EGYPTIAN VULTURE IN DONEGAL!!!

On Monday the 14th of June 2021, I heard the mega alert from Bird Guides going off. On checking it I was shocked to see that an Egyptian Vulture had just been found on Tresco, Isles of Scilly. With only two previous accepted records in Britain, both of which were in the 19th century, this was going to draw massive attention from twitchers across Britain. Images that followed from several Scilly birders were very gripping and showed the bird to be in perfect condition and unringed. Given the location, time of year, weather conditions, recent increased vagrancy in north-west Europe, and the fact that it was unringed and its primaries were in excellent condition, one has to think that this is a shoo-in for Category A on the British List. Unfortunately for all British twitchers it was not successfully twitched from the mainland by anybody. The bird had departed the Isles. When this negative news filtered through, many began to speculate if and where this bird might be relocated. As the days turned to weeks, it was presumed that it most likely headed back to the continent and that all hope was lost for British and Irish birders. On Wednesday the 14th of July, exactly a month after the Vulture was seen on Tresco, I had just returned to my B&B after my morning bird survey when I got a phomecall from Conor Foley. I had just tucked into my breakfast so I ignored the call, assuming he was just ringing for a craic, a minute later he tried ringing again, so I text him and said I would ring him in a few. When he rang a third time, only seconds after my text I knew something was found, when I answered, I hadn’t time to get a word in, when an excited voice from Conor said “The Farreller is after finding an Egyptian Vulture in Dunfanaghy”. F*CK!!! Having had all my birding gear in my car from earlier in the morning, I ran out the B&B door with the full Irish left half eaten on the table and I immediately started driving in the direction of Donegal. My phone, connected to the Bluetooth speaker, went absolutely nuts over the following few minutes. About 30 minutes up the road, the Vulture, having been landed in a field on a sheep carcass, got up and was lost to view. On hearing this I reckoned my chances of connecting were about 1%. I was only about three hours away at this stage so said that I would continue up and search for the rest of the day in the off chance that it reappears. The traffic going through Letterkenny was agonizingly slow, despite there being only negative news coming from the site, I really just wanted to get there so I could start searching. The majority of Irish twitchers were on the road at this stage, however, me being based furthest north at the time of the news breaking, I knew I would be the first from outside of Donegal or Northern Ireland to arrive. As I finally reached the New Lake in Dunfanaghy, I was met by several despondent Donegal birders including Chris Ingram who had dipped the original sighting by literally minutes. It was a big area so there was a chance it was still around, however, only a few flaps away, as the Vulture flies, is Glenveagh National Park, if it disappears in there, it would likely be gone for good. Only about five minutes after I got out of the car, Rob Vaughan called Jamie Bliss to let him know that he had seen the Vulture from Horn Head. There was hope at least that the bird was still around, but we were no better off as we didn’t know where the bird was now! After ten minutes of frantic scanning, a dark silhouette caught my eye right above me! I immediately started to panic without having even seen it through the bins! I can’t remember exactly what I started shouting to the other birders bird it was something along the lines of “What the f*ck is this get onto it!!!”, on raising my bins I was in absolute shock to see the most pristine adult type Egyptian Vulture soaring directly overhead. My DSLR was in the boot of my car so I legged it back and got the camera before firing off hundreds of shots before watching it for the guts of ten minutes through my scope where it gave amazing views to say the least. My heart was thumping like mad. The bird was eventually lost dropping behind a ridge towards Dunfanaghy Town.

I quickly belted out the news that I had just picked up the Vulture and posted a back of the camera pic into the national rare and scarce Whatsapp group. Josh Jones replied withing minutes after he compared my image to one of the excellent images taken by Scott Reid on Tresco, and to my relief it was indeed the exact same bird! The Isles of Scilly to Dunfanaghy! What an amazing relocation and find by Shane Farrell. Knowing that Victor Caschera was only minutes away I was hoping we would have the Vulture lined up for him but it wasn’t to be the case. After a nervy few minutes wait, sharp-eyed Oscar Campbell picked it up and to Victors relief we managed some good scope views before it again dropped out of site. Sadly however, this would be the last time it would show that day to the disappointment of dozens of twitchers. That evening myself and Vic had some drinks with three top lads who made it across in record time from Britain. Unfortunately they didn’t manage to see the bird that day. Sadly, as I was driving, I had to stick to the soft drinks but I wanted nothing more than to go on the lash after one of the most adrenaline filled twitches I’ve ever had. We wished the lads luck for the following day and headed off shortly before midnight. I woke at 5:30am knowing that lads would be on site. I could not get back to sleep so I got up still on a high from the previous day. Throughout the morning I was constantly updated with negative news on the Vulture. This was worrying as the morning was really dragging on and some of my good friends were on site hoping for a reappearance. At 13:19pm Aidan G. Kelly saved the day by relocating the Vulture to the delight of many twitchers. The bird showed for a couple of hours before John Cusack and Paul Keogh watched the bird disappear as a speck in the scope. This was the last time the Vulture was ever seen in Donegal. Sadly, not everyone connected with it but you would imagine even at the time of writing in mid-August, that it will have to start thinking about heading south soon, meaning that the chances of a relocation are still likely. I hope it is! Pending acceptance, this will be the first record of Egyptian Vulture for Ireland. Rounding off an incredible summer for mega rare birds (Least Tern, Red-winged Blackbird and Egyptian Vulture) Thanks Shane!