BLOG UPDATE _22nd August 2025
Quote from Rare bird alert article
"An extraordinary ornithological milestone has been confirmed at Walberswick in Suffolk, where Zitting Cisticola Cisticola juncidis has bred for the first time in Britain. An adult was first reported at the site on 3 August, representing the first record for Suffolk. Just two weeks later, on 17 August, observers recorded two birds, with one male in full song - an early sign that breeding might be on the cards.
Today, the discovery of a family party of five birds - two adults accompanied by three juveniles - has confirmed that this southern European and Asian warbler has nested successfully. The news marks the species’ first proven breeding on the British mainland and a major landmark in the ever-changing avifauna of these islands."
The photo above was taken by my mate Nick in Lesvos earlier this spring
The Zitting Cisticola, alternatively called Fan-tailed Warbler, is a comparatively common bird in continental Europe and has often been speculated as next on the list to colonise the UK. To date, however, this has not happened and it remains an exceedingly rare bird in the UK with just eight accepted records to the end of 2022. So when one was found in Kent earlier this year I had the car packed and ready to go just as a report of the bird doing a runner hit the alert services not to be seen again.
Fast forward to this Sunday just gone and a keen eyed birder found another, or perhaps the same, bird at a place called Walberswick in Suffolk just along the coast from the Mimsmere RSPB reserve. Slightly irritatingly, I was very close to this site the previous Friday when I went to see a very confiding juvenile Black Stork – see here. To put its rarity value into context, Bird Guides have said that this is the first twitchable bird for 15 years.
Other family commitments meant that the first day I could go was this Tuesday. Given that it was a three and a half hour drive from home, more like four with breaks, I decided to wait for it to be reported which indeed it was just before 06:00 and I was in the car and gone by just after that time. Walberswick turned out to be a very pleasant if somewhat busy seaside resort approach down a small no through road . The Cisticola was located some 20 minutes along the coast from the car park. Unlike my previous visit to Suffolk for the Stork it was a pleasantly sunny day with a blustery wind. As I walked along the sand dunes the exact location of the bird soon became obvious as I could see a group of birders staring intently across the salt marsh.
On arrival others present told me that the warbler had just shown in flight but had dropped back down into the reeds. Maybe 10 minutes later a shout of “it’s up” went up and for a few frustrating moments, when time seemed to standstill, I could not locate it but then the chap next to me said “its over the church high up above the clouds” and with a big sigh of relief I got onto it giving me UK life tick number 427.
This bird has a very wide breeding range from southern Europe and Africa across to southern Asia right down to northern Australia and it is a year round resident, i.e. non migratory. To be absolutely honest, it is not the most spectacular looking bird being more of a little brown jobby. It is brown above, heavily streaked with black markings. The underparts are whitish, and the tail is broad, white-tipped and flicked frequently, giving rise to the alternative name for the species.
Its flight and call are what gives it its name and provides it with a very endearing character. During the breeding season males have a zigzagging flight display accompanied by regular "zitting" calls that have been likened to repeated snips of a scissor. The behaviour of the Suffolk bird has identified it as a male.
Watching the bird in flight it did exactly what it says on the tin, high prolonged zigzagging flight displays while announcing its presence with its Zitting call. It was some distance away meaning that photography wasn’t really an option. The blustery wind also inhibited it from perching up on the vegetation so it dived straight into the reed bed after every song flight. I guess it entertained us with 3 or 4 of this song flights up to lunch when I decided to make a move and spent a pleasant and chilled out afternoon at Mimsmere where Bittern and Marsh Harrier were the main highlights.
Footnote – my blogs are posted with sometimes rather imaginative spelling and grammar due to my extreme dyslexia!
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