Appendices

Species that would otherwise appear in Categories A or B except that there is reasonable doubt that they have ever occurred in Britain in a natural state.

No reports in 2019.

APPENDIX II – CATEGORY E SPECIES

Species that have been recorded as introductions, transportees or escapees from captivity, and whose breeding populations (if any) are thought not to be self-sustaining. Where a species is also placed in other categories of the British List, this is indicated in the species’ summary.

RED-BREASTED GOOSE Branta ruficollis

Breeds Taimyr Peninsula in arctic Siberia. The majority winter on western shores of Black Sea in Bulgaria and Romania, with small numbers annual in The Netherlands. Categories A and E.

Redgrave: Fen, Feb 17th.

BAR-HEADED GOOSE Anser indicus

Breeds by lakes in central Asia from Mongolia to the Tibetan plateau. Winters throughout the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar (Burma). Category E. All the records below are thought to refer to the same pair, plus their young, none of which fledged. The reporting rate was impressive (especially for an escapee!) with no less than 112 records submitted to BirdTrack.

Minsmere: two, near-daily from Apr 24th to June 14th and Sep 26th to Oct 1st, with five young on June 1st rapidly dropping to one two days later Orfordness: two south, June 18th; presumably the same two birds were on the Airfields, Oct 19th, Dec 5th and 18th Boyton Marshes: two, June 25th, Aug 2nd to 7th, Aug 15th, Oct 27th, Nov 13th and 29th, Dec 3rd to 8th, Dec 14th Hollesley Marshes: two, presumably the same as at Boyton, June 24th and 25th; near-daily from July 1st to 29th; Dec 31st Trimley Marshes: hybrid Bar-headed x White-fronted Goose, Sep 14th This is the second occasion that Bar-headed Goose has bred and hatched young which did not survive, the first occasion having been in 2017, also at Minsmere. Two adults, possibly a breeding pair, were at Ramsholt in May and June 1997.

EMPEROR GOOSE Anser canagica

Breeds north-eastern Siberia and western Alaska. Winters from southern Alaska to northern California. Category E.

Hollesley: Oct 24th. Trimley Marshes: hybrid Emperor x Barnacle Goose, Dec 1st and 30th Trimley Marshes was obviously the place for hybrid geese!

SWAN GOOSE Anser cygnoides

North-eastern Asia. Winters central China. Category E.

Parham: on the same large pond for the last three years (and previous Parham records back to 2010), Jan 19th; Mar 11th; Apr 13th; May 14th; June 9th; Oct 26th; Nov 24th; Dec 14th

LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE Anser erythropus

Forest bogs of northern Scandinavia east to eastern Siberia. Winters locally from The Netherlands to eastern China. Categories A and E.

BLACK SWAN Cygnus atratus

Throughout Australia and Tasmania. Category E. A cygnet seen with an adult at Melton is the second successful Suffolk breeding record, the first having been at Town Marshes, Southwold where a pair raised one cygnet in 2017. A pair attempted to breed at Gifford’s Hall, Stoke-by-Nayland in 2008 but failed owing to flooding.

Herringfleet Marshes: Feb 28th Minsmere: Mar 1st Ufford: June 26th Melton: Apr 25th; June 21st; adult with cygnet on back, July 12th Falkenham Creek: Jan 23rd and Feb 6th Felixstowe: Marsh Lane, Jan 1st; King’s Fleet, Jan 3rd and 7th; Felixstowe Ferry, Feb 11th Stour Estuary: Cattawade, four, Jan 26th; two, Dec 15th Ingham: three, May 20th.

RUDDY SHELDUCK Tadorna ferruginea

Morocco and Turkey east through Central Asia to Tibetan plateau. Winters to south of breeding range, with majority in Indian subcontinent. Feral population breeds in northern Europe. Categories B and E.

Livermere Lake: Aug 1st and 2nd Thetford: BTO Nunnery Lake, Feb 15th Cavenham Pits: Mar 3rd Mickle Mere: Mar 1st and 2nd (presumably the same as the above) Stoke-by-Nayland: Gifford’s Hall, Mar 24th

SOUTH AFRICAN SHELDUCK Tadorna cana

Widespread across most of South Africa north to Botswana and the highlands of Central Namibia.

