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Blagdon Lake Birds

Great Northern Loon Gavia immer (Brunnich, 1764)

Great Northern Diver Gavia immer (Brunnich, 1764)

(Rare PM & WV)

 

Great Northern Diver, Husavik, Iceland. 2008.Great Northern Diver, Husavik, Iceland. 2008.

 

 

  1. Two, not aged, Nov. to 16th Dec. 1916 (D. Carr). See note 1 below.
  2. Two, not aged, 20th Nov. 1917 into 1918 (D. Carr). See note 2 below.
  3. Four, not aged, 24th Sep. to Oct. 1918, one of two remaining shot 14th Dec. (D. Carr). See note 3 below.
  4. One, not aged, Jan. 1925 (per B.W. Tucker).
  5. One, not aged, 9th-22nd Jan. 1939 (H. Tetley).
  6. One, not aged, 10th-24th April 1949 (B. King et al.).
  7. One, not aged, 13th Nov. 1949 to 8th Jan. 1950 (A.C. Leach, B. King et al.),
  8. One, not aged, 27th Nov. 1949 to 8th Jan. 1950 (P.J. Chadwick, B. King et al.) see note 5 below, one, presumed same, 11th Jan. to 20th March 1950 (B. King et al.). See note 4 below.
  9. One, not aged, 29th Dec. 1956 to 31st March 1957 (M.A. Wright, S.I. Buxton et al.).
  10. One, not aged, 8th-12th Jan. 1958 (S. George et al.).
  11. One, not aged, 23rd Jan. to 13th March 1960 (J.R. Best et al.).
  12. One, not aged, 2nd Feb. 1962 (R.S. Harkness).
  13. One, not aged, 21st Dec. 1965 (N.J. Collar). See note 6 below.
  14. One, not aged, 30th Jan. 1967 (A.E. Billett, H.W. Neal).
  15. One, not aged, 19th March 1967 (R.J. Senior).
  16. One, not aged, 15th March 1975 (A.H. Davis).
  17. One, not aged, 1st-8th Jan. 1978 (per D. Buffery). See note 7 below.
  18. One, juvenile, 2nd Dec. 1979 to 23rd Jan. 1980 (per P.J. Chadwick, G. Youdale).
  19. One, juvenile, 20th Nov. to 6th Dec. 1981 (S.I. Buxton et al.).
  20. One, juvenile, 17th Jan. to 5th Feb. 1993 (R.M. Curber, A.H. Davis et al.).
  21. One, juvenile, 26th-27th Nov. 2008 (J.A. Thorogood, M.I. Pearce, N.R. Milbourne).
  22. One, juvenile, 30th Dec. 2009 to 1st Jan. 2010 (S. Davies et al.).
  23. One, adult, summer plumage, 19th-20th Oct. 2014 (N.R. Milbourne, P. Williams et al).
  24. One, juvenile, 9th Nov. 2014 (N.R. Milbourne, P. & L. Delve, T. & S. Doman).* See note 8 below.
  25. One, juvenile, 29th Oct. 2020 (N.R. Milbourne)

 

 

Note 1: Donald Carr wrote "A pair of Northern Divers arrived on the Lake at the beginning of November, and after one was shot the other disappeared." One bird was shot on 16th December 1916.

Note 2: Donald Carr noted "A pair of Great Northern Divers arrived at Blagdon Lake about November 20th, and stayed several weeks, then left, but returned later, and are still here."

Note 3: Donald Carr wrote "Northern Diver: Four arrived on the lake, September 24th, two left about a fortnight later and the other pair remained. One was shot on December 14th."

Note 4: Two birds from November 1949 were last noted on 8th January 1950, but one presumably stayed until 20th March and was responsible for the record listed from 11th January to 20th March 1950.

Note 5: There is some confusion about the first date of this record. It is given as 27th November in Somerset Birds 1949 and 20th November in the Bristol Report.

Note 6: This record is given as 4th-21st December 1965 in Birds at Blagdon Lake 1963-1983 (Davis, 1985) and requires more investigation.

Note 7: Source BOC News, Jan 1978 with the bird seen flying over Ubley towards CVL on 8th January 1978.

Note 8: Rather bizarrely accepted as a Diver sp. by the Local Recorder's Committee.

 

Great Northern Diver, Cheddar Reservoir. 23rd March 2008.Great Northern Diver, Cheddar Reservoir. 23rd March 2008.

 

It's interesting to see that none of the birds were apparently aged until the 1980 record, but it's likely that most of the earlier occurrences will have involved juvenile birds which don't start their first moult until about February. Juveniles account for most of the modern inland records on the Bristol reservoirs.

 

Bibliography (sources of information):

  1. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1925. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  2. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1939. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  3. Blaythwayt, Rev F.L. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1949. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  4. British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) website
  5. British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) website
  6. Buffery, D. Bird News, Jan. 1978. Bristol Ornithological Club.
  7. Chadwick, P.J. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 1980. Avon Ornithological Group.
  8. Chadwick, P.J. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 1981. Avon Ornithological Group in Proc. of the Bristol Naturalists' Society 41:37-65
  9. Davis, A.H. (ed.) Avon Bird Report, 1993. Avon Ornithological Group.
  10. Davis, A.H. Birds at Blagdon Lake 1963-1983. Bristol Ornith. 18: 102-116. Bristol Ornithological Club.
  11. Davis H.H. 1948. A Revised List of the Birds of the Bristol District. Reprinted from the Proc. of the Bristol Naturalists' Society, vol. XXVII, part IV, pp. 225-268. 1947.
  12. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Ornithological Notes Bristol District, 1949. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  13. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Bristol Bird Report, 1957. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  14. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Bristol Bird Report, 1960. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  15. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1956. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  16. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1957. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  17. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1958. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  18. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1962. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  19. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Bristol Bird Report, 1965. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  20. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1965. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  21. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Bristol Bird Report, 1967. Bristol Naturalists' Society.
  22. McGeoch, J.A. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1966. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  23. McGeoch, J.A. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1967. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  24. McGeoch, J.A. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1975. Somerset Ornithological Society.
  25. Savory, J.H. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1960. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  26. Tucker, Dr B.W. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1950. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  27. Youdale, G. Bird News, Dec. 1979. Bristol Ornithological Club.
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