Friday, 2nd October 2015

The day started with a thick mist over the Obs, but this dropped a few good birds in. IG started in the Mount and the first bird he saw was a Yellow-browed Warbler! It was playing hide and seek in the small Poplars by the rose garden for a few minutes before flying into some Sycamores by the roadside. It was then joined by a second Yellow-browed Warbler! Both birds stayed and performed on and off throughout the day. 

 

Later in the morning IG returned home for a quick coffee and with all the Yellow-broweds around opened the mist net up in his back garden. After a coffee he looked out of the kitchen window and saw a single bird in the net, expecting a Robin or Dunnock he went out to extract the bird. When he reached the net he was amazed to find an Acro looking at him! 

 

The bird looked odd straight away, the most obvious feature was the darker primaries with distinct pale tips and turning the bird over it had straw coloured legs. The wing length was measured and it was very long winged, thinking it could be a Marsh Warbler IG rang SE to ask him to come round and double check all the biometrics. The biometrics/wing-formula were checked three times and fitted Marsh Warbler perfectly.

 

 Marsh Warbler - note the darker primaries with distinct pale tips.

 

Other features noted when examining the bird were a shorter more stouter blunt tipped bill than Reed, also the head shape looked more rounded.It had a less obvious supercillia than Reed but the eyering was more prominent. It was released and it flew into the Sycamores at the bottom of IG's garden. There are several more photos and the full biometrics on IG's personal blog.

Marsh Warbler - note the shorter, more stouter, blunt tipped bill than 

Reed. The head shape looks more rounded and it has a less obvious

supercillia than Reed, but has a more prominent eyering. 

Offshore

35 Common Scoters west and 1 Red-throated Diver west.

Visible Migration 

120 Pink-footed Geese south, 3 Skylarks south, 6 Swallows south, 1 House Martin south, 1 Grey Wagtail south, 17 Alba Wagtails south, 86 Meadow Pipits south and 7 Linnets south.

Grounded Migrants 

15 Goldcrests, 12 Coal Tits, 2 Cetti's Warblers, 2 Yellow-browed Warblers, 8 Chiffchaffs, 3 Blackcaps, 1 Marsh Warbler, 5 Wrens, 3 Song Thrushes, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Robin and 5 Wheatears.

 

 Yellow-browed Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Others

100 Wigeons, 6 Shovelers, 3 Little Egrets, 1 Peregrine, 1 Water Rail, 65 Ringed Plovers, 170 Sanderlings, 60 Dunlins, 175 Black-tailed Godwits, 140 Turnstones, 1 Med. Gull and 1 Kingfisher.

Ringing 

1 Woodpigeon, 1 Blue Tit, 2 Cetti's Warblers, 3 Chiffchaffs, 3 Blackcaps, 1 Marsh Warbler, 1 Robin and 4 Goldfinches.

 

 Cetti's Warbler