At Last, Alpine Swift! March 16th 2023

Feathers in February 2023, Part 3

Lazy Old Blogger #6; Scotland June 2022

Three Lifers in less than a Day! Northumberland & Fife 5-6th May 2023

While we were wandering quite happily around our favourite woodland in Wales and devoid of any internet or mobile signal on May Day, an extremely rare bird had been discovered in Northumberland. We only got wind of the Grey-headed Lapwing when we stopped for a coffee near Llandovery after having had our annual fix of the special welsh woodland birds (details in another blog to come). My first reaction was, what's a Grey-headed Lapwing since it wasn't a species I could ever recall of hearing about. It was unsurprising that I didn't know of it either since it was apparently the first ever record of the species in Britain and the bird  hails from the Far East, breeding in northeast China and Japan, and wintering in India and Cambodia and places in between. My friend Jim had messaged me frequently throughout the day asking if I was on my way to Northumberland but of course I never received any until it was too late. By the time I had replied to his texts it was mid-afternoon. The next message I received from Jim had a photo of the Lapwing attached that he'd taken after he'd instantly taken a punt and gone for it!

Of course, with the Bank Holiday weekend over, it was back to work on Tuesday and I rued the gods of fate who had decreed yet again that a mega rare bird had to be found at a time when I couldn't possibly travel to see it. So for the next few days, while hourly reports of the birds presence was being announced by all of the lucky folks who did have the time to spare to go and see it, I conjured up a stock reply to anybody who asked if I would be going, and that was that it was too far away and, no I wouldn't be travelling. But the rare Lapwing became the number one thought in my skull and by Thursday evening my resolve had been completely dissolved and I hatched a plan. That plan also involved going to twitch another couple of very rare birds, a couple of Scoter ducks, that had been discovered amongst a large flock of mixed Scoters in Fife. I just had to get Mrs Caley to agree to a night away. In the end she agreed readily to the plan, concurring that with all the stress we've endured recently that a couple of days away would be just what we needed.

In the event we still took it calmly on the Friday morning, and didn't head northwards until we'd done the weekly grocery shop and sorted out a few pressing matters. By the time we were ready to hit the road at just before eight, the Grey-headed Lapwing had been reported again, and if true to its previous form it would stay in the same field all day so seeing it should be a formality although you can never take anything for granted in the birding game. When the Lapwing had first been found, it had been fairly close in on a grassy bank behind the scrapes at Low Newton-by-the-sea and Jim had managed to grab some really nice photos (see here). However, after being at the scrape again on Tuesday morning, the bird had flown off but fortunately had been rediscovered later on farmland a mile or so away at Links Farm, High Newton-by-the-sea, but the views of it there were initially from much further away. The farmer subsequently and very helpfully, granted access to a track that allowed better access to view the field that the Lapwing favoured but it was still far more distant than the original site.

The motorway traffic northbound at least was light and we made excellent progress. I chose to continue on the M1, and avoid the M18 and A1 which I detest despite it being a few miles shorter that way, in any case I knew that there were roadworks on that route. Everything was hunky-dory until we hit the mother of all rainstorms just north of Sheffield. Combined with low fog the monsoon-type conditions slowed traffic to a crawl until we emerged into lighter rain once we'd passed Leeds. Whilst there was little traffic on our side of the motorway the southbound carriageway was much busier and when we joined the A1(M) there were some lengthy queues heading south. It was of course the King's coronation weekend and I wondered if the traffic was all headed towards London for the festivities there. A stop at Wetherby services confirmed that was indeed the case, the whole site was heaving with folk clearly heading down to the capital to watch the various goings-on. I couldn't think of much else that personally I wouldn't want to do, but I guess that we all have different boats to float.

