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October 2008
October is sure to kick off with a fistful of Olive-backed Pipits, Radde's Warblers and Rustic Buntings. But no sooner have these Siberian waifs called us to order than the stream of Yanks will make landfall in the west. From the 5th through to the 15th October we can expect ten days of transatlantic wanderers that epitomise "the land of the free". Give us a good fast moving front and we'll be watching several Red-eyed Vireos, a handful of Catharus thrushes (but which ones ?), Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Northern Parula, Blackpoll and Yellow-rumped Warbler and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. And if we get all these, then there are sure to be others; this year looks good (well in my tea-leaves at least) for a long awaited American Redstart or an equally long overdue tanager - but if it's a Summer Tanager it will have to be on the 12th (statistics suggest that the 12th is this bird's favoured day) !
But it won't all be passerines; there's Upland Sandpiper and Wilson's Phalarope - two October regulars - whilst in the skies Common Nighthawk looks good for a 2008 visit.
And for those of us who won't be on Scilly, tell your boss you will be working from home on 10th October since this is Britain's best birding day with a near statistical certainty of a major rarity arriving.
Yet, whilst we delight in Nearctic vagrants, others are getting restless. By the second half of October the birds of the Eastern bloc will be upon us again and vying for our attention. A few Red-throated Pipits will put in appearances across the country. A couple of Great Snipes, a clutch of juvenile Rose-coloured Starlings and the odd Pine Bunting are certainties, whilst Siberian Stonechats will doubtless reach double figures. A Pechora Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, and one of either Pied or Desert Wheatear will arrive. An Eye-browed Thrush is due a long stay on Scilly.
But if you can't cope with the crowds in the West Country then a well-timed stay at the bird observatory at Dungeness will probably produce Short-toed Treecreeper whilst a stay in the Northern Isles during October will produce the perfect cure for "over-active" birders. Survive the wind, rain and cold and there will be Lanceolated Warbler and Arctic Redpoll as reward.
As the October nights draw in, Dusky Warblers signal the end of October and another Isabelline Shrike is a likely straggler. But don't rest too early - in previous years the 31st October has produced the Western Palearctic's first record of Mourning Dove and Britain's second Rufous Turtle Dove.
October 2007: Highlight of the month was a Brown Flycatcher in East Yorkshire. Although Shetland typically scored better on volume with Siberian Rubythroat, White’s Thrush, Lanceolated, Pallas’ Grasshopper and Arctic Warbler, Pechora and Blyth’s Pipits. Of nearctic origin the Isles of Scily managed two Blackpoll Warblers, Grey-cheeked Thrush, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and 2 Wilson’s Snipes. Whilst Ireland was not to be outdone with 4 Buff-bellied Pipits, Grey-cheeked Thrush and Red-eyed Vireo. Even land-locked Oxfordshire managed a Buff-bellied Pipit. Wales was not out of the headlines either, with a Spotted Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper and a gorgeous male Red-flanked Bluetail.
October 2006: Ireland's first Canada Warbler, supported by a Hermit Thrush, Blackpoll Warbler and Baltimore Oriole continued the "luck of the irish". British birders had to be content with two American Robins on Scilly and various Red-eyed Vireos. But a Two-barred Greenish Warbler in North Yorkshire and a Roller in Northumberland gave east coast birders something to celebrate..... and the suppressed Siberian Rubythroat something to chew over. Elsewhere a Crag Martin was reported in Surrey and a probable Pacific Swift in Norfolk. A Red-flanked Bluetail in Suffolk was very popular. Wheatears included another Isabelline, and at either end of the country Pied and Desert. Shetland exploded into action with Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, River Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler, Upland Sandpiper and Black-throated Thrush all in the space of four days!
October 2005 will perhaps best be remembered for the late influx of Chimney Swifts with as many as a dozen birds sighted. Earlier in the month a Siberian Rubythroat on Fair Isle, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak on the Outer Hebrides, Green Heron and Myrtle Warbler in Ireland and three Black-throated Thrushes left mainland British birders green with envy. But the flood of rarities just didn't stop as Gray-cheeked Thrushes, Red-eyed Vireos, Blackpoll Warblers, alongside eastern rarities including a massive 1,000 plus Yellow-browed Warblers, made landfall. Other popular birds included a Squacco Heron in Devon and if you didn't catch up with a Chimney Swift there was an influx of Pallid Swifts as well.
October 2004 must have been one of the best on record and left many a birder with a serious financial hangover. Highlights were two firsts for the Western Palearctic both on Fair Isle - a Chestnut-eared Bunting and a Rufous-tailed Robin. The north continued to lead with Britain's first Masked Shrike in Fife, whilst a Yellow Warbler (fourth for Britain) and two Common Yellowthroats kept the outer isles in the picture. Scilly scored with a twitchable Cream-coloured Courser and an Ovenbird although both were to cause controversy when they died in captivity. A Western Sandpiper in Dorset, a White's Thrush in East Yorkshire plus assorted other North American and eastern vagrants meant there was something new almost every day.
October 2003 continued the theme of the previous month with eastern passerines arriving in force, only to be countered from the west by the likes of Britain's third Savannah Sparrow (Fair Isle), Blackpoll Warbler (Outer Hebrides) , Myrtle Warbler (Orkney), Northern Parula (Waterford), Common Yellowthroat (County Clare), two Bobolinks and three Red-eyed Vireos. Britain's second Taiga Flycatcher (Shetland) and fourth Siberian Rubythroat (Fair Isle) headed the outer island cast from the east that also included three Red-flanked Bluetails, three Black-throated Thrushes, four Pied Wheatears, three Pechora Pipits and a White's Thrush. Non passerines included the second American Black Tern of the autumn in Wales.
October 2002: fell short of most birders hopes - especially those who had de-camped to the Isles of Scilly. But it was not all doom and gloom, with a well-groomed White-throated Sparrow taking a week's break in Yorkshire and a Grey-cheeked Thrush on Scillies for those who were patient enough to stay on till the month's end. Four Black-throated Thrushes managed to cover all corners of Britain, but the rest of 'the best' stuck to Shetland with Red-flanked Bluetail, Pallas' Grasshopper Warbler and Pied Wheatear. But a good smattering of minor rarities meant there should have been something for all.
October 2001: always the best month of the year, October 2001 lived up to expectations. Best birds were, as is so often the case, on the outer islands with a one-day Siberian Blue Robin on Shetland (hot on the heels of Suffolk's one-day bird a year earlier), a moribund Siberian Rubythroat also on Shetland, a Grey Catbird giving birders the chase around on Anglesey for two days and a Chimney Swift at the end of the month. On the mainland a Devon Bobolink inevitably proved more popular, whilst a report of a Lesser Spotted Eagle over Hampshire must have made one lucky birders autumn. A cast of other great nearctic rarities (that would be best birds of the month at any other time) included a Baltmore Oriole, two Myrtle Warblers, two Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, a Grey-cheeked Thrush and a Cliff Swallow, whilst from the east came Paddyfield and Booted Warblers, Pallas' Grasshopper Warbler, Eye-browed Thrush and Black-faced Buntings to name but just a few. But what of the 10th October - not a good day in 2001.
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