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Blagdon Lake Birds

Common Scoter Melanitta nigra (Linnaeus, 1758)

(Very scarce PM)

 

 

 

 

  • pre-1907 (D. Carr). See note 1 below.
  • Sixteen, 13 drakes & three females not aged, 12th July 1989 (A.M. Dibble). See note 3 below.
  1. Two, male & female not aged (shot), 29th Dec. 1911 (per B.W. Tucker).
  2. Present, winter 1920-21 (D. Carr per B.W. Tucker).
  3. One, immature or female, 4th Dec. 1927 (per B.W. Tucker).
  4. One, adult drake, 17th March to 4th May 1929 (B.W. Tucker, L.A. Hawkins, C.R. Stonor).
  5. Two, male & female not aged, 8th April 1930 (F.L. Blathwayt, A.C. Leach, B.W. Tucker).
  6. One, adult drake, 14th April 1940 (H.H. Davis).
  7. One, adult drake (dead), 13th April 1941 (H. Tetley, H.H. Davis). See note 2 below.
  8. One, adult drake, 13th Jan. 1946 (R.E. Alley, G. Edwards).
  9. Two, male & female not aged, 10th March 1946 (A.V. Cornish).
  10. One, adult female, 12th-14th April 1947 (A.C. Leach, H.J. Boyd).
  11. Two, females not aged, 13th Nov. 1948 (M.J. Wotton).
  12. One, adult female (oiled, dead), 22nd Jan. 1949 (M.J. Wotton, B.J. Bailey).
  13. One, adult drake (dead), 6th March 1949 (B. King).
  14. Two, females not aged, 29th Jan. 1951 (W.L. Roseveare).
  15. One, adult drake, 22nd July 1951 (P.J. Chadwick).
  16. Three, drakes not aged, 16th June 1958 (B. King).
  17. One, adult drake (thought to be oiled), 5th-6th Dec. 1964 (R.J. Prytherch, D.E. Ladhams).
  18. Three, drakes not aged, 7th May 1972 (A.H. Davis).
  19. One, not sexed or aged, 7th Dec. 1974 (per T.B. Silcocks).
  20. Two, not sexed or aged, 14th Sep. 1985.
  21. One, female not aged, 21st July 1991.
  22. One, female not aged, 19th Sep. 1992. See note 4 below.
  23. Six, drakes not aged, 31st July 1993. See note 5 below.
  24. One, female not aged, 15th Aug. 1993.
  25. One, adult drake, 6th-16th Nov. 1993.
  26. One, female not aged, 7th Aug. 1994.
  27. One, female not aged, 3rd Aug. 1999.
  28. Four, female or juvenile, 29th Oct. 2000 (N.R. Milbourne).
  29. One, immature drake, 19th-20th June 2004 (N.R. Milbourne).
  30. Four, not sexed or aged, 23rd July 2004.
  31. Forty-three, 29 drakes & 14 females not aged, 31st March 2005 (N.R. Milbourne).
  32. Two, not sexed or aged, 8th June 2008.
  33. One, adult drake, 7th Sep. 2008 (N.R. Milbourne).
  34. Eleven, 4 drakes & 7 female adults, 25th July 2010 (N.R. Milbourne).
  35. One, adult female, 6th-16th Jan. 2015 (P. Bowdler, N.R. Milbourne et al.).
  36. Seven, adult drake, 27th June 2015 (N.R. Milbourne).
  37. Four, 3 adult drakes & 1 female, 23rd July 2015 (M. Davis).
  38. Nine, 8 drakes & a female probably all adults, 13th July 2017 (N.R. Milbourne).
  39. Three, adult drakes, 26th June 2020 (N.R. Milbourne).
  40. One, adult drake, 27th Feb. 2022 (A. Mears et al.).

 

Note 1: Donald Carr wrote that Common Scoter had been recorded once at the lake in his list dated 21st April 1907.

Note 2: Conflicting dates are given for this bird that was found dead. An adult drake found dead at BL on Apr. 13 (H.T. & H.H.D. in Som. Report). An adult male was found dead at Blagdon on Apr. 8 (H.H.D. in Bristol Report).

Note 3: This record was found in the Top End hide log (now in the care of Sarah Lambert, Ubley, who let me borrow it - she is daughter of the late Roger Lambert, also of Ubley, who provided the hide log book around the years 1989-1992). Andy Davis (in litt.) doesn't think this record was ever submitted for consideration by the AOG Rarities Committee.

Note 4: BL - a female on 19th Sep. was only the sixth record for the site (ABR, 1992). This statement is clearly incorrect!

Note 5: BL - a record count of six males on 31st July (ABR, 1993), but not if the record for 12th July 1989 is to be believed.

 

Bibliography (sources of information):

  1. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1927. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  2. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1929. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  3. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1930. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  4. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1940. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  5. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1941. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  6. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1946. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  7. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1947. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  8. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1948. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  9. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1949. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  10. Davis, A.H. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 1991. Avon Ornithological Group.
  11. Davis, A.H. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 1992. Avon Ornithological Group.
  12. Davis, A.H. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 1993. Avon Ornithological Group.
  13. Davis, A.H. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 1994. Avon Ornithological Group.
  14. Davis, A.H. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 1999. Avon Ornithological Group.
  15. Davis, A.H. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2000. Avon Ornithological Group.
  16. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Ornithological Notes Bristol District, 1941. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  17. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Ornithological Notes Bristol District, 1946. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  18. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Ornithological Notes Bristol District, 1947. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  19. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Ornithological Notes Bristol District, 1948. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  20. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Ornithological Notes Bristol District, 1951. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  21. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Bristol Bird Report, 1958. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  22. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Bristol Bird Report, 1964. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  23. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1958. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  24. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1964. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  25. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1972. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  26. McGeoch, J.A. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1974. Somerset Ornithological Society.
  27. Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2004. Avon Ornithological Group.
  28. Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2005. Avon Ornithological Group.
  29. Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2008. Avon Ornithological Group.
  30. Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2010. Avon Ornithological Group.
  31. Taylor, S.M. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 1985. Avon Ornithological Group.
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