Long staying rarities (1 Viewer)

Phil Andrews · Nov 23, 2011

With the St Marys' Waterthrush now into its ninth week, what other long-staying BB rarities can you recall (ideally without trawling through Previous Records web pages). Could break this into two categories - continous stayers eg Sammy and regular returning birds eg Albert, Elsie.

VATH 82 · Nov 23, 2011

Spanish Sparrow

Spanish Sparrow at Waterside, Cumbria from July 1996 to December 1998.Surely one of the longer, continuous-staying passerine vagrants.

JWN Andrewes · Nov 23, 2011

upton-till-i-die said:
With the St Marys' Waterthrush now into its ninth week, what other long-staying BB rarities can you recall (ideally without trawling through Previous Records web pages). Could break this into two categories - continous stayers eg Sammy and regular returning birds eg Albert, Elsie.

Larry the Laugher, Newcastle General Hospital. A returner, not sure exact dates, but when I first saw him in November '85 he was already regular enough to have earned his name. Fairly rare bird back then too (for a newbie like me leastaways). Stodmarsh Glossy Ibis, Ancient Murrelet, various King Eiders eg Tresta Voe on Shetland all returners. Red-breasted Nuthatch was a good sticker, as were a couple of Juncos around the same time (Portland and Church Crookham).

That'll do for now, be interesting to see what else gets remembered! Nice idea for a thread!

Cheers

James

Phil Andrews · Nov 23, 2011

JWN Andrewes said:
Larry the Laugher, Newcastle General Hospital. A returner, not sure exact dates, but when I first saw him in November '85 he was already regular enough to have earned his name. Fairly rare bird back then too (for a newbie like me leastaways). Stodmarsh Glossy Ibis, Ancient Murrelet, various King Eiders eg Tresta Voe on Shetland all returners. Red-breasted Nuthatch was a good sticker, as were a couple of Juncos around the same time (Portland and Church Crookham).

That'll do for now, be interesting to see what else gets remembered! Nice idea for a thread!

Cheers

James

Cheers James - i will look up the dates for each bird as and when a suggestion is put forward

owl flight · Nov 23, 2011

steller's eider on north uist returned for several years. i saw it in 1977

similarly, black-browed albatross at hermaness returned for several years. not quite sure when i saw that but i think it may have been 1975-ish

old whitey the iceland gull returned to new brighton, wirral for many years. first saw that when i was still at school after bombing down there in me lunch break on me bike, which took a few goes in 1972

a kentish plover returned to winter at west kirby for a few years. i saw it in 1974. i'd havta go through the bird reports for exact dates on both gull & plover

Ian Bennell · Nov 23, 2011

Not a major rare but the Topsham Glossy Ibis I saw 2 autumn/winters running then presumably the same bird at Breydon Water the year after that.

Jhanlon · Nov 23, 2011

I think the longest stayers include the Stodmarsh glossy ibis, Uist Steller's, Sammy the stilt and one i don't think already mentioned, the least tern at Rye Harbour. The latter was never accepted, and i think only identified several yrs into its stay. If the Hermaness albatross (Albert) is also the bird from Bass Rock (and Sula Sgeir - it's possible) he (or think maybe she) would be the winner, spanning several decades.
Of these I didn't see the Steller's (though saw the last one, a female in Moray).

VATH 82 · Nov 23, 2011

Jhanlon said:
I think the longest stayers include the Stodmarsh glossy ibis, Uist Steller's, Sammy the stilt and one i don't think already mentioned, the least tern at Rye Harbour. The latter was never accepted, and i think only identified several yrs into its stay. If the Hermaness albatross (Albert) is also the bird from Bass Rock (and Sula Sgeir - it's possible) he (or think maybe she) would be the winner, spanning several decades.
Of these I didn't see the Steller's (though saw the last one, a female in Moray).

James...The Least tern at Rye Harbour was accepted but only as a subspecies of Little Tern. The BOURC-TSC being, I think, isolated in their view, among taxonomic authorities, as not accepting antillarum as a species.

Jon Turner · Nov 23, 2011

A Ring-billed Gull returned to the Leisure Centre car park in Barnstaple for many winters (at least 12) back in the 80's and 90's.

Paul Chapman · Nov 23, 2011

VATH 82 said:
James...The Least tern at Rye Harbour was accepted but only as a subspecies of Little Tern. The BOURC-TSC being, I think, isolated in their view, among taxonomic authorities, as not accepting antillarum as a species.

Indeed, now accepted. Co-found and co-identified by someone with whom I regularly bird on my patch. One of the most exceptional pieces of rarity-finding ever. Unfortunately we now find very little together. Having read another thread, he must have changed his attitude. I'll have a word with him. B

All the best

marklhawkes · Nov 23, 2011

Not so rare, but out-stripping even Sammy is the Iceland Gull in Ayrshire - 21 years now and still counting....

Tri-Counties Birder · Nov 23, 2011

Jon Turner said:
A Ring-billed Gull returned to the Leisure Centre car park in Barnstaple for many winters (at least 12) back in the 80's and 90's.

To add to this, Rossi the RBG, and the Gosport bird (which I call Wally [Walpole Park]), which has just returned for its eighth winter.

dwatsonbirder · Nov 23, 2011

Elsie, the Farne island Lesser crested tern. Saw her when I was 10 in 1996 on a school trip, my first mega!

Rob Laughton · Nov 23, 2011

Various Black Ducks on Scilly, I remember my first back in 1997 (a drake on Tresco) had been there for while and I think there was a female there before that which hung around for a few years.

stevo · Nov 23, 2011

The Staines Brown shrike stayed for a long time,if I remember correctly.Also the Bluethroat in Norfolk(welney wwt)came back for it`s 2nd summer this year.

Steve.

gareth_blockley · Nov 23, 2011

Is the Forster's tern in Galway the same one every year?

Gareth

Chris Galvin · Nov 23, 2011

Rob Laughton said:
Various Black Ducks on Scilly, I remember my first back in 1997 (a drake on Tresco) had been there for while and I think there was a female there before that which hung around for a few years.

Even further back than that one Rob I can remember a Black Duck on the North Wales coast in the late 70s early 80s that stayed around for a while. And whilst on the North Wales coast the Black Scoter came back to there for about 10 years

stevo · Nov 23, 2011

Also there was a drake Lesser scaup which came back for a few winters in Dorset.

Steve.

Jeremy Squire · Nov 23, 2011

Lesser Yellowlegs can be long stayers. A couple of recent Scottish birds have been around for a few days. King Eiders are quite handy for hanging around.

Runcorn Birder · Nov 23, 2011

Everything that I twitch in a hurry seems to hang around forever afterwards.

Conversely, everything I don't go for in a hurry disappears quickly.

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