The Booby Prize - persistence rewarded

It's been a while since my twitching obsession disrupted my life quite as much as it did last week.

We'll get the sniggers out of the way before we go any further.
The bird in question is called a BROWN BOOBY

😏😂😂😂

You should know by now not to come to my blog for bird photos. There are none unless I shamelessly steal them from someone's twitter or Facebook account. If you want to know what a Brown Booby looks like, you'll have to Google it!
I'll cut the story short, a week last Sunday a photo appeared, taken in Kent of what appeared to be a Brown Booby flying along the Kent coastline some 6 days previous. This seemed unlikely, as there has never been one in this country before and Brown Booby is a tropical species.
Having said that, the photo looked quite good, despite being a bit blurry, but a look-alike gannet could not be ruled out with the 100% confidence that would be needed for such a bold claim.

Then intriguingly last Monday a possible Brown Booby was reported fishing off a beach in Cornwall, seen by a good birder but without binoculars as he was at the beach for the day with his family. Oftentimes when there is a possible sighting of an outrageously rare bird, there is a flurry of further possible sightings, all fed by subliminal suggestion! But this was a good birder and one not with a tendency to get over-excited.
Furthermore, there were mysterious unconfirmed reports of two further sightings at the same beach earlier in the day.

This still wasn't enough to have us heading all the way down to Cornwall (400 miles each way) on a blind goose chase. There was no sign of the bird for the rest of the day.

But what happened the next morning changed everything. Undeniable photos of a Brown Booby feeding just off the beach at St Ives, Cornwall, just a couple of hundred yards from the previous day's sighting.
News came through early enough to jump in the car and head straight to Cornwall (I actually waited a while for my mate Neil to make his way over to me from Norfolk).

Brown Boobies have a habit of hanging out on offshore rocks or even on boats in harbours. There had to be a chance of connecting with this bird today.

The drive down to Cornwall was a relatively smooth one. There was no further news on the bird, except a couple of claims of distant flybys several hours after the initial report to keep our hopes up.

St Ives is a lovely coastal tourist destination, but parking is an absolute nightmare. We ended up parking on the outskirts of town and yomping for half an hour down to St Ives Island, where a myriad of birders were already congregated.
It was a good social occasion, but essentially we spent four hours just staring at the sea, acquainting ourselves with the variable plumages of young gannets, the closest look-alikes for a Brown Booby.
Meanwhile, analysis of photos was indicating that this bird was probably not the same as the bird a week beforehand in Kent. Astonishing.

By sunset we had decided to stay the next day. The Booby Prize would be worth the effort. We found some digs near Helston and suffered the worst curry I have ever had. Beware curries in Helston!

Last knockings and still no sign 😟

Early next morning saw a crowd assembled back at the small Chapel on St Ives Island. (Good to see the chapel still being used for a form of religion - twitching!) This point gave us quick access to both the beaches where the bird had previously been seen. It also gave sweeping views over Carbis Bay, about 6 miles across. The most likely place for the bird to roost and perch up during the day seemed to be Godrevy island at the far end of the bay with its rocky stacks and lighthouse, but it had been checked as thoroughly as possible without success.

Looking west from St Ives Island. The bird was initially spotted feeding just offshore here, but not while we were there!

Today's weather was squally. Every time the rain came in, visibility across the bay worsened. The only good thing was that it brought the seabirds, including streams of shearwaters, close into shore. St Ives used to be the prime seawatching site in Britain until parking became such a nightmare and drove observers elsewhere.

By 10am the mood was damp. Even the most optimistic of us were starting to think that this was not going to happen.
Then a call went up. What was maybe, possibly, probably the bird was feeding with gannets off the beach. 3.5km away!
We could see the bird in question all the way across the bay but the weather came in again. I was on it for 5 minutes, but never gained conclusive views. It was almost certainly the Booby, but this situation was not ideal. A few had better glimpses and were convinced. Many were unconvinced and some were adamant the bird was just a young gannet. It is entirely possible that many never actually got onto the right bird, for what I saw was pretty convincing, just not cast iron.

Still, this was positive. Surely the bird in question would come back at some point in the day and some people were heading over in that direction to confirm the sighting if it came back.

But no. Not another sniff. All day. Not a dicky bird.
We stood there all day and just got wet.
Debate raged. Had people seen the Booby? Had people let their desire to see the Booby cloud their judgement? On the whole I thought I had almost certainly seen the right bird, but after much wavering I decided I couldn't justify ticking it on my list.

The drive back to Fenland was a slightly dejected one. We wanted to stay another night really, but both had things to do back home and there had been no confirmed sightings for a day and a half.

