After a very busy couple of months both guiding and surveying without much time spent 'proper' birding at last I had a day off. The downside was the near-constant westerly, northwesterly airflow looked unpromising to produce any passerine migrants. I decided to walk to Valyie and back just in case... as I approached Norwick beach it was obvious the tide was out and the exposed green weed had attracted a gathering of Black-headed Gulls. I scanned through them ever-hopeful that last year's Bonaparte's Gull might still make a late return. No such luck with just a 'dark' Mallard among them that I scrutinised after the events earlier this year (Brydon's Black Duck). As I lowered my bins another more distant Duck caught my eye... it looked like a drake Harlequin, but on lifting my bins I anticipated it being an abhorrent hybrid Mallard... it wasn't!!
Drake Harlequin Duck at Norwick
Forever an iconic rarity for those of us of a certain generation, a superb sea-duck that, if I recall correctly, graced the cover of the first issue of Twitching depicting the first-winter drake present in Sullom Voe in 1987. I had to wait another 4 years before seeing the female on the river at Wick. Subsequently I've been fortunate to see many hundreds in Alaska, Japan and Kamchatka including plenty of drakes, but the species has never lost its appeal. To find a drake in the UK... very occasionally dreams do come true!
