It had to happen; after the promising weather of the last couple of days, there must surely be a mega rarity somewhere in NorthEast England. I spent yesterday on two tours. First, Druridge Bay where there were a lot of Goldcrests (contrasting with the species almost complete absence from the coast in recent weeks), Robins and Blackbirds. Clearly there had been a ‘fall’ of sorts; as the day wore on messages came through from Holy Island – Barred, Pallas’, Yellow-browed and Raddes Warblers had all arrived on the island. An exceptional day for warblers…but, for a couple of lucky photographers in South Shields, and a sharp-eyed internet surfer, it was about to get a whole lot better.
Imagine the scenario – you see a bird that you identify as a Chiffchaff, the photographer with you re-identifies it as a Yellow-browed Warbler and gets an excellent shot of the bird. He goes home and posts the images of his day on the internet. Then, and the following is an example of a growing trend, another birder looks at the image…and re-identifies the bird as an Eastern Crowned Warbler – a first for Britain and Ireland!! When the pager stated to mega-alert at 10pm last night I read the message in stunned silence and then suggested to Sarah a scenario similar to the one above, as an explanation for the late hour of the news. It’s a bird that wouldn’t be ‘on the radar’ of a huge number of birders (although it has been a topic of discussion on some cold days out on Church Point). Congratulations to Derek, Dougie Holden and Mark Newsome for a team effort that is going to have a lot of birders flocking (there’s a cliche that the press are going to be trotting out again shortly) to Trow Quarry.
With a hospital appointment early this morning, I won’t be with the crowd. Maybe later in the day? or, if the bird has departed, it’s encouragement to all birders to get out onto the coast and see what else the winds from the east have brought us.