How the Great Storm brought rare treats for birders
|
Version 0 of 1. It was dubbed “the greatest disaster since the Blitz”, and although that was a major overstatement, anyone who experienced the Great Storm of October 1987 will certainly never forget the events of that turbulent night. Britain’s birders also have good reason to recall the aftermath of the storm, which saw one of the most spectacular “wrecks” of seabirds ever recorded. Usually these occur when westerly gales blow in off the Atlantic, bringing with them a selection of the commoner seabird species such as gannets and guillemots, puffins and kittiwakes, fulmars and razorbills. These may turn up in the most unexpected places: a gannet once landed on a motorway and had to be fenced off with cones as a traffic hazard, while puffins have been picked up in the centre of London, many miles from the nearest open sea. But the strange thing about the Great Storm was that the species involved were not these common and widespread seabirds, but two much rarer ones: Sabine’s gulls and grey phalaropes. Named after the 19th century polar explorer Edward Sabine, his eponymous gull is both beautiful and distinctive; so delighted those birders brave enough to head out to their local reservoir the day after the storm. As a bonus, many birders also discovered grey phalaropes, which were bobbing around in the shallows like tiny bath toys. Both species had been blown in by 100mph winds from the Bay of Biscay, and after feeding to recoup their energy, soon headed back to the high seas for the rest of the winter. |