A surprise visitor

The Yellow-browed Warbler

On the 28th Decembr 2006, Keith Wills a local birdwatcher had a short while to spend one lunch hour and decided to take his binoculars to Blackwater Park at the northern end of Hawley Meadows for a spot of birding. At the bend in the river, as the gate opens up the path to the open meadow, he saw a small yellowish-green bird flicking around in the trees. It’s quite normal here to see Chiffchaffs wintering and they feed alone or in small groups so the bird could easily have been one of them, but with some perseverance he identified a Yellow-browed Warbler.

This is a very active little bird about 10 per cent smaller than a Chiffchaff and nearer the size of the diminutive Goldcrest. It is constantly moving and flicking its wings and tail as it searches for insects in the smaller riverside branches and twigs. The bird is distinguished by the yellow brow, as its name implies, and by two pale wing bars – although the smallest is not always very obvious. This bird has a particularly pale bill and legs, which has caused some discussion amongst local birders, but it is definitely not any other species.

Yellow-browed Warblers are regular migrants to Britain in winter from Siberia. They are the most common visitor from that area where they breed, roughly north of Afghanistan into Siberia and, as an example of how far this bird may have come, these warblers are the most common breeding phylloscopus warblers in Thailand! They turn up here usually on their own although up to 100 may appear nationally in any one winter and from my experience they tend to hang around in one place for quite a time. Most visitors are found near the east and south coasts of England. Berkshire has only a handful of records but this bird has yet to cross their border to give that county another record, but it has obliged Surrey and Hampshire by crossing the river regularly thereby being seen in both counties every day!

If you would like to see this bird, enter Admiralty Way on the A331 just south of the Meadows roundabout and park on the right after the bend. Cross the bridge and walk south down the Blackwater Valley Path for about 50 metres. On the opposite side is a patch of Dogwood just above the water and the bird can usually be seen in this patch. If it’s not there look in the trees and bushes around it, it does also cross the river into the oak trees, generally keeping to the top branches. Take care not to mistake it for the Chiffchaff which has no wing bars, or the Goldcrest which has wing bars but a much darker wing patch, no yellow brow and, of course, its gold crest along its crown.

Colin Wilson    

23 February 2007

Bird Report Editor & Records Co-ordinator, Reading Ornithological Club. www.theroc.org.uk