American Robin
My plan for this week birding wise was to spend a day in Norfolk. I was hoping to get some photos of a very showy Red-breasted Goose and then connect with some other east coast winter specialities such as Snow Bunting, Shorelark and Pink-footed Goose.
That all went completely out of the window late on Tuesday when RBA reported an American Robin in Eastbourne. Twitching birds in the UK that I have seen loads of in their normal habitat, in this case North America, is always slightly odd but, as I need this for my UK list, a twitch was a no brainer.
The American Robin is really not a Robin at all, it’s a thrush. It was named after our very own Eurasian Robin by the first european settlers due to its red breast. It is widely distributed throughout North America where it is the most abundant bird with an estimated population of 370 million. It essentiality replaces our european Blackbird in North America where it is a common garden bird. Given how common it is North America, and that most of the population is migratory, it is a surprisingly rare vagrant to Europe with just 28 UK records to the end of 2019.
Wednesday for the twitch was out as I was looking after our menagerie of animals while Carolyn was out for the day but it showed well all day leaving me hopeful that it would still be around on Thursday. Eastbourne is a 3.5 to 4 hour drive from home with two main route options, the dreaded M25 or cross country via Swindon. I opted for the former and left home at 05:00 on a cold wintry Thursday morning hoping to avoid the worst of the traffic. I hit the car park formally known as the M25 just before 7 and immediately ground to a halt. Once past Heathrow, though, the traffic wasn’t too bad and, after one pitstop, I arrived in Eastbourne just after 09:00. The Robin had been inhabiting the gardens and fields beyond a small housing estate and, soon after I arrived, I saw it through my bins sitting in a bare tree in the field. With the UK tick under my belt, I could relax and wait for some closer photographic opportunities. I spotted Oxon birder Ewan and we chatted while waiting for the Robin to do its thing on the estate cotoneaster bushes which still held lots of tasty red berries. Eventually the Robin dropped down onto its favourite cotoneaster and fed giving everyone their craved photogenic opportunity. It then flew behind the garages onto an even closer cotoneaster giving almost full frame photo opportunities. After its berry feast it flew back into the trees in the fields to digest its meal but 30 minutes or so later it came back onto the cotoneaster bushes allowing newcomers to take photos.
Around midday, and being very satisfies with my viewings, I drove the short distance to Eastbourne seafront where a Hume’s Leaf Warbler was overwintering in evergreen Holm oak trees. I’ve only ever seen one Hume’s in the UK so the opportunity for a relaxed afternoons birding without the pressure of a UK tick was most appealing.
The Hume’s Leaf Warbler is a typical leaf warbler, restless, always on the move and hard to pin down. What the Hume’s definitely does have, however, is a very distinctive and often heard call, a sharp and penetrating tweet. It breeds in the mountains of inner Asia and winters mainly in India. Most winters a small number migrate in the opposite direction, see here, and end up overwintering in the UK such that to the end of 2019 a total of 170 had been recorded here. It is very similar to its more common cousin, the Yellow-Browed Warbler, but differs in that it has only one prominent light wing bar with just a faint vestige of the second shorter wing bar, overall duller colours, and dark legs.
When I arrived the Warbler was in the oaks over the road from the seafront and calling occasionally. Its call is remarkably loud and totally inconsistent with its tiny size. It was giving typical leaf warbler views in the canopy, obscured and fleeting. After and hour or so of chasing its call around the canopy it flew over the road into more oaks on the seafront. The drop down to the beach meant that at least some of the canopy was at eye level and I finally got a short but clear view of our exotic Asian visitor in my bins.
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| Hume's Leaf Warbler, Berry Head, November 2018 |
I was very happy with my days birding and decided to drive along the coast to Brighton and pick up the A23 back onto the M23 from there. Brighton has very fond memories for me as my old stomping ground. I moved there when I was 18 and did my first degree and PhD at the university before taking a post as a research fellow. Twelve wonderful years in total before I went over to the dark side and spent the rest of my working life in the commercial high technology sector. I drove past Peacehaven were I lived during my second undergraduate year with my girlfriend at the time and some other friends in a cold, damp, and dilapidated seaside bungalow. As I approached Brighton I could see the last sad skeleton like remains of the west pier in the sea beyond the palace pier. I remember walking along it during my first year at university some 48 years ago, the last year it was open to the public. Brighton still has the feeling of a vibrant town with an arty culture and many clubs, bars, and entertainment venues. The places we used to hang out are, of course, long gone including our favourite hangout, the dingy dilapidated and smoke filled Zodiac club where we drank and danced most nights away. How on earth we manged to do this until the early hours and then go to work the next day is now impossible for me to imagine!
Oh to be young again!
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