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Oriental Pratincole Gimmingham Norfolk May93
Frustration! This bird turned up 3 miles from where I was working that day, and my camera
was at home. The third British record, it lingered for three months in the end, allowing
me ample opportunity to rectify matters.
It remains the most recent record.
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Marmora's Warbler St.Abbs Head May93
Long thought to be a bird that would never occur in Britain again after a record in 1982,
this species was trapped ten years later, but proved so elusive that few people saw it.
However the next arrival, the following year, was far more obliging. There has been one
further record of a one-day bird in Suffolk.
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Upland Sandpiper St.Marys Oct.93
A typical record of this extremely obliging species which has become somewhat less frequent
recently. The majority of records are from Scilly in Autumn, and birds have often lingered
into November.
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Black-eared Wheatear Stiffkey Oct.93
Until this record, the most notorious of species for never staying for a second day. I once
met a birder who had twitched fourteen and not seen one! This popular October bird in
Norfolk bucked the trend and stayed nine days, showing very well to a constant stream
of admirers.
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Red-Flanked Bluetail Yarmouth Cemetary Oct.94
Despite the huge twitch for the first mainland Bluetail the previous year this bird still
attracted large crowds.I was lucky enough to be the other side of its preferred hedge when
it flew out and landed on a gravestone in front of me. Keep hoping for a long-staying
"electric-blue" male.
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Pallas's Warbler Felixstowe Oct.94
One of my favourite photographs. I had about an hour before work one day, not usually long
enough to capture such a fast-moving bird, but I just struck lucky. There were actually two
birds present at the time, in a few low trees on the edge of a housing estate.
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Yellow-rumped Warbler Ramsey Island Nov.94
1993 seemed to continue turning up goodies right till the end, this was one of four major
rarities in November. Never a common American Warbler, but a little run of records after this
one gave many people a chance to catch up with the species. This bird was the most obliging,
hopping around in a grassy ditch just below us.
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Grey-tailed Tattler Burghead Nov.94
Probably the biggest rarity of the year, the only previous record being suppressed 12 years
earlier. A 1st winter bird,it stayed over a month, enabling over 2,500 people to make the long
trek north to see it. Unfortunately, birders were still arriving the day it was taken by
a sparrowhawk.
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Scops Owl Morwenstow Cornwall March95
A good start to the year when this little gem, disturbed on a coastal walk, chose to roost
in the open just feet from the path. A little easier than the previous twitchable one which
necessitated the use of dismantled car headlights
to illuminate it!
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Rock Thrush Holme Golf Course May95
Traditionally "one-day" birds, this superb male was delayed by the attentions of a Sparrowhawk,
resulting in it being taken into care overnight, after which it remained for a week. A repeat
occurence is getting a bit overdue.
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Ross's Gull Greatham Creek June95
This bird came so close we thought it had gone when we arrived as all the 'scopes were pointing
down just in front of the crowd. A summer adult, not as pink as some, but delightful all the
same, it continued to entertain until the following weekend.
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Long-tailed Skua Farmoor Resevoir Aug.95
This beat even the Ross's Gull for tameness, but the best views were when it flew around. A
rare inland record of an adult, this bird brightened up what was, by previous years' standards,
a fairly quiet autumn.
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