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 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!