An extremely rare bird which has only been sighted a handful of times in Northumberland was spotted in the county over the weekend.
Pallid swifts, which are named due to their paler flight feathers, breed in the Mediterranean and migrate to southern Africa or South East Asia for the winter. However, their winter migration this year has seen a detour via Amble, Warkworth, Howick, and Embleton Quarry on the Northumberland Coast.
And thanks to a notification from app Rare Bird Alert and pictures on social media, the swifts got quite an audience. Luke Nash, a second year Biology student at Durham University and keen birder, travelled for almost an hour to see the birds.
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He said: "I was lying in bed and travelled up just because of that. It was really nice, pallid swifts are lovely and I had a great morning watching them.
"They were around for just under a couple of hours and I had a nice time. It's the first time I've seen them for six years, when I saw one on the Isles of Scilly."
Ornithologist Tom Cadwallender also saw three of the birds in Amble this morning. He said: "Apart from this weekend, it's extremely rare to see them, there are only a handful of records before this weekend, that's it."
According to Clive Saunders, the @warkworthbirder on Twitter, there have been 8 previous accepted records of pallid swifts in Northumberland, the last one in 2015. He says that there has been at least eight more during this "unprecedented influx," while there was also a very rare spring bird in Boulmer this year.
It's even longer since Tom last saw a pallid swift in Northumberland in 2004 - that was in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. He continued: "I think what's happened is we've had this big run of southerly winds which have captured up some of these birds from the Mediterranean. Like common swifts, which breed in this part of the world, they're great travellers and they can travel vast distances very quickly - thousands of miles.
"They've probably been deposited here and they're trying to relocate south again because they should be in Africa so they're moving that way. They do turn up fairly regularly in Britain, just not in Northumberland - if you see an swift in October or November, it's more likely to be a pallid swift."
Clive Saunders added: "Identification of Pallid Swift is not straightforward. They are very similar to the Common Swift that will be familiar to Amble residents and identification relies on good views, good light and good photographs.
"Pallid Swift is lighter brown than Common Swift with a more scalloped plumage. They have a larger white chin patch and a darker eye mask. However, all these things are subtle and difficult to observe.
"There are some very subtle structural differences also and good clear photographs are essential in correct identification. After a couple of hours, I, and others, were happy that all three of the swifts over Amble were Pallid Swifts."
The swifts were spotted at Embleton Quarry on Saturday, with the nature reserve there tweeting: "We had an unusual bird at the Nature Reserve yesterday, a Pallid Swift!
"Our usual summer swifts have long gone, heading to their wintering grounds in Africa. The Pallid Swift is paler brown than our summer swifts, it is a rare visitor to the UK from Southern Europe."
Did you see the pallid swifts in Northumberland over the weekend? Let us know!
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