland sighting (although rare) and also discounts the guillemot theory on colour/shape.
Nice to have caused a bit of a flurry in the bird watching community with this one!
SittingFox
10 Nov 2007Well, congratulations again in that case! :hat: