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| A bird that likes reservoirs - White-throated Needletail (photo: JJ Harrison, via Wikimedia Commons) |
A RARE White-throated Needletail has this week been delighting birders in East Yorkshire.
Also known as Needle-tailed Swift, the bird was first spotted on Wednesday afternoon at Yorkshire Water's Tophill Low Nature Reserve, near Driffield by visitors Mandy Gregory and Ray Maddison.
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| Tophill Low (photo: Yorkshire Water) |
They were unsure of its identfication, but it was clinched by experts who then rated it the the second-rarest bird to have appeared at the reserve in 60 years - pipped only by an Amur Falcon that was sighted in 2008.
A relative of the UK's smaller native Swift, it is a migratory species that breeds in Central Asia and southern Siberia and winters in the Indian Subcontinent, South-east Asia and Australia.
Within an hour of the record having been distributed and broadcast on social media, some 50 twitchers had arrived at Tophill Low in the hope of catching a glimpse.
Those who arrived within half of its detection were lucky, but, soon afterwards, the bird left, subsequently turning up at RSPB Bempton Cliffs near Bridlington.
By this time, hundreds of birders from all over Britain had arrived in East Yorkshire, but, by daybreak yesterday morning, it had departed - subsequently to turn up five miles north at Filey where it was variously seen over the beach and over the caravan site that was once home to a Butlins holiday camp.
Later yesterday, it continued its journey north (when it should have been heading south), and has this morning been providing excellent views above and around the castle ruins in Scarborough.
It is believed to be the first sighting in England since 1991 when individuals were seen at Wierton Hill reservoir, near Maidstone in Kent, on May 26, and at Blithfield reservoir, near Rugeley in Staffordshire on June 1.
Most of the dozen or so British records of the species are believed to come from north of the border, particularly the western islands.
The most famous British visitor, for a sad reason, is one that was detected flying above the island of Harris in the Outer Hebrides on June 19, 2013 by author Mark Cocker and pal Adam Gretton who were on an early-summer birding tour of the islands.
Over a period of just over a week, it was seen by many birders, but, alas, flew into the shaft of 150 ft tall wind turbine with fatal consequences. Its skin is now in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Among those who saw it was Sussex-based twitcher Garry Bagnell who, in his book, Twitching by Numbers, describes the experience thus: "Watching the fastest bird in the world whooshing inches over my head felt like the defining moment of my twitching career.
"If Britain ever gets another twitchable one, make sure you see it as it really is the ultimate twitch."
Similar admiration for the species has been sounded by, among others, expert ornithologist Andy Stoddart who once named it as "arguably the most charismatic and desirable vagrant on the British List".
This week's Needletail is not the first time the species has been recorded in Yorkshire - there was also a sighting over Ferrybridge in 1985.
As it hunts for flying insects, it is reputed to have a flight speed of up to 105mph, reportedly making it the fastest-flying bird in the world.
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| How Adam Gretton reported the 2013 visitor in the publication, Scottish Birds |
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| Garry Bagnall's delightful study of the Harris bird in his excellent book, Twitching by Numbers |
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