THE AMERICAN BUFF-BELLIED PIPIT

American Buff-bellied Pipit, 9th October (Photograph © Kit Day).

Although found and identified at dusk on Monday 8th October, it transpired that this bird had in fact been present at the reservoir since at least Saturday 6th. It was independently seen by at least 8 birders and photographers during the course of the three days. It was variously thought to be a Rock Pipit, an aberrant Rock Pipit and a Water Pipit. One or two went away a little mystified but none pursued the identification, or made public the news of this 'Puzzling Pipit'.

Both Jonothan Crouch and Mike Flemming would admit to being natural history photographers rather than birders. They both visited Farmoor over the weekend and enjoyed photographing the very obliging Little Stint. One or two Rock Pipits on the causeway proved to be equally tempting subjects and they both obtained pictures of these birds. Seeing the photographs of the Buff-bellied Pipit on Farmoor-Birding during the evening of 9th October prompted both photographers to review their images taken over the weekend. They strongly suspected one of them was the bird in question and emailed a selection of images to Ian Lewington and myself. One or two of the pictures were indeed of the Buff-bellied Pipit.

This very instructive photograph was taken on Saturday 6th October. It shows the diagnostic tail pattern of A. rubescens as well as the rather plain mantle and 'spiky' bill. (Photograph © Jonothan Crouch).

Another superb portrait taken on Sunday 7th October. The highly distinctive sub-moustachial stripe is illustrated very well, along with the buff wash to the underparts. (Photograph © Mike Flemming).

Thankfully the bird stayed and was seen by c600 birders on Tuesday 9th October. Viewing conditions were dreadful with heavy drenching rain for much of the day, but the bird was virtually constantly on view. By late afternoon when the rain cleared it gave its best views, at times showing down to just a few metres. It was reported briefly at 8a.m. the following morning but not seen subsequently.

Autumn 2007 has been exceptional for this species in the UK with at least 8 recorded: 2 on Fair Isle, 2 on The Isles of Scilly, 1 off The Western Isles and 2 in SW Ireland. Previously the species had been recorded just 7 times in the UK. The Farmoor bird was the first to be recorded at an inland county.

The first 'record' shots of the bird taken at dusk on 8th October once it's true identity was suspected. (Photographs © Nic Hallam).