http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=559025
Twitchers flock to the Hebrides for first glimpse of US swallow for
first time
By Brian Unwin
07 September 2004
It's twitch time again. Hundreds and possibly thousands of birdwatchers
were on their way to the remotest corner of Britain yesterday after the
discovery of a type of bird not previously recorded in Britain or
Europe.
Twitchers flocked to the Outer Hebrides to see a purple martin, an
American swallow never before seen on this side of the North Atlantic,
which turned up at the Hebrides' extreme northern tip - the lighthouse
at the Butt of Lewis.
The bird, an immature, is believed to have been blown off course across
the Atlantic - probably by the recent series of hurricanes - while
migrating from eastern Canada or the USA to spend the winter in Brazil.
The martin was spotted on Sunday afternoon, and by yesterday morning
the first twitchers were arriving on the island of Lewis by plane: all
scheduled flights into Stornoway airport were full, and other birders
arrived on chartered light aircraft. By midday, all hire cars had gone
and the ferry company Caledonian MacBrayne was said to have been
"inundated" with requests for tickets on its ferry services to Lewis
from Uig in Skye and Ullapool on the mainland.
One of the first to reach the lighthouse was Steve Gantlett, editor of
the magazine Birding World and co-author of Rare Birds in Britain and
Ireland, who travelled from his home at Cley, north Norfolk.
He said: "As a long-distance migrant nesting in eastern North America,
purple martin has always been a species we hoped might find its way to
Europe, but it's still remarkable that one has finally made it. The
hurricanes on the American side must have caused much disruption to
autumn migration."
The Lewis bird is only a few months old, and it has almost certainly
come from someone's back garden in America as a growing shortage of
natural sites means the vast majority rely on people to provide nest
boxes. As the species is a communal breeder, many of the million-plus
Americans who provide accommodation erect what are known as "purple
martin condos" - providing space for up to 24 pairs. There are two
American organisations devoted to the species, the Purple Martin
Conservation Association, and the Purple Martin Society.
Thrush-sized, and much larger than other swallow family members
recorded in Europe and America, the Lewis bird puzzled the trio of
naturalists - Mark Wetheril, Torcuil Grant and Shaun Coyle - who were
the first to spot it. But when they phoned Martin Scott, a Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds official based in the Outer
Hebrides, and described it, he realised it was a purple martin, which
he had seen before in the US. "It took me 10 minutes to reach the
lighthouse and I was delighted to see that's exactly what it was - and
in a state of shock over the fact I was looking at a species totally
new to Europe," Mr Scott said.
At present there are 567 species of birds officially accepted by the
British Ornithologists' Union as having been seen in Britain. Several
other records of "firsts" are awaiting ratification. They include a
taiga flycatcher from Siberia and a black lark from central Asia.
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