When stood watching the Black-winged Kite in Suffolk if someone had said to me within the next 7 weeks you’ll have been to Scilly and Cleveland and seen both Red-footed + Brown Booby I’d have called them mad.
If at the Brown Booby someone had said in 13 days time you’ll have seen 3 American wood Warbler species I’d have called the men in white coats! 🤪
But that’s exactly what happened in this year of quality birds.
It all started on 20th September when ex-hurricane Lee swept in from the Atlantic and dropped a Blackburnian Warbler in Co.Kerry then 2 Cliff Swallows (Scilly + Co.Clare) followed by Alder Flycatcher on Skolkholm but the best was saved until last when a Magnolia Warbler was found at St.Govan’s Head in Pembrokeshire by Toby Phelps!
The 21st produced goodies such as Bobolink, 2 Black and White Warbler, Bay-Breasted Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, and Baltimore Oriole. Unfolding was the best few days in British birding history for American birds.
Plans were hatched on the 22nd to head to Pembrokeshire for the Magnolia Warbler the next day and a slice of luck saw me book 3 tickets for the boat over to Ramsey Island for the chance at another mega Warbler.
Magnolia Warbler. Photo courtesy of James Thorpe
Magnolia Warbler. Photo courtesy of Shaun Ferguson
At 1.30am on the morning of the 23rd myself, Matt Moreton and Dave Woodhouse set off for St.Govan’s Head and apart from junctions 20 and 19 of the M25 being closed the journey down was a smooth one and so we arrived just before 6am but worryingly to crystal clear skies and even a slight ground frost! Nevertheless we were the first to wander over to the viewing area and set up our scopes. The previous 2 days the bird had been showing before 7am so it was a tad worrying when at 7.30am there had been no sign. Had it gone overnight? Thankfully the call went up soon after that the bird was still present and for the next hour or so it teased us with brief glimpses until the sun came out and the bird decided to start showing off. The bright yellows, greens and blues shone brightly and lots of expletives were said! For the next 30 minutes we watched it and took in that Britain’s 3rd MAGNOLIA WARBLER was on our lists.
Around 9am we decided to head off north towards Pembroke to try and find a loo and a cafe and also a petrol station as we only had 30 miles of fuel left! After driving for about 15 minutes we parked up and just as I was about to get out the car I read a tweet from Adrian Kettle saying I’d turn around if I were you Canada Warbler at the same place! None of us had had an alert to this so I said to the other two what the message said and more expletives were said! So we headed back not knowing exactly where to go but thankfully news started coming in of where it was and where to park and Simon Nicholls kindly rang me to see if we’d heard the news just as we were arriving.
Canada Warbler. Photo courtesy of James Thorpe
We abandoned the car at the side of the track and hurriedly joined the small throng of birders already here. There’d been no sign for at least 20 minutes. It was then we found out that the finder of this birds was the same Toby Phelps who’d found the Magnolia Warbler! That double probably won’t be beaten anytime soon. With just over an hours drive ahead of us to catch the boat we set 10.30am as the cut off time to have to leave. It was around 10.28am when we said right we’ll have to go when suddenly the shout went up that the bird was on show. We all went into the trees to try and get a vantage point. Every now and then people at the far end were on it then the middle group then finally myself at the right hand end was lucky to have it sit up on a branch at the back of the trees allowing me to firstly see the pale bluey/grey uppers then it shifted position and the bright yellow underparts gleamed brightly. Ooof!
Just a couple of hours after ticking the 3rd Magnolia Warbler for Britain I was now ticking the 1st CANADA WARBLER for Britain. Madness! Matt at the far end had had crippling views of it but Dave hadn’t yet got on it and was prepared to leave to allow us to get the boat. We said have 5 more minutes and luckily it perched out for him to get the views he wanted. High fives were exchanged but celebrations would have to wait as we now had to drive north west and hope we’d arrive in time for the boat.
We were almost into single figures of remaining miles when we found a petrol station but once filled we were on our way. Sadly not as fast as we’d have liked as the Welsh government had brought in new 20mph speed limits a few days earlier and everyone was adhering to it. We had to be on site by 12.10pm to get on the boat so 5 miles away I rang to say we’ll be there but maybe a minute or so late to which the reply was just be here before 12.30pm and you’ll be fine. We arrived and nabbed the last spot in the car park and ran down to the pier with just 8 minutes to spare which frustrated a handful of birders who’d turned up to try and nab a place on the boat should others not turn up.
Bay-breasted Warbler. Photo courtesy of Mark Dowie
After a brief safety talk we boarded the boat and 10 minutes later we were at Ramsey Island. Another quick talk and we were finally allowed to walk up the path to the viewing area. Once set up we found out that it’d not been seen for 15 minutes. Another 5+ minutes elapsed before Rob Jones said he’d got it feeding in gorse on the slope to the right of the house. A nervy minute or two later and I finally laid eyes on my first ever BAY-BREASTED WARBLER! This was a 2nd for Britain and personally my favourite looking of the the 3. We all enjoyed great views of this bird for the next 10 minutes before we said let’s go and have a celebratory cup of tea!
Matt’s excellent diary entry for the day.
With a long journey ahead of us we finished our drinks and headed back to the quay for our boat home. With all the excitement the 8 Chough and a flock of 7 Raven earlier in the day were complete also rans. We made good time on the journey back up until the M25 so we had to make a detour around the houses. We arrived back at mine just before 8pm but none of us felt tired as the adrenaline rush from seeing a 1st, 2nd and 3rd for Britain in a day and all of them American wood warblers (my favourite group of birds) kept us going. Thanks to Matt for driving and to Dave for his company. I’m now up to 8 lifers this year and it’s still not October. Who knows what awaits us especially as during the time it’s taken to write this a Cape May and Tennessee Warbler have been found!
Many thanks also to James, Shaun and Mark for allowing me to use their photos. These three birds were a bit beyond my photography skills!
