Melodious Warbler in the Midlands

With the Cretzschmar’s Bunting on Bardsey taking over Sunday and meaning I didn’t get a chance to visit the singing Melodious Warbler that was in the West Midlands at the weekend like planned, I decided to go straight after work on the Monday. Having been present for 5 days already and still singing happily in the same corner of trees since its arrival, I was confident to connect after the short 1 and a ½ hour journey down the motorway.

Walking down the bridleway from the A452 I could hear the fluid song emanating from its favoured tree from several metres away down the path, and joining the assembled 5 or so birders already present we soon locked on to the warbler perched near the top of the tree, partially obscured by the foliage.

The Melodious thankfully showed really well right out in the open on several occasions, at one point even feeding in the gorse bush in front of the fence just a few feet away from where I was standing and offering excellent views, with the huge orange bill particularly striking. Quite a showy individual, it spend its time between the favoured corner tree, a line of small oak trees towards the back of the area and a small holly bush on the opposite side of the path, and we watched for a good hour as it flitted between perches and lived up to its name with frequent bursts of melodious song that serenaded us as we stood.

Looking in to the sun made photographing it quite tricky

Originating from south western Europe, the song can be a very helpful identifying feature (as in this case), although non-singing autumn individuals can be a little tricky, with the lack of pale fringes to the greater coverts and short primary projection separating it from the very similar Icterine warbler.

The thick orange bill is really clear to see

Now coming up to a stay of 2 weeks and still favouring the same small patch of trees on the bridleway, this is a great bird to catch up with, especially being so close to home and not having to travel several hours to the coast as is often the case with this species!