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| Blyth's Reed Warbler |
My lovely daughter Rachel and her partner recently moved to a new house in Manchester and the plan for Father’s Day was for me to travel up on the Saturday evening and spend the Sunday with them. Unfortunately, the recent increase in Covid cases in Manchester changed the advice on meeting up so we changed our plans to meet somewhere halfway between us on Sunday. Rach and I have some track recorded of twitching together as we made a trip to see the Lammergeier in the peak district last summer. Hence I somewhat cheekily suggested that we meet at RSPB Middleton Lakes where there was a very showy rare Blyth’s Reed Warbler. Rach was most impressed that I managed to turn a visit to see their new house into a days birding!
Blyth’s Reed Warbler rates as a 2 star rarity in the Colins bird bible meaning one or a few records a year but this feels a little out of date now as annual records have been slowly increasing in recent years. While still a rarity in western and central Europe, it is a very common summer bird over much of southern Russia and Siberia. It reaches its breeding sites in late May or June due to its long migration from its Indian wintering grounds. It is very similar in appearance to our common summer migrant, the Common Reed Warbler, and the subtle differences, while maybe fairly clear in photographic plates, can be very challenging to see in the field in a mobile bird giving obscured views hidden in vegetation. Thankfully, there are two other big differences that help to differentiate it from its common cousin. Firstly, its song is totally different being much sweeter and melodic and easy on the ear. It shares an ability to mimic other birds with its other cousin, the Marsh Warbler but is not quite as expert as this sublime impersonator, see here. The Common Reed Warbler has a much more limited tonal range with a song consisting of mainly mono or disyllabic notes, it is very much the punk rock equivalent of the more classically trained Blyth’s. The other key differentiating characteristic is its habitat, usually singing from a tree rather than in the reeds as per its commoner cousin.
I have seen 2 or 3 Blyth’s Reed Warbler before. Why 2 or 3? The first one I saw was a one day autumn bird in Norfolk a few years ago. As with almost all autumn vagrants, it did not sing and gave only obscured views. There was hence some debate afterwards as to whether it was in fact a Caspian Reed Warbler, a subspecies of our Common Reed Warbler. My other encounter was a much more showy and vocal bird at Far Ings nature reserve last summer, see here.
The three of us met up in the car park around 10:30 and started our 2 mile or so walk to the site of the Blyth’s. Middleton Lakes is a large reserve with many small and medium size lakes spread around a river and cannel. The walk to the site was very pleasant as we caught up on each other’s news. When we arrived at the reported location there were perhaps ten or so other birders looking at a small willow tree some 20 meters or so away. One was just about to leave and kindly asked if we would like his spot. The Blyth’s was singing its beautiful melody more or less continuously and after a few moments appeared in the Willow. We spent the next hour or so in the company of this sweet songster before we made our way slowly back to Middleton Hall for more gossip and our picnic lunch. Rach and Gilly had brought some delicious donuts from a local Manchester bakery filled with home-made Raspberry jam to top off our Father’s Day picnic. Come mid -afternoon we said our goodbyes and I headed home along the M42 thoroughly happy with my Father’s Day foray!
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| Blyth's Reed Warbler |
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| Spot the difference! - Common Reed Warbler |
My other outing since my last blog was a morning trip over to Grimley where the avian activity was dominated by new arrivals. Juvenile Reed Warblers were seemly everywhere in the reeds and young, “humbug” Great Crested Grebes were dozing on their parents backs. The young Reed Warblers, like many juvenile birds, were remarkably confiding with none of the hesitancy of the adults in the presence of the two legged human monster. I often wonder why these youngster are so confiding. It seems to me to suggests that the tendency to avoid human contact is learnt rather than hard wired into their DNA which seems rather odd.
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| The young ones |
The juvenile Moorhens on the lake at home are growing at an incredible rate. Their huge green feet and legs compared to their body size make them look to me at least , like members of Monty Python’s famous ministry of silly walks! The supposed Wren’s nest in the plant trough by our front door turns out to be a Robin’s nest and is now full to busting with an indetermined number of very vocal chicks.
On Friday my much anticipated greenhouse finally arrived and was installed on the base I have constructed. I now have my tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and chilli’s installed in pots inside. They are a long way behind where they would normally be but still offer the expectation of a juicy harvest later in the summer.
The vegetable plot, while held back by the cold spring weather, is now progressing well, our plan is to be as self-sufficient as possible in our own organic fruit and veg.
I normally grow all my own plants for our summer pots and hanging baskets but, in the absence of a greenhouse, had to buy them from a local garden centre this year – the price was quite a shock!
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