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The Very Best of British and Irish Birding - 2009 Review


(roll your cursor over each image for a summary of the month's highlights -and click on
any image for a larger version. For non IE users click here for a full account of the year)

The New Year got off to a flyer with an adult Glaucous-winged Gull in Cleveland, whilst the rare gull theme continued all month with a Franklin’s Gull in Ayrshire and an Ivory Gull on the Outer Hebrides. Other far flung rarities included a Canvasback on Islay and a Short-toed Lark in Angus. Closer to reach, but all too brief was a Killdeer in Norfolk. Popular long-stayers from 2008 included the Cornish Snowy Owl and the Norfolk Ross’ Goose. Pembrokeshire’s returning Pacific Diver was all too brief for most birders, whilst a first-winter American Herring Gull in Devon was also none too easy to see. An unseasonal Olive-backed Pipit was reported from Kent. More typical, were sightings of Penduline Tits from Norfolk, Devon and London and single Arctic Redpolls from Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. Cornwall and Pembrokeshire shared this month’s honours with Great Spotted Cuckoos whilst white-morph Gyrfalcons in Scilly, Cornwall, Argyll and Ireland and an Ivory Gull in County Cork rewarded birders still interested in winter fare. More typical spring overshoots included the first Purple Herons, a Black-winged Stilt, Alpine Swift and an early record Caspian Tern in Ireland. Highlight of the month was Kent's Crested Lark whilst as popular was a male Collared Flycatcher in Dorset. An overwintering male White-throated Sparrow in Hampshire eventually made the birdlines whilst Britain's largest flock of eleven Whiskered Terns arrived in Derbyshire. A long-staying Pallid Swift arrived at the month's end in Merseyside.
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
Fair Isle delivered the month’s best bird with Britain’s first Brown-headed Cowbird. Elsewhere pratincoles arrived and confused with a Black-winged in Kent then moving to Norfolk, a Collared Pratincole in Norfolk then moving to Yorkshire and before the month’s end an Oriental Pratincole in Sussex moving to Oxfordshire and then, in June, to Kent. Dorset delivered an Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler, Shetland a Solitary Sandpiper and Fife the spring’s second Collared Flycatcher. Highlight of the month, for those birders lucky enough to connect, was a Royal Tern in Ireland and then North Wales. Shetland birders turned up a Moltoni’s Subalpine Warbler, an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and a Lesser Grey Shrike, whilst on Scilly a Western Black-eared Wheatear made landfall. A White’s Thrush was trapped on the Isle of May. Breeding plumaged waders included a Terek Sandpiper in Cleveland and a Stilt Sandpiper in County Wexford. Highlight of the month was a short-staying Blue-cheeked Bee-eater in Kent, whilst elsewhere another Brown-headed Cowbird went undetected in Wales. A Fan-tailed Warbler arrived in Kent, but it was not until later in the year that it was to become twitchable. A Great Spotted Cuckoo in Norfolk and a singing River Warbler in Highland were more reliable. Shetland hosted a Lesser Grey Shrike, Orkney a Franklin’s Gull, whilst Scilly sea-birding logged a Scopoli’s Shearwater. An American Black Tern in Oxfordshire offered many a birder to gen up on the nearctic equivalent of our Black Tern. A Madeiran Petrel was reported off Cornwall whilst record numbers of Wilson’s Petrel along with several Fea’s Petrels and Little Shearwaters in south-west waters were more predictable. A fine Semipalmated Sandpiper in Northumberland redressed the southerly bias to August rarities.
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
Britain’s first Tufted Puffin lingered for just 20 minutes in Kent in what was surely to be the bird of the decade – that is until a fregatta petrel turned up two months later in Gloucestershire. Other untwitchable vagrants included a Blackburnian Warbler on St.Kilda and a Red-billed Tropicbird off Ireland. More obliging were a Sandhill Crane in Orkney and a Taiga Flycatcher on Shetland. Close encounters with a Black-browed Albatross off Scilly were the envy of many a birder. Britain’s first Eastern Crowned Warbler in County Durham almost slipped through. Longer staying was the very popular Brown Shrike in Surrey, whilst a long overdue Eye-browed Thrush on Orkney had birders dashing for the island. Elsewhere Ireland had the best of the nearctic bunch with Cedar Waxwing, Mourning Dove and Common Nighthawk. Shetland fought back with two Veerys and Blackpoll Warbler. November confirmed the year's unbelievable sea-birding credentials when a dozen hardy birders watched a Fregetta (presumably Black-bellied Storm) petrel off Gloucestershire. A Taiga Flycatcher in Cornwall stayed little longer although the adult Pacific Diver (presumably the regularly returning bird of recent years) finally allowed decent views as it entered the Hayle Estuary. A second bird was seen in Gloucestershire. A Crested Lark on private land put in a belatedly reported two-day stay in Wiltshire. An inland Siberian Stonechat attracted a steady stream of admirers to Nottinghamshire. A Little Bunting took up residence in Highland. Elsewhere Black Ducks appeared on the Isles of Scilly and in Ireland, a Pallid Harrier appeared in Cornwall but was to take until 2010 to be firmly identified, whilst a number of Gyrfalcons graced coastal counties.
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009

Photos from top left: Snowy Owl copyright Jeff Hazell; Pacific Diver copyright Richard Stonier; Ivory Gull copyright Polina Kasapova; Collared Flycatcher copyright Adrian Webb; Brown-headed Cowbird copyright Brett Richards; Moltoni's Subalpine Warbler copyright Dougie Preston; Blue-cheeked Bee-eater copyright Phil Chantler; American Black Tern copyright Mike Lawrence; Sandhill Crane copyright Adrian Webb; Eastern Crowned Warbler copyright Chris Galvin; Brown Shrike copyright David Hutton; Spottted Sandpiper copyright Sean Nixon.

You can search thousands of photos from 2009 and earlier for other rare birds - simply go to any gallery and use the search feature on the left hand bar. Many thanks to all the photographers who have 'showcased' their work on surfbirds in 2009.