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| Two-barred Greenish Warbler c Terry Sherlock |
On Tuesday 17th October a mega alert went out from RBA (Rare Bird Alert) in mid afternoon about a 'probable' Two-barred Greenish Warbler frequenting a quarry at St Aldhelm's Head in deepest Dorset. On first being found on Sunday the bird had been identified as an Arctic Warbler but on Tuesday a local birder, Brett Spencer, went to have a look and re-identified it as the much rarer and consequently much more desirable Two-barred Greenish Warbler.
Only four previous records of this species have been accepted for Britain, and all bar one, as with this record, were in mid to late October. The last recorded was on 16th-18th October 2006 at Filey, North Yorkshire and all four records showed that the birds only stayed for a very short time, so it was imperative to get to see this latest one as soon as possible. Truly, this was a total mega and birders the length of the land would, at this very moment, be making plans or already on their way to see it.
Two-barred Greenish Warblers come from very far away. They breed in the Yenisey Valley east to northern Mongolia and Ussuriland and south to northeast China.They normally spend their winter from southern China to northern Indochina and central Thailand.
Currently they are classed as a sub species of Greenish Warbler but all this will change on January 1st 2018 when the IOC (International Ornithological Congress) will class them as a species and the BOU (British Ornithologists Union) will follow their lead. Many birders already accept it as a valid species anyway as do some taxonomic authorities.
I have never seen one, so this called for prompt action but it was not feasible for me to get there on the same day, so instead I called the Clackmeister, my twitching buddy, who had already accompanied me to the Rock Thrush at Blaenavon in Wales on Saturday. 'Fancy going to see a Two barred Greenish, Clackers?' 'Sure' he replied. 'OK, let's wait on news tomorrow and if it is there I will call you as soon as I know.'
Two-barred Greenish Warblers come from very far away. They breed in the Yenisey Valley east to northern Mongolia and Ussuriland and south to northeast China.They normally spend their winter from southern China to northern Indochina and central Thailand.
Currently they are classed as a sub species of Greenish Warbler but all this will change on January 1st 2018 when the IOC (International Ornithological Congress) will class them as a species and the BOU (British Ornithologists Union) will follow their lead. Many birders already accept it as a valid species anyway as do some taxonomic authorities.
I have never seen one, so this called for prompt action but it was not feasible for me to get there on the same day, so instead I called the Clackmeister, my twitching buddy, who had already accompanied me to the Rock Thrush at Blaenavon in Wales on Saturday. 'Fancy going to see a Two barred Greenish, Clackers?' 'Sure' he replied. 'OK, let's wait on news tomorrow and if it is there I will call you as soon as I know.'
Surprisingly early the next morning, at just after 7.30am RBA were reporting the warbler as still present but 'elusive'. Basically 'elusive' means you will have to probably stand for quite some time before it puts in an appearance but that is often par for the course with rare birds such as this and especially tiny warblers. We are all used to waiting. Sometimes all day.
I called Clackers at 8am, who, judging from the drowsy tone of voice was still abed and asked him to be ready at 9am for a pick up from his home in Witney.
I called Clackers at 8am, who, judging from the drowsy tone of voice was still abed and asked him to be ready at 9am for a pick up from his home in Witney.
With Clackers duly on board the Audi at 9am sharp, we set a course for the West on a wet, post rush hour morning. Travelling at just after nine we had missed the worst of the traffic apart from the usual hold ups on the A34 between Abingdon and Didcot but once past Newbury it was a doddle. We had a good old moan about lorries on the A34 and how they should be banned and then we were on the M27 and Marge, the Satnav sulked into silence. She required re-booting and a good talking to and then was fine, as in dulcet and, I like to think, contrite tones, she instructed us to take various highways and byways towards Wareham and onwards to Worth Matravers in Dorset. Ominously as we headed uphill to Worth Matravers the mist and murky conditions became ever more opaque and worries now set in as to whether we would actually be able to see the bird at all, assuming we found the location in the first place.
Eventually we came to the narrow Renscombe Road, just beyond Worth Matravers, along which a temporary car park had been set up in a farmers field and cost of entry was £2.00 per car. It could have been a lot more expensive, as a car crippling dip in the ground at the field entrance lay in wait for the unwary. We survived this by driving at an angle over it and parked up in the field with a considerable number of other cars. Ten minutes later and with Clackers donning his lucky hat we were all set and as we left the field met a lady with a dog who appeared delighted to inform us that the warbler was very hard to see and used that word again, 'elusive'. I looked at her binoculars and could understand why.
