A Wintering Yellow browed Warbler -16th January 2026

A Yellow browed Warbler was found at Hurley Sewage Treatment Works in Warwickshire between Christmas and New Year and in the subsequent days must have become the most photographed individual of its kind ever in Britain. And why not, as it showed beautifully and anyone with a mind to and a camera could hardly fail to capture fabulous images of this waif from the taiga zone of Siberia,

Yellow browed Warblers normally migrate from their Siberian breeding areas to winter in southeast Asia but over the last fifty years have become increasingly common in Britain, usually in October, with records rising from a handful to over a thousand a year.

There is a current line of thought that contra to being an aberration in the individual bird's internal compass that persuades it to migrate southwest instead of southeast, those breeding in western Siberia are now developing a new migration route to an unknown area in West Africa. We will have to wait and see.

The increasing numbers arriving in Britain, (in Shetland they are now almost common in September and October) has resulted in some birds remaining to spend the winter in southern and western parts of Britain. I can think of a number of recent records of birds being found in winter in my county of Oxfordshire and this bird at Hurley, eighty miles north is but the latest example of this increasing trend.

I resisted going to see this bird as there always seemed something that I needed to do or the weather was not right but today with a weather window of predicted fine weather my resolve weakened and I made plans to go and pay my respects. Even though they are not a notable rarity Yellow browed Warblers, hardly bigger than a Goldcrest, are both charismatic and attractive in appearance and well worth seeing if the chance presents itself

Although the weather was predictd to be fine it was no surprise to find myself setting off from home in thick mist but I was confident it would clear as the morning progressed and was proved right, as on getting to the outskirts of Birmingham the mist had cleared and the sun was making desultory attempts to break through the clouds.

Leaving the motorway, a short drive through some pleasant Warwickshire countryside brought me  to the small village of Hurley and the well hidden turn off to the sewage treatment works.I followed a narrow concrete road downhill with open fields on my left and the works at the bottom.

Not quite sure if I should be driving on this road I asked two dog walkers if it was alright and they said there was no problem and I should drive to the bottom where the road stopped and park there by a small concrete bridge over a wide ditch carrying waste water from the works.The banks of the ditch were a tangle of dead and flattened vegetation

The waste water ditch, temporary home and salvation for the Yellow browed Warbler

The Yellow browed Warbler fed exclusively in the dead stems on the opposite bank of the  ditch

There were only two other birders present, both standing on a very muddy, waterlogged bank overlooking the ditch and on joining them they pointed to the opposite side of the ditch and there a vision of moss green loveliness overlaid with yellow bars and stripes was slipping hyperactively through a multitude of dead stems picking off insects as fast as it could.

It was as easy and simple as that.The warbler exclusively confined itself to the ditch, ranging between two concrete bridges less than a hundred metres apart, patrolling the edges endlessly back and fore.

We stood on the bank and waited for the warbler to come to us which it did repeatedly on its endless treacherous underfoot, one misstep and I was all too aware of the potential to slip and fall in the mud.It circuitous foray for food.The continuous rain of yesterday had made the bank very muddy and has happened before.

I surmised that the water coming from the works must be relatively warm  and this in turn allowed insect and invertebrate life to continue to thrive. I could even see small clouds of tiny flies, dancing in calm air pockets above the water. This and other insects must be what has and is keeping the warbler alive along with three or four Common Chiffchaffs and a female European Stonechat all sharing the bounty of insects

European Stonechat - female

I spent a very contented hour and a half watching and photographing the warbler which was never really out of my sight, feeding non stop.Despite the number of insects it looked very hungry and doubtless had no choice but to continuously feed in order to survive. Hopefully the worst of the freezing weather is over but we are not done yet and the warblers existence continues to remain on a knife edge.

Unscathed and still upright despite the mud, after ninety minutes of admiring this avian jewel I slithered across to my car and made for home.