An Eastern Bonelli's Warbler at Easington 7th November 2026

c Tom Hines

In 1997 Bonelli's Warbler was split into two species, Western and Eastern Bonelli's Warbler of which the former was much the more frequent in Britain. Personally I have seen four of the former, two of which I saw on Shetland this autumn but I had never seen an Eastern Bonelli's Warbler so was naturally very keen on checking out a bird thought to be an Eastern Bonelli's Warbler (EBW) that had been found on the 6th November at Easington in East Yorkshire.

In the field they appear almost identical and the main criteria for distinguishing them is by their diagnostic calls - a  hard sharp chip note, a bit like a sparrow in the case of Eastern and a disyllabic hu-it in the case of Western.

When first discovered an individual Bonelli's is usually not identified to species unless it calls. Often an extended wait ensues to hear it call and if the bird never calls it has to remain as a Bonelli's Warbler sp.

A Bonelli's Warbler sp. was discovered in an apple tree in a back garden in Easington, East Yorkshire on the 6th of November but eventually it was heard to utter the call note of an Eastern and this made my mind up to go for it. After all there are only eight accepted records of an EBW for Britain so this was a true mega in every sense of the word and I had never seen one in Britain which provided even more of an incentive to go and try to see it.

There was however a cloud on my birding horizon.Throughout Friday the bird had been viewed from a field of rough grass that backed onto a garden containing a large apple tree that the warbler much favoured.However the brother of the owner of the field objected to birders being in the field and called the police and it all got a bit fraught, resulting in everyone being banished from the field.The prospects did not sound good for Saturday although representations were going to be made to the owner by Spurn Bird Observatory to gain temporary permisssion for birders to enter the field to view the apple tree.

However the favoured apple tree was still visible, albeit more distantly from a grassed area outside the field's boundary hedge by Seaside Road, although a scope would probably be necessary. I considered  this unwelcome news and my resolve briefly wavered but this would be a new bird for me and in the end I decided to take a chance and go, planning to get to Easington early on Saturday morning.

It is almost a four hour drive from my home to Easington  which lies on the Spurn Peninsula in East Yorkshire so if I wanted to get there early i.e just after dawn I would need to leave my home at around 4am.

The alarm duly awoke me at the given hour and I got ready to leave, having put all my gear on the kitchen table in readiness, the night before. On getting outside I was confronted with thick fog reducing visibility to an alarming extent and making driving hazardous on the rural lanes around our village that are conspicuously devoid of street lights. My village is at one of the highest points in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds and I reasoned that maybe on getting to a lower elevation the fog might clear but for now I was reduced to driving at twenty miles per hour but thankfully at this hour there was no other vehicle around.

Heading for Chipping Norton there came several points where I was inclined to turn back and forget about Easington but on getting to the town the fog cleared somewhat and I felt more optimistic about the long drive confronting me although the fog persisted  in varying densities for another hour until I joined the northbound M1 motorway.After that it was the usual slog north for many miles before turning off onto the M18 and then M62, heading for Hull.

To while away the hours it is my custom to listen  to BBC Radio Four Extra as they often repeat classic radio plays from years ago and today's wee hours gem was Return from Mars, one of those BBC radio classics so dated it is entertaining. It is hard now to believe with such a plethora of sophisticated media choices how much less was available to entertain all those years ago. 

Tiredness and the stress of the earlier driving in fog forced me to a stop in a services near Doncaster and seeking a quiet corner at the back of the forecourt I slept in the car for half an hour. I awoke to catch the end of Return from Mars and refreshed rejoined the highway of hell and made for Hull passing under the huge bridge and with the mighty Humber Estuary to my right. It was now dawn, cold, grey and an emptiness of road, sky and sea to dampen my spirits.

There is now a new ring road of sorts through the southern outskirts of Hull so I traversed untroubled and easily through the mixture of old victorian buildings and newer ugliness of industrial Hull and its docks, making my way towards the road leading to Spurn.

It was obvious there was going to be no sun today and a dank grey emptiness suffused the flat land for miles around as I headed east.

It always seems to take forever to get anywhere on this road of endless speed restrictions but at last I  arrived in Easington.Finding Seaside Road was easy as it was the road out of Easington to Spurn and my fear of a big crowd come to see the warbler proved groundless as I saw no more than half a dozen birders standing on the grass by the road,  looking through a gap in the hedge to the apple tree some fifty metres across the now currently forbidden field.

The view through the hedge from outside the field with the
apple tree visible beyond the fence and shed roof

I parked my car at the side of the road, got my stuff together and joined the birders, leaving my camera in the car as it would be of little use at the range I would be looking from..