We headed off down the mile or so walk to get to the quarry, passing other birders coming the other way, relaxed and benign, having assuaged their twitchers anxiety with a sighting of the warbler. It was wet, dank and drear but mild, as we traversed a stony, muddy track that was surprisingly uncomfortable to walk on, especially for Clackers who was slowing visibly with his ongoing leg problems but heroically stuck to the task.We have a tacit agreement on escapades such as this that if Clackers needs to rest it is in order for me to carry on and in the end we parted company although I always feel guilty about this. I went down a dip and then up and on a bend found a phalanx of birders, clustered precariously around the lip of the tree lined quarry, looking down and across to various trees and shrubs surprisingly close to us.This apparently was where the warbler would show itself if previous sightings were anything to go by.
We headed off down the mile or so walk to get to the quarry, passing other birders coming the other way, relaxed and benign, having assuaged their twitchers anxiety with a sighting of the warbler. It was wet, dank and drear but mild, as we traversed a stony, muddy track that was surprisingly uncomfortable to walk on, especially for Clackers who was slowing visibly with his ongoing leg problems but heroically stuck to the task.We have a tacit agreement on escapades such as this that if Clackers needs to rest it is in order for me to carry on and in the end we parted company although I always feel guilty about this. I went down a dip and then up and on a bend found a phalanx of birders, clustered precariously around the lip of the tree lined quarry, looking down and across to various trees and shrubs surprisingly close to us.This apparently was where the warbler would show itself if previous sightings were anything to go by.
To say it was standing room only would be an understatement. Rush hour trains had nothing on this as the restricted conditions meant that we were standing two, even three deep, peering between various heads and shoulders. No one was giving an inch and there was a palpable tension in the air as the warbler had not been seen for some time. I dumped the scope on a grass bank as this was definitely a binoculars only situation and insinuated myself just behind two birders in 'the front stalls' so to speak, on the lip of the quarry. I could see the trees between them so I was fine if the warbler appeared although a bit restricted in what I could see to my right, The person in front of me was shorter than me wearing a natty blue number but displaying the most lurid luminous green lining to his hood.I spoke to someone to my right and on hearing my voice the figure in front turned and lo t'was Gnome, another Oxonbirder. 'Adam, fancy meeting you here. Not another order on Ebay? (in joke). Any sign of the Two barred?' 'Not yet' he told me as a Common Chiffchaff created a vague stir in the crowd. He told me he had come down with Dave Lowe who was somewhere in the scrum further along.The birder to our right enquired if we were Oxonbirders. He looked vaguely familiar but probably wasn't. 'Can't you tell my man. Is it not our aura of culture and refinement and the way we speak?' He laughed.
To my left were two guys with cameras, intent on photographing everything that moved. Various movements within the trees and shrubs created a mild panic as people got over excited, especially these two. 'There it is!' they would cry 'No it's a Chiffchaff''. 'Is that it?' 'No it's another Chiffchaff. These two to my left were getting in a bit of a lather as rather than looking in bins they were trying to focus a camera on something that was moving very quickly and erratically through the leaves. It was a lost cause but they persisted. There was also much discussion about the identity of the trees we were scanning, so that when the warbler finally appeared we could give precise directions i.e 'it's in the Maple or it's in the Ash', although a lady twitcher (shock) gently corrected me and told me it was a Field Maple. Other directions for future reference were discussed, such as right hand and left hand gaps in the trees but this only served to confuse rather than assist.
All the time, at regular intervals, Common Chiffchaffs would appear and once or twice, so would Firecrests, surely one of the most attractive of our native birds? Their face pattern and overall beauty is more than just sensational. They seem to be in Dorset in some numbers this year and Portland Bird Observatory, not far down the road, caught over fifty yesterday, which is phenomenal.
All this was before any of us had seen the Two-barred Greenish Warbler. But then it happened. A noticeably pale warbler flicked up and then down into the foliage. It was gone in a second. 'That was it' we chorused. 'Was that it?' our friend on my left asked.'Where did it go'. I remained silent. Then the warbler just materialised from a Field Maple and remained perched and immobile for around twenty seconds in some bare twigs, giving one and all, eye watering unobstructed views. A real stunner. You could not ask for more. Neat and clean looking. Tiny and with lichen green upperparts and a huge pale wing bar on the greater coverts and a smaller, fainter one in front, on the median coverts. A strongly patterned face added to the attraction with a bright supercilium, bold black line through the eye and a noticeably longer and finer bill than an Arctic Warbler. Its underparts were greyish white but at certain angles looked much paler and indeed this became a relatively easy way to identify it by way of this paler appearance when it flew up and down with incredible speed to seize an insect. Common Chiffchaffs were doing the same at intervals but they always appeared browner and duller.
There were handshakes all round and an obvious release of anxiety and tension. Everyone was now in a good place, sharing this moment and strangers became instant friends.
