A most Palatial hedge at the Attenborough NR

The diminutive avian gem commonly known as Pallas’s Leaf Warbler lies in the well populated category in my UK bird list of 1 out of ten badly seen birds. Although I’ve seen three in the UK I have probably not laid eyes on one for more that 20 seconds in total. With an estimated total hedge viewing time for this 20 seconds in the region of 12 hours this equates to a 0.05% success rate! The issue, as with other Leaf Warblers, is not that it is particularly secretive, rather its frantic feeding method of taking insects from deep in the hedgerow together with its relentless hyperactivity make unobscured views of any duration nigh on impossible. Being a glutton for punishment, I decided to have another go at photographing one of these little beauties on Thursday this week at the Attenborough NR near Nottingham.

Pallas's Leaf Warbler breeds from Siberia through to northeast China where it nests in Taiga forests. It is named after the German Zoologist Peter Simon Pallas who has a number of other birds named after him. It is strongly migratory wintering in North-eastern Indochina. Along with some other Leaf Warblers, most notably the Yellow-browed Warbler, first winter birds are increasingly being found in Europe during winter, probably due to a phenomena called reverse migration, see here. This begs the question as to what happens to the ones that survive the winter here? Based on most vagrants being first winter birds the vast majority don’t return even though reverse migration is thought to be hardwired into their DNA. Sadly, the conclusion seems to be that they perish somewhere.

I don’t recall visiting the Attenborough nature reserve just outside of Nottingham before which is some 80 mins of mainly motorway driving from home. After a fairly leisurely start to the day and a dog walk I arrived on site at 10:30 and made my way to the reported location of the bird in a hedge next to a busy railway line. It wasn’t uncomfortably busy with ten to fifteen birders looking for the bird. The bird had already been seen flitting around the hedgerow in its characteristic fashion and I soon found it feeding in the middle of the hedge. A number of similar sized Goldcrests were feeding alongside the warbler producing some identification confusion when only glimpses were obtained, but I got my bins on it a number of times and was able to observe its defining features. Superficially similar to a Yellow-browed Warbler, the most easily seen differentiating feature was its pale yellow crown stripe on top of its head. The supercilium is also stronger and tends towards deep yellow or pale orange towards its bill. In flight its other main distinguishing feature could be seen, a prominent yellow rump.

With it deep within the hedge photography was almost impossible and I had consoled myself to only obtaining more brief obscured views when, miraculously, it made its way towards the front of the brambles and willows and stayed there for perhaps 5 minutes. Given the viewing was on a path on the opposite side of the railway line from the hedge, and that this is a tiny bird, I used my 500mm lens with a 2x converter to give me maximum reach. Even towards the front of the hedge getting a clear shot was troublesome with its constant movement and when the R5 did lock on to it there always seemed to be a twig or bramble in the way. I did manage to get a couple of unobscured shots which, given the circumstances, I was very happy with. I did another 3 or so hours with the bird broken by an hours wander around the reserve to warm up, but the warbler never showed as well again. A police officer arrived at one point and asked us not to go on the railway line – incredibly a photographer had been seen doing this on a previous day. Given the regularity of fast trains whizzing by, Darwinism in action came to mind! In other parts of this very attractive reserve I found the over-wintering red-head Smew which was originally thought to be a female but now seems to be a first winter drake commencing its moult into adult plumage. I also had a look for a vagrant Ring-necked Duck that had been seen briefly earlier in the day without success. As the afternoon wore on the sky was becoming increasingly overcast and grey and come 15:30 I decided to make my way home more than happy with my palatial experience.