Dalmatian Pelican

I suppose I wasn’t alone in not reacting too much when I saw Paul Freestone's news of a flyover ‘White Pelican’ at Gwithian in Cornwall on the evening of 7 May 2016. After all, we’ve been there many times before with White Pelican, and all have either been known escapes or the chances of them being escapees have been deemed too high by the powers that be for them to make the grade.

Things changed dramatically over the next couple of days as it was confirmed as having been a Dalmatian Pelican, and then on the morning of Monday 9th it was seen again near Land’s End. Twitch on! I couldn’t get down there till mid-afternoon, though, by which time it was proving itself to be very mobile, not staying in any one spot for long. Plenty of birders connected when it stood in a field just north of Sennen for nearly an hour, and I was getting regular updates from Cliff Smith, already on site, but it had disappeared again by the time I arrived.

A frustrating couple of hours followed, as it was seen again a couple of times briefly, including sat on Trevorian Pool for a short while. Dodgy mobile reception was not helping, as it was often difficult for those who bumped into it to pass on news quickly. Afternoon turned into evening, it was cool and misty, and I faced the prospect of dipping and having to either stop over or come back the next day.

The remaining birders looking were by now a bit spread out. I knew Alan Lewis and a few others had headed to Polgigga to look there, so I started heading that way, but decided to stop opposite the entrance to Skewjack Farm for a think. It seemed like a decent vantage point in itself, and the gulls on the farm outbuildings would surely let me know if anything the size of a pelican was flying around. So I stayed there and scanned, though without feeling much hope.

Suddenly, the gulls off to the northwest went up – I scanned through them and found a very large bird flying east. It was the pelican! Even better, it turned and starting heading towards me. Stunned, I watched as it circled over Skewjack and then came down, landing in a field very close by. It was out of sight at first, but a quick shift down the road about 50 yards and I could see it from the road, stood in the field!

Dalmatian Pelican over Skewjack Farm (Photo: © Alan Lewis)

Another advantage of my viewpoint was actually having some mobile signal, so I could spread the news. A small crowd largely made up of some of Britain’s keenest listers quickly built up, and all got fantastic views of the bird. I confess I was feeling quite pleased with myself – a world away from twenty minutes earlier.

The pelican stayed in that field for maybe 30 minutes or so, but true to form it suddenly decided to move elsewhere. In doing so, it flew almost directly overhead (which is when Alan got his stunning pic) – awesome to see such a massive bird at such close range!

I left for home, very happy. I still thought its chances of being accepted were no more than 50:50, at best, but it was in the bag, just in case. And yes, when it eventually moved up to the Taw Estuary in the autumn, I made sure I saw it there too, ready to go on my Devon list if it was accepted. Which of course duly, though still a little surprisingly, happened a couple of years later – bonus!