The time was just after 8am. It was fresh but not cold and there was only a light wind from the northeast.I set up my scope and prepared to embark on however long it took to see the EBW assuming it was still here and had not moved on. Enquiries from my fellow birders told me that last night had been dense fog here too and this suggested that the EBW would not have departed overnight, however the warbler had not so far been seen today in the first hour and a half of daylight.

The apple tree, still bearing a scattering of large bright red apples was proving attractive to a good number of Blackbirds tucking into the apples with relish. A Woodcock presumably having arrived from the adjacent sea, passed over our heads and flew inland over the houses beside the road and a scattering of Bramblings and Chaffinches followed in similar fashion. 

f movement came as a small warbler flew into the apple tree from the right and landed  half way up amongst the leaves and twigs. Unlike the chiffchaffs it was more inclined to show itself and I got it clear in my scope

No mistaking this beauty. Somewhat nondescript overall with dull greyish white underparts and brownish green upperparts with a brighter panel of lemony green on the wing and a prominent black beady eye in a noticeably plain face.This was the bird. No doubt about it.

Almost incredulous I spontaneously exclaimed 

Look at this! Yes that's it!

The Bonelli's!

I was aware of a sudden surge of birders around me but there was no way I was taking my eye off it after all this time waiting and did my best to relay directions while still scoping the warbler which obligingly remained very visible 

Tom a fellow twitcher who I know from our autumn Shetland visits and who had maintained the same long vigil as me got onto it.Having watched it for a few minutes we put the news out on Birdguides and the Twitching the UK and Ireland WhatsApp Group

Up to now our number had been less than double figures but it was only a few minutes later that a surge of anxiety racked birders began arriving and our number swelled considerably

Where is it mate?

In the apple tree low down on the left above the shed roof

Got it.Cheers 

The crowd continued to grow to around forty but the viewing was very restricted. Tom said he would go and get his camera and lens, much bigger and superior to mine.I said I would hang on to keep our prime position until he got back and then relinquish my place so he could get a few images unimpeded by the crowd.

c Tom Hines

Five minutes and he was back and took my place.I still managed to find a spot further back and could see the warbler perefectly well as it threaded its way through the leaves, often coming out in the open onto bare twigs and favouring our side of the apple tree.I watched it for twenty or so minutes but the crowd was getting ever larger and ever noisier.One particular person loudly shouting out quite unecessary directions.Why do people do this?

Crowd Scenes

I bade Tom farewell and made for Sammy's Point to look for the Amur Stonechat, Pied Wheatear and Richard's Pipit.

It was a refreshing change to get away from the noisy scrum at the EBW site and walk out along the embankment by the Humber Estuary, just me and a vastness of sea and sky..I was told the Pied Wheatear was nowhere to be found although it had been seen earlier in the morning and the Richard's Pipit had not been seen for over an hour. 

The Amur Stonechat was however showing particularly well, flying up from a small hawthorn to catch flies in mid air. I filled my memory card with its pleasing image. 

Amur Stonechat used to be called Eastern Stonechat when it was split from Siberian Stonechat.Then it became Amur Stonechat but now it has been lumped again with Western Stonechat so we are back to Siberian Stonechat. Confused? So am I.

One of the criteria for identifying an Amur/Eastern Stonechat is that its plumage is darker than a Western Stonechat and this bird's appearance certainly looked the part. So as far as I am concerned it will remain an Amur/Eastern Stonechat. 

By now the forecast rain had begun.Nothing too serious but a light mizzle and bringing with it a low cloud base and dull light. I walked back along the embankment with a vast area of mudflats to my right as the tide had receded to the horizon. The evocative, mournful disembodied cry of a Grey Plover issued from far out in the grey distance where sea meets sky and a loud cry from a much closer Curlew made me start. Redshanks and Turnstones called in concern as I passed by. This huge open expanse of sea and cavernous sky delivered a very different experience and sensation from my home in the gentle rolling contours of the Cotswolds and for me was far more alluring. A flock of a hundred or more chackering Fieldfares arrived from the sea, a ragged squadron scattered across the sky emphasising the wildness of this place at such time as this and bringing the magic of visible migration to life.

Now what to do? The rain was getting more persistent.I returned to the Crown and Anchor car park in the hope of seeing a Pallas's Warbler but missed it by seconds but it was followed by a Hume's Warbler, a Firecrest and numerous Goldcrests and Common Chiffchaffs that passed in a small flock through the trees before me.A Hawfinch flew over our heads high in the sky.Birds were everywhere.

It was now noon and I felt very tired. Nothing to eat and just a coffee since four this morning was taking its toll of me.

I faced another four hour drive  home in the rain so decided to call it a day

I could have remained and got a longer list but the main objective had been achieved with a bonus rare Amur Stonechat

I settled for that.

My grateful thanks to Tom Hines for the use of his image of the Eastern Bonelli's Warbler