COMMON SCOTER Melanitta nigra Scarce, but regular passage visitor
Seen most years from 1987 to 2014. Recent Sightings:
2015 -
An average year with five sightings, all single birds from four different locations. An immature bird was on Yeadon Tarn on 24th March and a male visited Ogden Reservoir on 14th April. A sub-adult male was reported on Lower Laithe Reservoir on 21st July and a week later, a drake dropped onto Keighley Moor Reservoir. It was this moorland location that had the final bird, another male, which flew in and immediately went to sleep on 1st October. It was present the next day and provided excellent opportunities for close-ups.
2016
- A better than average year, with 10 records, involving a total of 20 birds. Apart from a bird on Leeming Reservoir on 11th January, all the records were of autumn migrants, and all originated from the west of the area. Leeshaw produced three drakes on 2nd July, a single on the 5th, and two birds on 13th August. Thornton Moor had a single drake on 28th July, increasing to two on 3rd August, and to three on the 7th and 8th. The three other sites to feature were Silsden Reservoir, where two birds were seen on 12th and 30th August, Redcar Tarn, which hosted a drake on the 28th, and Warley Moor Reservoir: a male and three females on 10th September.
2017
- All the records were from the south of the area, and comprised singles on the reservoirs at Warley Moor on 22nd June, Ogden on 14th July, Thornton Moor on 23rd July, and Keighley Moor on 18th August, with two there on 10th September.
2018
- Once again, most sightings were in the south, and comprised four birds at Warley Moor Reservoir on 19th June, and singles the following day and 21st July (BS), and from Keighley Moor Reservoir a bird on 18th August, and three on 26th September (IH). Elsewhere, one was at Otley Wetland on 27th and 28th March (WNS, AJ).