Band-rumped Storm Petrel
Hydrobates castro (Harcourt, 1851)
Photo © By Richard Crossley - Richard Crossley, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25986302
STATUS
Oceanic. Monotypic.
OVERVIEW
Formerly known as Harcourt's Petrel and Madeiran Storm Petrel.
In a review of all seabirds by W. R. P. Bourne (Ibis 109: 141-167) the BOU (1971) under 'Introduction' p. xiv, adopted his recommendations and the 1911 Hampshire record was admitted. However, in 2009 the BOU discovered that the species is very complex and were now not 100% certain of the identification and rejected the record.
NOT PROVEN
0). 1895 Kent Littlestone, female, found dead, 5th December.
(R. Bowdler Sharpe, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 5: 37; B. Alexander, Zoologist 1896: 167-168; Ticehurst, 1909).
[E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History R. Bowdler Sharpe, Editor (1896) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. V. p. 37, at the 34th Meeting of the Club held on 15th April 1896 at the Restaurant Frascati, London, says: 'Mr. Howard Saunders exhibited a specimen of Oceandroma cryptoleucura from the collection of Mr. Boyd Alexander. The bird in question was picked up dead on the beach at Littlestone, in Kent, on the 5th of December, 1895, and was seen in the flesh by Mr. Alexander. This was the first instance of the occurrence of the species in Great Britain.'
B. Alexander (1896) in The Zoologist, 3rd series, Vol. XX. pp. 167-168, says: 'An example of Oceanodroma cryptoleucura, which proved on dissection to be a female, was picked up on the beach close to Littlestone, a small village six miles north of Dungeness, on December 5th last, at a time when strong north-westerly gales were prevalent. It was taken the next day to Mr. Bristow, the taxidermist, at St Leonards, and there I saw it in the flesh. It was in poor condition, and clearly in appearance a storm-beaten victim. This specimen was subsequently exhibited by Mr. Howard Saunders at a meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, on April 15th, and the fact that it was found on the English coast will be of interest to ornithologists, not only because it adds a fresh species to the British Procellariidae, but also on account of the recent discovery by Mr. Ogilvie Grant of the breeding of this species in the Canary seas, where it had been previously confounded with Leach's Fork-tailed Petrel (see the Zoologist, 1895, p. 413).'
Accepted locally (Ticehurst 1909: 549).
Comment Hastings rarity. Not acceptable.
0). 1905 Sussex St Leonards-on-Sea, found dead, 26th November.
(N. F. Ticehurst, Hastings and East Sussex Naturalist 4: 33; Walpole-Bond, 1938).
[Witherby et al., 1940-52; E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History N. F. Ticehurst (1928) in the Hastings and East Sussex Naturalist, Vol. IV. p. 33, says: 'A bird picked up at St Leonards on November 26th, 1905, and now in the Dyke Road Museum, Brighton, from the Vauncey Crewe collection, has not hitherto been recorded in our Journal.'
Walpole-Bond (1938 (3): 62) says: 'This bird - the second known British specimen - came to hand quite by chance. A constable on his beat in St. Leonards-on-Sea on the stormy night of November 26th, 1905, happened to see it lying in the road and gave it to a Mr. Farley, who providentially set it up. Then Bristow got to hear of the occurrence, and through him the specimen passed into the collection of Sir V. H. Crewe. On the latter's death the bird was acquired by Clarke, the Cheltenham taxidermist, from whom Arthur Griffith bought it for the Booth Museum, Brighton. The omission of this specimen in Volume II. (p. 416) of A Practical Handbook published in 1924 (first edition) merely means that its Authors were unaware of the bird's existence.'
Comment Hastings rarity. Not acceptable.
0). 1906 Kent Near Hythe, female, obtained, 8th November.
(W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 19: 20-21; H. F. Witherby & N. F. Ticehurst, British Birds 2: 369; Ticehurst, 1909).
[E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Editor (1906) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. XIX. pp. 20-21, at the 127th Meeting of the Club held on 21st November 1906 at the Restaurant Frascati, London, says: 'Dr. N. F. Ticehurst exhibited a specimen of Harcourt's Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma castro) which had been obtained near Hythe in Kent, on November 8th, 1906. On dissection it proved to be a female. Dr. Ticehurst had seen the bird in the flesh on Nov. 9th, when it was still perfectly fresh, with the feet and webs quite soft. As set up by Mr. Bristow, of St. Leonards, the differences between this species and Leach's Petrel (O. leucorrhoa) were very clearly shown. The bird was shot while flitting along the shore in a tired manner after the subsidence of the heavy gale S.W. gale that blew in the Channel from Nov. 4th to the 8th.
The first British example, also a female, in the collection of Captain Boyd Alexander, had been procured from the same stretch of coast near Littlestone on Dec. 5th, 1895, and was exhiited by Mr. Howard Saunders at the meeting of the B.O. Club held in the following April. [cf. Bull. B.O.C., V. no. xxxv. p. xxxvii (1896)].'
Admitted by H. F. Witherby & N. F. Ticehurst (1909) in British Birds, Vol. II. p. 369, under 'On the More Important Additions to our Knowledge of British Birds since 1899,' who say: 'A female (the second British example) was shot near Hythe, Kent, on November 8th, 1906, while flitting along the shore in a tired manner after a heavy south-westerly gale (N. F. Ticehurst, Bull. B.O.C., XIX. p. 20).'
Accepted locally (Ticehurst 1909: 549).
Comment Hastings rarity. Not acceptable.
0). 1911 Hampshire Milford-on-Sea, picked up dead, 19th November.
(P. W. Munn, British Birds 5: 252-253; W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 32: 289; Witherby, 1920-24; W. R. P. Bourne, Ibis 109: 158; Cohen & Taverner, 1972; P. Combridge & E. Wiseman, British Birds 102: 213-214).
[BOURC (2009), Ibis 151: 224-230].
History Philip W. Munn (1912) in British Birds, Vol. V. pp. 252-253, says: 'My friend the Rev. J. E. Kelsall has sent me a specimen of the Madeiran Fork-tailed (or Harcourt's) Petrel (Oceanodroma castro), which was picked up dead on the beach at Milford, Hampshire, by Mr. Roland Follett on November 19th, 1911. Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant has kindly named the specimen for me. Dr. N. F. Ticehurst, in his History of the Birds of Kent, says "the only two specimens of this species hitherto recorded from the British Isles were obtained in Kent", but possibly some of the specimens which have been already recorded as Oceanodroma leucorrhoa may be of this Madeiran species.'
W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Editor (1913) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. XXXII. p. 289, on the unexpected occurrences for 1911, says: 'One found dead, Milford (Hants), November 19th.' Accepted by Witherby et al. (1919-24).
Pete Combridge & Eddie Wiseman (2009) in British Birds, Vol. CII. pp. 213-214, question why this record has been rejected after being identified by the leading petrel expert of the day. Bob McGowan, Andrew Harrop and Martin Collinson (BOURC) reply that, although Ogilvie-Grant was a recognised expert on storm-petrels, it has recently come to light (Bolton et al., 2008) that the taxonomy of the Madeiran petrel is very complex and is in a state of flux. In view of this the identification is deemed not 100% certain and the record is rejected. There is no detailed description in the literature of the day either.
