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May 2010
With a couple of bank holidays and a 31 day month it's all set fair for a great month's birding. And the list of stars on the record books for May would bring any Hollywood Casting Director out of retirement.
Guaranteed in those reedbeds are various southern herons, egrets and bitterns, with the odd crake thrown in for good measure - on the muddy fringes Marsh Sandpiper, a few Broad-billed Sandpipers, more Black-winged Stilts and a possibility of a Terek Sandpiper look good for May. Over the water check the commoner terns for Gull-billed, Whiskered and Caspian whilst if it's the right year White-winged Black Terns could move through in good numbers.
In May anything is possible, so Bridled, Sooty or even another Aleutian Tern could make it here again.
Commoner migrants will be flooding into the country bringing with them rarer finds. Recent records of Blyth's Reed Warbler suggest this should be another good year. Other good warblers could be a River Warbler or even an Orphean Warbler. Greenish and Bonelli's Warbler should both appear, but will be outnumbered by the handful of Subalpine Warblers. Thrush Nightingales will be found, probably in a net. Easier to identify will be a Roller or Rock Thrush! The last week in May is a hot week for Needle-tailed Swift !
Nearctic sparrows continue to be on the move - no guarantee that one will make it this year - but another Lark Sparrow might silence some critics.
May will produce a couple of Black-headed Buntings and a few Rustic Buntings, but less certain in such a busy period is the month's best bird. With the roll of honour including American Kestrel, Lesser Kestrel, Ancient Murrelet, Northern Mockingbird, Pacific Swift, Rufous Turtle Dove, Bimaculated Lark and Pallas' Sandgrouse, a few lucky birders should have every chance of entering the history books this May.
May 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.
May 2008: May's highlight was a Caspian Plover in Shetland, whilst Scotland also added Killdeer and Upland Sandpiper within just the first five days of May. But English birders quick off the mark could chase a River Warbler in East Sussex, a Trumpeter Finch in Norfolk and a Stilt Sandpiper in Leicestershire. Other excellent birds included a Spectacled Warbler in Suffolk, Collared Flycatchers in Devon and Orkney and an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler in Dorset, whilst a brief one-day White-throated Sparrow in Lancashire was typical of the list of short-staying major May rarities.
May 2007: Birders' patience continued to be tested throughout May as a string of first class rarities evaded their grasp. Masked Booby in the English Channel and a Short-toed Eagle in Somerset would surely have set off a stampede had they been twitchable. But other slippery customers included an Audouin's Gull in Kent, Little Swift on Scilly, Baltimore Oriole in Highland, Slate-coloured Junco on St.Kilda and Greater Yellowlegs in Lincolnshire. Several Squacco Herons and a Cambridgeshire Wilson's Phalarope did however linger long enough for birders to enjoy. For resident Shetlanders they feasted on Calandra Lark, Little Crake, Thrush Nightingale and Blyth's Reed Warbler.
May 2006: Scotland held onto most of the month's best birds with a much wanted Calandra Lark initiating the Isle of May's first ever major twitch. Rarer still but all too brief was a Caucasian Stonechat on Shetland. The islands also hosted a White-throated Sparrow, a male Collared Flycatcher and, perhaps two, Scops Owls. Mainland birders were to be frustrated by a one-day Turkestan Shrike in County Durham, a belatedly reported American Robin in Scotland and a suppressed Rose-breasted Grosbeak in Norfolk.
May 2005: Scottish birders must have been delighted by the arrival of a drake Barrow's Goldeneye in Aberdeenshire as were those who travelled north to see it. But two Trumpeter Finches in Suffolk and Kent meant birders further south also had much to enjoy, whilst those quick off the mark might just have caught up with the Elegant Tern in Dorset. Had they been accessible or more timely reported a Slate-coloured Junco on an oil rig off Scotland and a Rock Thrush and a Roller both in Cornwall would have been popular. Rare waders included a Stilt Sandpiper in Norfolk and a Terek Sandpiper in Kent. Lesser rarities included sightings of more than half-a-dozen Black-winged Stilts and as many as four Great Reed Warblers.
May 2004: a male Rock Thrush in Devon on the afternoon and evening of the 25th left many disappointed birders the next morning. More reliable, but no less controversial was a drake Cinnamon Teal on the Outer Hebrides. The islands had the best of the birds in May with a Bufflehead on the Outer Hebrides, Upland Sandpiper in Shetland and Greater Yellowlegs in Northern Ireland. Good numbers of Red-rumped Swallows continued to be reported as well as a number of small parties of Bee-eaters.
May 2003 was as good as ever with Britain's first Audouin's Gull gracing Dungeness in Kent for three days. But the outlying islands had the best of the rest with a Thick-billed Warbler, Slate-coloured Junco, White-throated Sparrow and Scops Owl all choosing Shetland whilst Ireland scored with its first White-crowned Sparrow in County Cork. A second White-throated Sparrow turned up on the Wirral for birders less inclined to travel north. With five Pallid Harriers, five Little Bitterns, and five Thrush Nightingales, May's birding delights were more than a handful for most birders !
May 2002 produced some great birds to keep all but the most demanding birders happy. Britain's first ever twitchable Lesser Sand Plover in Lincolnshire and Lesser Kestrel on the Isles of Scilly had to fight off an inland Least Sandpiper, a welsh Hudsonian Whimbrel, a Calandra Lark on Orkney and a Little Swift on Scillies for star-bird billing...and a one-day Elegant Tern in Devon was to start an identification puzzle that was to run and run. Throw in several Thrush Nightingales, Great Reed Warblers, a Lesser Grey Shrike, Black Stork and record numbers of Great White Egrets and you can see why May 2002 was not a month to be tied to the office.
May 2001 produced some of the best birding of the year with bird of the month being the long-staying Little Swift in Nottinghamshire - although those lucky enough to see the one-day Marmora's Warbler in Suffolk might disagree. Equally the Black-browed Albatross that lingered off Dungeness for almost an hour early in the month will have been celebrated by many a Kent birder for some time. An inland Caspian Tern in Buckinghamshire inevitably proved a popular bird whilst Bardsey continued its good run with a Collared Flycatcher.
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