End of Year Mega: Yellow Warbler at New Hythe

The Yellow Warbler. All bird photos courtesy of Thomas Miller - see his great blog here

I'm sure I wasn't the only birder who's plans for Christmas were suddenly impacted by the discovery on Christmas Eve at around midday of a Yellow Warbler in Kent. This was a proper top draw Mega and only the second mainland bird this century after the one in Portland that was only around on the day of discovery (I know because I was waiting on news the next day). What's more, the distance was reasonble from Oxford - what was not to like? Of course there was the small matter of Christmas - the brownie point costs could be enormous and one would have to tread very carefully. Whilst some people were there on Christmas Day itself that was not an option for me personally and I put it out of my mind as best I could and got on with enjoying the family time and the feasting. We had gone to visit my Brother-in-law in north Surrey for the duration which just so happened to be more than half way to the Yellow Warbler location. I followed events on various WhatsApp channels (which these days are ahead of the more traditional bird news services) and decided that the bird had a distinct pattern of being more around in the afternoon. This meant that there would be no need for an early morning twitch. It was then just a matter of negotiating the tricky aspect of "getting time off " to go and see it.

On Boxing Day I was one of the first up. I was chatting quietly with my Brother-in-law and my VLW in the kitchen and I casually mentioned the Yellow Warbler and how it was so close to where we already were that it would be ridiculous not to go for it. In the end there was little opposition so I hurridly made a packed lunch and headed off sometime after 11am towards New Hythe. Unfortunately the traffic on the M25 was horrendous and I had to watch as the ETA on the Sat Nav kept creeping up. It's so disheartening when you drive for 10 minutes only to discover that the estimated time to your destination hasn't gone down at all. In the end the traffic started to ease as I got further east and finally at around 1pm I was pulling up at the location. I could see various birders' cars dotted around the place and chose to park up on a street near the car park to avoid having to fret about it closing. The news on WhatsApp had been positive for some time - the bird seemed to be on show more or less constantly. I hurried along the path by the mill stream towards the twitch line, meeting one or two birders coming the other way but thankfully not seeing any kind of mass exodus that might signify that it was all over. 

Finally I arrived at the twitch line where there bird was immediately on view, calling regularly and flitting around in one of the five Alder trees that were on the far side of the mill stream next to the sewage works. 

Typical views in the Alder Tree

 

The five Alder Trees which the bird favoured. You can see how gloomy it was on the day I visited

There were no more than about 30 birders present when I was there

With relief I followed the bird as it worked its way constantly through the trees. Thankfully its bright yellow colouration made it easier to pick out and it would ruthlessly chase off other birds so anything moving would usually be the target bird. While it was easy to see, photographing it on the other hand was a different matter. It was constantly on the move, the light levels were extremely gloomy  and it was almost always on the far (sewage works) side of the trees. I was hoping that it might drop down into the brambles in front of the Alders where it would be much easier and I could at least get some video footage from which to take a grab. However, it spent the entire time resolutely sticking to the back of the trees. It would occasionally disappear for a few minutes as it dropped down behind the brambles out of sight before emerging again a few minutes later.

When Thomas Miller visited there was some sunlight and it did briefly drop down to offer better views

The American Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) is a common New World Warbler that can be found throughout North and South American. Indeed I have seen lots of them while on family holidays there. However, it is a rare vagrant to this country with only a handful of records and only one previous mainland record this century back in 2017 at Portland. Fortunately this one was a nice bright male so more pleasing to the eye than the drabber females.  The general consensus was that the bird was sticking to the sewage works out of sight until it got warm enough that the insects were about in the trees. This was why it was mainly being seen in the afternoons. With warmer weather it would probably be on show more often. 

I stuck around for about an hour and a half following the bird's antics and hoping for a closer view but in the end I realised that I wasn't going to get one. So shortly before 3pm I headed back to the car and set the coordinates for my brother-in-law's. The traffic had eased and it only took an hour to get back to the family. They'd been out for a local walk and were in good spirits. I was soon catching up with them over a celebratory cup of tea. What a lovely bonus Christmas present the Yellow Warbler had been!

Still Keeping it Local: Oxford Black Redstarts & Farmoor Purple Sandpiper

Oxfordshire seems to be on good form at the moment. After my two recent local sorties in my previous post, I now have a couple more to describe. The first is a long-staying first winter male Black Redstart that has been hanging out on the southern face of Christ Church College overlooking Christ Church Meadows. This site has hosted several previous Black Redstart so it wasn't a great surprise to hear that one had again taken up residence. However, rather than the usual female type, this one was a very smart first winter male so I made a mental note to try to pay a visit. 

A stunning photo of the stunning 1w male Black Redstart courtesy of Thomas Miller

The general consensus was that early mornings were the best for seeing this bird. Despite this, Wednesday of last week I had an early afternoon meeting in the centre of town so I thought I would go on to try for the bird. It was a very gloomy afternoon where the light was so poor that it was hard to see anything. Myself and a young couple put in an hour or so of watching to be rewarded with some very brief views of a bird that was behaving in the right way as it briefly fed on the creeper that clung to the college wall. I only saw it face on and it didn't have the striking black face mask of the target bird and I hadn't seen it well enough to see it's tail. On the views I had had, I couldn't rule out a Dunnock so I left disappointed.

That same Friday, after several days of gloom, it was finally forecast to be bright and sunny so I thought I would get up early and have another attempt. I was on site at 8:25am where, in the company of DL, we spotted the bird leaving its roost in some trees just by the college wheelie bins, before, to our surprise it flew off across the path and disappeared on the flooded grass of the Meadow. Hmmm, that had not been what we were expecting. DL and AF (who had joined us) elected to walk down the path to try and find it while I decided to stay at the college facade and the bins. The others eventually returned with no luck and a few other people turned up. Before too long the bird was back, showing rather distantly on the side of the college and also in the large tree in the college garden. It then moved to the roof top where I was finally able to get a photo.

A rather distant photo of it perched on the roof of the college

I kept watching the college facade as the bird appeared from time to time. On one such occasion I noticed that it wasn't the usual male on the side of the wall but instead a female type. So there were now two birds! In hindsight, what I'd seen a couple of days ago and had dismissed as a Dunnock was probably this second, more infrequently seen bird. I hung around for a while longer enjoying watching these charismatic birds feeding in the bright sunshine before heading back home. The first winter male is still around a week later and the female type is seen occasionally though much less frequently.

The female type Black Redstart courtesy of Thomas Miller

 

The county's purple patch continued when on the following Sunday, in the teeth of Storm Darragh, EU managed to find a Purple Sandpiper on the shores of Farmoor Reservoir. This is a fairly rare county species. Indeed, apart from a couple of birds in August 2021, you have to go back to 2011 for the last county record. So, along with a number of other county birders, I braved the storm to take a look. The wind was so strong that, despite the bird being very approachable, I didn't linger long after taking some photos. It was a shame as it's was a lovely that showed very well at close quarters. After no more than fifteen minutes in its company I beat a hasty retreat back to the car.