The Egyptian Vulture saga

June 2021 was, as many birders recall, absolutely manic. In Somerset we had three county firsts in just over a week – I saw the first two (an elusive one-day Blyth’s Reed Warbler at Langport and the long-staying and obliging River Warbler at Ham Wall), but missed the third (Rustic Bunting, also at Ham Wall), despite being on the reserve when it was found. Partly because it was untwitchably brief, partly because I had a sudden urge to be on Lundy that day for Britain’s first Sulphur-bellied Warbler (and, like a few others, I managed it).

Among all of this mayhem the last of my Welsh aunts (my Dad’s sister) had died at the ripe old age of 94 after a long illness, and the funeral was set for 14 June. I prayed that nothing would happen that day, but the birding gods were determined to have their fun. So I was somewhere in South Wales trying to negotiate my way round some particularly annoying roadworks in order to get to Aberystwyth on time when news broke that an Egyptian Vulture had been seen on Scilly. Not a first, but the few accepted records (including one from Somerset) were long enough ago that it was a Category B bird. This was huge!

Attempts to get on anything being organised failed, and I only just made it to the crematorium in time for the service. At the reception at a local hotel, I managed a few surreptitious texts and phone calls in between family business, and, with huge help from Paul C and Dan Pointon, I had a place on a charter boat from Penzance early the next morning. Hopes were high as we approached Scilly, but despite an initial report of the bird being seen, they were ultimately dashed and we all dipped horribly.

A month later, it turned up again, but this time in the NW corner of Ireland, in Donegal. Not far across the border, but travel to the Republic at that time was bewilderingly confusing, and Paul C and I hesitated – this cost us, as the bird showed up again the next day, and several British birders scored, but the day after, when we finally bit the bullet and went, there was no sign. Rats! It was a subdued evening in our hotel back over the border in Derry. A photo from Mayo emerged a couple of months later, though belatedly, and it was just too little to go on to make an attempt. The trail then went cold.

Until New Year’s Eve, that is, when it was seen again in Roscommon, near Lough Funshinagh. Plans for New Year’s Day were thrown into chaos, but it wasn’t seen again that day, so interest waned and I reverted to my normal New Year’s Day bash around Somerset, though with passport and overnight bag close to hand in case a dash was required. 

Then, on 26 February, mayhem again as the vulture was refound only a few miles from where it had been on New Year’s Eve (the midlands of Ireland are not well watched at all, which may explain why it eluded rediscovery for quite so long). Clearly it was wintering in that area. Paul C and I quickly made plans for a two-day trip – there were several other good birds in western Ireland if time allowed, but of course that all depended on seeing the vulture first.

An early flight from Birmingham to Dublin and we were on site near Ardmullen, Roscommon by late morning. The bird had roosted overnight but had flown off less than an hour before we arrived. A bit of driving around then followed, trying to refind it and cursing our luck, before we got news that it was back in the field it had been in, on the sheep carcass it seemed to favour. Paul got us back to the site asap, and there it was! We (and about 20 others, including Eric Dempsey and top Irish lister Victor Caschera) had over an hour of excellent views of it on and around the sheep carcass, being occasionally harassed by the local corvids (including a cheeky Magpie pulling its tail – see Paul’s pic) before it decided to fly off.

 

I was in the middle of chatting to Vic through the window of our hire car when it reappeared in flight. Paul piled back into the car with the words ‘we’re going to try to get underneath it’ – and we did, half a mile down the road. Paul’s pics from that encounter are stunning (see below), and the views were every bit as good too. After a while we watched it drop into a field behind a tall gorse hedge and it did not reappear while we were there (though it did later). Very happy, we left it and headed over to Galway City in search of the Ross’s Gull there – in rapidly worsening weather we dipped and headed off to find a hotel, food, beers, and bed.

Next day we dipped the Ross’s Gull again early morning, then headed up to Doon Lough in Leitrim to see the Double-crested Cormorant, by which time the Ross’s had reappeared. Back down to Galway and this time we scored, seeing it fly past close inshore at Mutton Island, before heading over to Lough Boora Parklands in Offaly, where the Northern Harrier put on a brief show, as did a leucistic Chaffinch, though I dipped Grey Partridge again at its best site in Ireland (a reintroduction project is ongoing). A fantastic couple of days, though! Pics below again by Paul.

 

(As an aside, I enjoyed it so much I did another solo trip the following weekend, seeing, among others, the Double-crested Cormorant again, Cackling Goose, Glossy Ibis, and 2 Iceland Gulls in Sligo, and great views of the long-staying Forster’s Tern at Kinvarra in Galway, though I missed better views of the Ross’s Gull off the Mutton Island causeway by less than five minutes. Another excellent trip, nonetheless.)