Next morning I awoke and was relieved to see that there was still no sign of the Booby. We had made the right decision to drive back. I rolled over, only for the phone to instantly announce the bird was fishing just offshore in the same place as whatever we had seen yesterday.
I won't repeat the words that came out of my mouth.

Neil and I resolved to do what we needed to do at home and then head back down to Cornwall overnight. The bird was not seen for the rest of the day, but a possible pattern of morning sightings was emerging. Fortunately for me it was Neil's turn to drive.

This time we headed for the beach car park in the bay where the bird had been seen. We arrived back at Gwithian Beach at 2am and attempted to get a few hours sleep. By first light there were maybe 80 others with the same plan, many with a similar story to ours.
We set up telescopes in the dunes and stared at the sea. We watched the tide go out and in again. We watched the surfers descend on the beach and leave again. Apart from a brief visit into town to get Pasties, cash and petrol, we sat there all day. Nothing.

Even worse, a Brown Booby had turned up in NW France, just 250km as the Booby flies. Brown Boobies are not exactly common on this side of The Atlantic and there was a distinct probability that we had been searching all day for a bird which was now in France.
Being stubborn / persistent / stupid, we decided to stay overnight and try again in the morning. Our chances of seeing the bird had slipped from an optimistic estimate of about 80% in the morning to somewhere in single figures.

An excellent fish and chip supper in the evening lifted our spirits slightly, as did news that the French bird was a full adult and not our bird. We clung onto the hope that one possible sighting by one single observer today may mean that the bird had not actually departed and that we had just got very unlucky.

Brown Booby Day Four
Day 4 went pretty much as Day 3, except we had more squally showers to deal with just to dampen the spirits further. I had set a deadline of 10am (though this would undoubtedly be stretched).
By 9.30 I was at a pretty low ebb. There were only about six of us left outside searching. Most others were taking shelter in their cars.

This was the most effort I had ever put into seeing a bird. At times like this we wonder why we do it.

A few minutes later, the answer came! Andy sat next to me. "Hang on! Surely this is it!" he exclaimed. Fortunately for me the bird was right under Godrevy lighthouse so I got straight onto it. I tried to give myself reasons why it was just a gannet, but no, this was it, THE BOOBY, no question.
We shouted and gestured wildly for everybody else to come out of their cars. I didn't dare take my eyes off the bird as I called directions, but I really wanted to look behind me to see the complete commotion.
That feeling, after four days of persistence, to finally see the bird was amazing. Resilience and perseverance can be in short supply these days but they bring rewards in the world of twitching.

The Brown Booby was flying about and diving in amongst the gannets, though still distant. After a while, and with everyone now on the bird, it sat on the water and drifted awhile before again taking off and flying straight across the bay and straight towards us. It then gave amazing views as it fished just offshore before continuing along the coast, eventually heading out of view past St Ives Island where we had been viewing from a few days before.

There was a real buzz of excitement around the place. I see these people maybe just a few times a year, I never know when or where it will be, but we all meet up with a single purpose.

Neil and I decided to head down to the very tip of Cornwall to see another bird which I had only seen a couple of before, a Western Bonelli's Warbler. A little pale warbler, this could not be more different from the Brown Booby. It called loudly but was a little bugger to see well. Just as we were leaving this bird and contemplating the long drive home, more news on the Booby. For the first time in six days it had perched up on a rock - a rock that we had spent several hours staring at a few days before. 
We headed back through heavy traffic towards St Ives, but before we got too close the bird flew off and disappeared.

Time to go home.

Broad-leaved Everlasting Peas - home to Long-tailed Blue butterfly

There was just time to pop in and see a rare Long-tailed Blue Butterfly on the way home. We finally rolled back onto the farm just after 9pm, half way through Sue's party to celebrate 30 years of teaching. I had a swift couple of beers to celebrate.

After the event
The Booby was later seen passing a seawatching point to the south-west, the first time as far as anybody knew that it had headed this way. Despite this, the immense rarity of a Brown Booby still lured people down to Cornwall the next day, but they were to be disappointed.
Many though had learned their lesson and did not give up. A week after the second Brown Booby for Britain had turned up, they stayed overnight only to again be disappointed in the morning...

until, that is, on the south coast of Cornwall, Britain's third ever Brown Booby was discovered sitting on a rock.

Remarkable stuff. It seems that Brown Boobies come in threes. With the bird in France (their first ever) demonstrably different to our three, it would seem there has been an unprecedented influx of this tropical seabird into North Eastern Atlantic waters.

Who's to say there won't be more in the coming days.

What a hobby!