We pulled into Newton Steads carpark at half past one. We'd been here before, last May, when we visited the Long Nanny Tern colony to see an adult American Black Tern that had joined the Arctic and Little Terns for the summer there (read here). The walk along the farm track and past some very nice looking holiday cottages took ten minutes before we arrived at the designated viewing spot, a rough compound of sorts where rusty tractor parts and old sheds stood forgotten. A wall of earth had been built around the compound which gave us an elevated view over the fields. We joined just three other birders on the mounds and instantly connected with the Grey-headed Lapwing which was stood in the middle of the field exactly as it had been doing for almost three days. I erected the scope for some good views and fired off a very ropy record shot or two.

Grey-headed Lapwing (Vanellus cinereus)

I committed the cardinal sin of taking my eye off the ball (bird) when I reviewed the shots on the back of the camera and when I looked up again the bird had disappeared. Luckily the chap to our right announced that the Lapwing was flying towards us. I managed to locate it and fired off a whole volley of frames. A Rook had taken exception to it and was harrying it across the field. Luckily for us it chased the Lapwing closer and the flying bird, and consequentially a much bigger target, actually improved my chance of getting some much better photos.

After a couple of circuits of a waterlogged area about a hundred metres or so away the Grey-headed Lapwing landed by a small weed fringed pond. It was still a bit too far away for my lens to reach but Mrs Caley and I now had ample opportunity for good views through the scope. I often bemoan carrying my Swarovski ATX95 scope because its heavy and I rarely make good use of it, but on this occasion I was extremely happy that I had it (the following day I would be even happier to use it to view the Scoter flock). Now the bird was grounded again we could really enjoy an attractively plumaged bird. It was aptly named too, grey-headed described that part of the bird perfectly because its head, and neck were indeed grey! The grey top was bordered by a black breast-band and the belly was white. The upper parts were plain brown but concealed the black and white patterned wings (as shown in the flight shots) and a white tail with a broad black bar. Most striking was the long yellow legs and a yellow bill with a black tip. All in all a very distinctive looking bird and only superficially resembling our usual Northern Lapwing of which there were a couple in the same vicinity. It was much more akin to the White-tailed Lapwing that we saw last year (read here), which is also an Asian species.

The brief burst of activity was as good as we got though since the Grey-headed Lapwing decided to walk behind the rank vegetation of the scrape and was concealed from view. Over the next half hour we could only see the bird on occasion when it stretched up to reveal its head or its wings when it opened them. Many other birders were arriving and all would have to wait for the bird to show again. We had only paid for two hours parking, you need a mortgage to park for longer (the carpark is run by the National Trust after all) so by three o'clock had to consider moving on. We were rewarded by staying right to the last moment of paid for parking time when the Lapwing suddenly burst into the air and was pursued once again by Rooks. It called as it flew past but unfortunately my view was obscured by some trees. When it turned and flew back almost overhead I pointed the camera to fill my boots and nothing happened. The camera battery had chosen that exact moment to die and even though I had two spares in my pocket there was no time to change it before the Lapwing had settled down in the middle of the field again. Such is my luck sometimes!

On that note we signed out. Of course, I was happy to have seen my latest life bird, my 406th in the UK, but I will likely rue that missed opportunity of some really good flight shots for a long time to come. I tried to shrug the battery fiasco off and paused to take some photos of some captive Guinea Fowl, Peacocks and Cockerels in the farmyard. I had calmed myself by the time we'd reached the car. A few miles away in Beadnell there is a really good cafe, a nice flat-white and a slice of rocky-road would ease the pain. While enjoying those we confirmed that we'd head on into Scotland and thanks to the wonders of modern technology I was able to select and book a hotel for the night for just a reasonable outlay in Glenrothes (a name I know because there's a Glenrothes whisky although that is distilled in Rothes in Speyside and not in the town in Fife). The drive along the A1 through the borders and past Edinburgh was as good as the drive up earlier until we neared the Forth Road Bridge and encountered quite thick fog. The crossing over the bridge was distinctly surreal since we could barely see the stanchions of the structure and it almost felt as if we driving through cloud. The Best Western Balgeddie House hotel was excellent, entirely comfortable and we enjoyed a very fine meal and a couple of celebratory drinks that evening.

Year List addition; 

217) Grey-headed Lapwing (life #406)