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August 2008
August's theme is rare waders and lazy days sea-watching.
August is guaranteed to produce a good mix of rare waders with more White-rumped Sandpipers, Baird's Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs and a Wilson's Phalorope. Terns continue with Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern and White-winged Black Tern all guaranteed. If you missed an Alpine Swift in July, try again this month - there will be one somewhere ! More continental passerines will drift across - Greenish Warbler and Western Bonelli's Warbler are pretty much guaranteed. Another Red-headed Bunting and more Rose-coloured Starlings will appear in August.
Not guaranteed, but August is a good month to pick up a Black-browed Albatross, Fea's Petrel or even a Little Shearwater on one of those weekend seawatches. Rarer waders may include Pacific and American Golden Plovers again or even a Great Snipe. A returning Blue-winged Teal may well be hiding amongst those Eurasian Teal. On land, Thrush Nightingale, Citrine Wagtail, or a Black-headed Bunting are fifty-fifty for putting in an appearance.
As with any month, August can of course turn up some real rarities. Three to set the pulses racing might include another record of Eleonora's Falcon (for all to see), a Bulwer's Petrel or a Little Whimbrel !
August 2007: An obliging Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in Kent was easily the month’s most popular bird. Had the Solitary Sandpiper in the Outer Hebrides, the Red-necked Stint in County Wexford or the Audouin’s Gull in Devon been more twitchable, they might have proved more popular. Little Shearwaters and Fea’s Petrels were being 'called' from headlands for those lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, whilst another Roller turned up, this time in South Wales. A Squacco Heron in Cambridgeshire proved a welcome distraction from the bird fair. Towards the end of the month an invasion of 33 Greenish Warblers along the east coast grabbed the headlines.
August 2006: best of the birds were enjoyed by just a lucky few with a one-day Roller in Cleveland, an all too brief Fan-tailed Warbler in Kent and a belated report of a Bridled Tern from Essex. As if this wasn't enough a one-day presumed Eastern Olivaceous Warbler on Shetland turned out to be Britain's first Olive-tree Warbler on subsequent examination of photographs. Easier to connect with were a Stilt Sandpiper in Dorset and two White Pelicans of questionable origin in Kent and along the east coast. Seawatching off Ireland was particularly productive with half-a-dozen Fea's Petrels and several Little Shearwaters. This was also a good year to connect with Aquatic Warblers with as many as ten reported.
August 2005: was productive for seawatchers with good numbers of Great and Cory's Shearwaters and Wilson's Petrels. Better still as many as a dozen Little Shearwaters and Fea's Petrels were recorded from Ireland. Gannet harvesters on Sula Sgeir were in for a shock when a Black-browed Albatross peered back at them. Back on land nearctic waders started arriving in numbers with a popular Wilson's Phalarope in Hampshire and a Least Sandpiper in Devon. Passerines included a Booted Warbler in Northumberland and a Citrine Wagtail in Norfolk.
August 2004: Seawatching stole the limelight with reports of Fea's Petrels off the Isles of Scilly and County Clare and Britain's first proven Scopoli's Shearwater off the Isles of Scilly. Thirty Wilson's Petrels were reported from Ireland and various pelagics off the Western Approaches. Three Little Shearwaters were reported from Irish headlands. Away from the coast a Black Stork gave birders the run around in Essex for a fortnight. Passerines were on the move by the end of the month including some 30 Greenish Warblers, 15 Aquatic Warblers and three Thrush Nightingales.
August 2003: A male Snowy Owl arriving mid-month on the Outer Hebrides certainly kept photographers happy although a Least Sandpiper in Hertfordshire was equally obliging and certainly higher up the rarity status. County Clare produced some great seawatching with Fea's Petrel and multiple Wilson's Petrels on the 21st-22nd. By the month-end a Booted Warbler in Norfolk and an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler in Dorset were a signal of the hastening passerine migration.
August 2002: Bird of the month was without doubt a sub-adult male Pallid Harrier lingering at Elmley, Kent to the delight of some 5,000 visitors. Along with two Marsh Sandpipers this was the place to bird ! Elsewhere the expected rarer waders and seabirds were seen, whilst rarer passerines were noteworthy for a mini invasion of Two-barred and Parrot Crossbills into the Northern Isles and an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler on Shetland.
August 2001: If birders heading for the Scillonian Pelagic mid-month were kidding themselves that the July Fea's Petrel might show itself again, then they can hardly have believed their eyes when the same or another Fea's was to spend over an hour shearing back and forth past the Scillonian some 60 miles SW of the Isles of Scilly. Back on land August produced a long awaited Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in Kent, first seen at Pegwell Bay and subsequently relocated at Grove Ferry. By the end of the month eastern passerines had started to arrive with a Turkestan Isabelline Shrike on Lundy heading the cast.
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