Hen Reedbeds: Mar 18th Minsmere: Scrape, Feb 21st; Mar 19th to 25th

MUSCOVY DUCK Cairina moschata

Southern Mexico to northern Argentina and Brazil.

Lowestoft: Dec 28th Kessingland beach: two, May 4th; May 10th to 18th; two, June 16th; July 14th Benacre: Pits and Sluice, two, May 3rd and 4th; two, July 2nd Landguard: View Point Road, May 25th (third site record)

WOOD DUCK Aix sponsa

Canada to northern Mexico, Cuba and Bahamas. Described by Peter Kennerley as a ‘plastic female wandering around my feet.’

Thorpeness Meare: Jan 3rd to 23rd, unringed (present since Oct 13th 2018) Aldeburgh: Golf Club and North Warren, Jan 23rd and 31st – same bird as Thorpeness

RINGED TEAL Callonetta leucophrys

Central South America.

Lakenheath Fen: Feb 2nd Trimley Marshes: two males, Feb 18th

CAPE TEAL Anas capensis

Sub-Saharan Africa from southern Ethiopia to South Africa.

Melton: two, Apr 19th

RED-CRESTED POCHARD Netta rufina

Breeds western Europe to central China. Winters to south of breeding range. Categories A, C and E.

HOODED MERGANSER Lophodytes cucullatus

South central Canada to south-eastern USA. Categories A and E. The reports below refer to two birds. Male with a yellow ring on its left leg (same as the Blythburgh bird from October 2018) on Wilderness Pond in Christchurch Park, Ipswich from August 11th onwards into 2020. Initially in eclipse plumage, by mid-September it was in full breeding plumage. When not in Christchurch Park, it was present on the upper reaches of the Orwell Estuary in Ipswich between West End Road and Stoke Bridge, where it had been seen initially on July 18th.

Lowestoft: South Beach and Kensington Gardens, Nov 21st Blythburgh: adult male, Feb 12th; Feb 24th and 25th; Mar 10th; different bird, Nov 23rd to Dec 15th (same as Lowestoft above Ipswich: long-staying male, July 18th to 2020, attracting plenty of press interest

HELMETED GUINEAFOWL Numida meleagris

Widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa.

Westleton: four, May 19th

CALIFORNIAN QUAIL Callipepla californica

Oregon to Baja California.

Combs: Moats Tye, Apr 26th and 27th

REEVE’S PHEASANT Syrmaticus reevesii

Forests of central China.

Stowlangtoft: male, Mar 18th Fornham St. Martin: Hall Farm, male, Sep 28th

INDIAN PEAFOWL Pavo cristatus

Breeds throughout the Indian subcontinent from eastern Pakistan south to Sri Lanka.

Southwold: sewage works, Apr 29th; May 5th; June 22nd; July 13th; Sep 28th Westleton: July 6th Martlesham Creek: Mar 8th; Apr 16th Levington Creek: May 4th

WHITE STORK Ciconia ciconia

Breeds Iberian Peninsula and central and eastern Europe east to western Russia, Turkey and Iran. Reintroduction projects are returning the species to its former range in north-western Europe (and now the UK, at Knepp in West Sussex). Winters sub-Saharan Africa and increasingly in Iberian Peninsula. Category A and E. There was only one sighting, down from recent years, as below:

Minsmere: Apr 11th (colour-ringed, green on right), soaring for ten minutes, then lost to view towards Westleton

BLACK KITE Milvus migrans

Breeds throughout Mediterranean basin and continental Europe except maritime northwest and Scandinavia, east to European Russia and western Kazakhstan. Most winter Africa. Other races migratory, dispersive or resident, C and E Asia, Indian subcontinent, E and SE Asia and Australia. Categories A and E. This colour-ringed bird (an escapee from Banham Zoo) arrived in Suffolk at Bawdsey on June 13th 2014. It appeared in the Wrentham area on June 23rd 2014 and had remained in this area since that date. By coincidence, a wild bird was seen at Felixstowe Ferry also on April 22nd (see main report).

No other species, especially passerines, were received by the three area recorders.