To my left were two guys with cameras, intent on photographing everything that moved. Various movements within the trees and shrubs created a mild panic as people got over excited, especially these two. 'There it is!' they would cry 'No it's a Chiffchaff''. 'Is that it?' 'No it's another Chiffchaff. These two to my left were getting in a bit of a lather as rather than looking in bins they were trying to focus a camera on something that was moving very quickly and erratically through the leaves. It was a lost cause but they persisted. There was also much discussion about the identity of the trees we were scanning, so that when the warbler finally appeared we could give precise directions i.e 'it's in the Maple or it's in the Ash', although a lady twitcher (shock) gently corrected me and told me it was a Field Maple. Other directions for future reference were discussed, such as right hand and left hand gaps in the trees but this only served to confuse rather than assist.
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| The trees frequented by the Two-barred Greenish Warbler |
All this was before any of us had seen the Two-barred Greenish Warbler. But then it happened. A noticeably pale warbler flicked up and then down into the foliage. It was gone in a second. 'That was it' we chorused. 'Was that it?' our friend on my left asked.'Where did it go'. I remained silent. Then the warbler just materialised from a Field Maple and remained perched and immobile for around twenty seconds in some bare twigs, giving one and all, eye watering unobstructed views. A real stunner. You could not ask for more. Neat and clean looking. Tiny and with lichen green upperparts and a huge pale wing bar on the greater coverts and a smaller, fainter one in front, on the median coverts. A strongly patterned face added to the attraction with a bright supercilium, bold black line through the eye and a noticeably longer and finer bill than an Arctic Warbler. Its underparts were greyish white but at certain angles looked much paler and indeed this became a relatively easy way to identify it by way of this paler appearance when it flew up and down with incredible speed to seize an insect. Common Chiffchaffs were doing the same at intervals but they always appeared browner and duller.
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| Two-barred Greenish Warbler c Terry Sherlock |
Other sightings were again a bit of a trial for the two to my left as every time someone, even us, saw the warbler and called out where it was they kept asking, 'Where is it? 'Can you still see it?' and their favourite phrase when they could not find it 'Has it dropped down?' I heard it so often it became indelibly imprinted on my consciousness. Please do not misunderstand me, I felt sympathetic and tried to help them and give directions but in the end I had to give up after one contorted instruction from me came out as gibberish 'It's in the left of the maple to the right of the left hand gap' but still our friend could not get on it. The lady birder started laughing.
Eventually they, as had everyone else, saw it well and were happy.
After its first appearance many birders left and we were not so tightly packed and now waited for an encore. It did not come for some little while but when it did it was well worth waiting for, as the warbler hung around this spot for some time and gave various brief cameo performances in and out of the leaves and twigs. Another time when it appeared, there was a seismic groan from down the line, as someone went into close to orgasm over the sighting. Steady old boy.
By this time Adam had left and I was in the front row. Clackers unbeknown to me was just behind me and to my relief had also seen the warbler. So all was well.
Then Terry appeared at my shoulder. Another Oxonbirder. Quite a gathering of us which was kind of nice as its always good to share these moments with familiar faces.
There were also other friends and acquaintances from past twitches and more distant parts to say hello to and acknowledge. And so it progressed with the hypnotic sound of the quarry conveyor belt humming constantly in the backgound. Clackers departed as it would take him a long time to walk back to the car with his bad leg.We would join him later. The mist seemed to disperse slightly and even the sun almost broke through prompting a Common Chiffchaff to give a brief burst of song. It did not last though.
The warbler put in quite a number of brief but adequate appearances to keep us more than happy and on our toes and then it went quiet. Adam and Dave had returned and after a team photo we made our way up the track and back to the car. Other late arriving birders were passing us with that look of concentration and concern on their faces that had been all too familiar to us a couple of hours ago.
The mist had, by now, come back with a vengeance and the day was very dull and gloomy, almost depressing but illuminated by the star bird we had seen. We found a small cafe in Corfe Mullen, as neither of us had eaten, but there was no all day breakfast so we had to make do with something else to fill the gap.
Clackers went for Quiche and salad while I opted for the full Afternoon Tea.
The warbler put in quite a number of brief but adequate appearances to keep us more than happy and on our toes and then it went quiet. Adam and Dave had returned and after a team photo we made our way up the track and back to the car. Other late arriving birders were passing us with that look of concentration and concern on their faces that had been all too familiar to us a couple of hours ago.
The mist had, by now, come back with a vengeance and the day was very dull and gloomy, almost depressing but illuminated by the star bird we had seen. We found a small cafe in Corfe Mullen, as neither of us had eaten, but there was no all day breakfast so we had to make do with something else to fill the gap.
Clackers went for Quiche and salad while I opted for the full Afternoon Tea.
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| OOOOH Yes! |
My grateful thanks to Terry Sherlock for the images of the Two-barred Greenish Warbler
Excellent blog post
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