A Pale Legged leaf Warbler at Bempton, a (live) UK first

All photos in this blog are curtsey of my birding buddy – Nick Truby.

The absence of birding and hence blogs recently can be explained thus -Covid! Having successfully avoided it over the past 4 years, Carolyn and I finally succumbed. We think we either caught it during a number of recent hospital appointments or, more likely, at our local vets where the receptionist was wearing a mask and coughing quite a lot. It hit us both pretty hard and a week before I was due to go on my autumnal birding trip to Shetland I was convinced that I would not be able to make it as I was completely wiped out and could not imagine doing a 450 mile drive. My ever suffering wife, Carolyn, agreed that I could go a day early and split the drive and by departure day I was feeling just about well enough to go with lots of recovery breaks.

There are two possible routes I can take up to the ferry terminal at Aberdeen along either the west or east coast. I decided on the east coast route with an overnight stop somewhere north of Newcastle. I took much more time driving up than I would normally, stopping 4 or 5 times on route. I debated taking a detour for one of the breaks to Spurn to see an Artic Warbler, but, rather wisely I feel, decided against it.

The journey was made all the harder by torrential rain all the way up. I took my last break at Bempton and spent an hour trying to see a mega rare leaf warbler more usually found in China. Leaf warblers can be hard to see at the best of times, by habit often keeping deep within the vegetation . Although the torrential rain had eased off when I arrived, I still thought my chances of seeing it were very modest, but, somewhat remarkably, I did manage two good views, but no accompanying photos of it, deep within the vegetation.

Now this is as rare and as lost as it gets. The BOU records up to 2022 only have one record, a bird found dead after hitting a lighthouse at St Mary’s. Slightly confusingly, however, the Colins bird bible seems to imply there have been 3 previous records. Either way this is the rarest of the rares. Its breeds in the temperate forests of eastern China and winters in south east Asia so this really is one truly lost bird!

It has brownish upperparts and a contrasting greyish-brown crown and nape. The whitish supercilium (eye stripe) contrasts strongly, not reaching the forehead but extending well behind the eyes. Its eyeline is dark brown and wider behind the eye. Its cheeks are mottled pale brown and it has a whitish throat. Its white undertail coverts contrast with a paler olive-brown rump and upper tail coverts. Its breast and belly are whitish with a washed pale brown wash.

After an hours break I continued on my way to Newcastle and totally crashed out in a premier inn for a long sleep.

My good birding buddy, Nick, managed to get some excellent photos the next day in better weather, in fact by far the best I’ve seen of the bird and I’m indebted to him for allowing me to use his brilliant photos.