Little Auk Alle alle (Linnaeus, 1758)

Weymouth Harbour, Dorset © Nigel Milbourne 2021

Very rare, wind-blown, passage migrant. May occur between October & February.

  1. One, dead, 11th Feb. 1950 (Bristol Water per H.H. Davis).
  2. One, dead, 20th Feb. 1950 (M.J. Wotton).
  3. One, dead, 6th Nov. 1960 (J.R. Best, C. Lachlan).
  4. One, not aged, 1st Feb. 1975 (D.A. Cottle, D. Embling).

The 1960 record was of a ‘headless corpse’.

David Cottle told me that he saw the 1975 bird at Top End alive and well, at close range, before it swam strongly away from him out into the lake. Whether it survived or succumbed to having been blown inland is unclear, however, it is a sad fact of life that many that get ‘wrecked’ inland die without making it back out to sea.

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Note navigation arrows either side of, & slideshow option top right of, enlarged images.

Bibliography (sources of information):

  1. Davis, H.H. (ed.). Bristol Bird Report, 1960. Bristol Naturalists’ Society.
  2. McGeoch, J.A. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1975. Somerset Ornithological Society.
  3. Savory, J.H. (ed.). Somerset Birds, 1960. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.
  4. Tucker, Dr B.W. (ed.). Report on Somerset Birds, 1950. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc.

Last update: 9th December 2024