The autumn of 2012 will long be remembered amongst
birders as a phenomenal one for the quantity and quality of scarce migrants and
extreme vagrants to the British Isles with, at times, an almost overwhelming
mix of American and Far-eastern species present. This pattern has been driven
by the very changeable weather conditions with
a mix of high pressure systems extending easterly air flows drifting birds
from central Russia battling with low pressure systems sweeping in from the
Atlantic depositing birds caught up in their cross ocean migrations from Canada
and North America to the Caribbean, Central America and beyond. However, one of
the most intriguing recent records, in my book anyway, has been the first
record of lesser-spotted woodpecker for Scotland present at Scalloway, Mainland Shetland from
15th October 2012 until at least 17th October 2012. Being largely sedentary in England and Wales this
record surely represents a bird of one of the continental races. The
species is a partial migrant in Northern Europe (and in much of its northern
range further east) showing eruptive and nomadic tendancies into the southern
part of the breeding range. An excellent study by Gohli et al (http://listafuglestasjon.no/pdf/gohli_dvergspett_2011.pdf)
concluded that migrants recorded in southern Norway are likely to orginate from
a wider area of Scandinavia as well as more local source populations. These
migrations are likely to be as a result of high productivity at source
populations. Therefore, it seems most likely that the Scalloway bird is of the
nominate race 'minor' whose range extends from Scandinavia and northern
continental Europe east of the Baltic to the Urals. This race is a larger and
longer tailed race which tends to be whiter and less streaked than our endemic
race 'comminutus', however, these distinctions are not always clearly defined.
Observers did report the Scalloway bird to appear larger, paler and more finely
streaked than comminutus, the only race currently on the UK list. I suspect
that without DNA analysis the race of this bird will be hard to prove.
Lesser-spotted Woodpecker- Scalloway. Photograph by Rebecca Nason
(view Rebecca's excellent website here: http://www.rebeccanason.com/
