Greenish Warbler and Franklin's Gull up North!

With Greenish Warbler being a predominately east coast bird that rarely makes it across to the north west, I was still yet to see this charming autumn migrant despite many visits to Spurn and other east coast localities during September. Therefore, when an individual in Cleveland developed a pattern of showing well in a small patch of trees during the week and on in to the weekend, it provided the perfect opportunity to finally catch up with this much needed autumn warbler.

With Alex only having previously seen very brief views of a Greenish Warbler before a number of years ago, he decided to drive the 2 ½ hour journey to take us up to the north east, the very real prospect of the adult Franklin’s Gull in Northumberland making a reappearance during the day firmly at the back of his mind!

Arriving at Saltburn and heading east along the cliff top path beside the Ship Inn pub, we were soon looking straight in to the dell that the Greenish had been favouring, the bird immediately on show in the small Sycamore saplings directly below and giving absolutely amazing views as it flitted between the leaves.

Similar in size and structure to an Arctic Warbler or Chiffchaff, we could clearly see the single white wingbar on the wings along with the broad white supercilium, differing from the often similar Arctics by having it extending through on to the forehead.

Watching this spritely individual for well over an hour, it appeared to stick to just the one tree filled hollow, not venturing out of this area during our time there and working its way back and forth between the bushes.

The small section of bushes in the dell the Greenish Warbler was favouring

Having not checked our phones whilst watching the Greenish, I was therefore pleasantly surprised to see the Franklin’s Gull had made a reappearance an hour earlier at Whittle Dene reservoirs, just under an hour and a half further north from where we currently were.

The beautiful views from Saltburn!

With Alex driving, he made the decision that we should try for the double, heading north up the A1 with our arrival time estimated to be nearly 6pm. With the Franklin’s Gull heading off to roost at around 7pm the previous day, this gave us around an hour’s window to connect – it could prove tricky especially if the bird was mobile. Then, disaster struck – being literally 5 minutes away from the site and travelling down the winding farm lanes heading towards the reservoirs, news came on that there was no further sign – nightmare!

Not giving up and spotting a mass of gulls congregating in a ploughed field, all dive-bombing the freshly turned soil behind the tractor in the search for unearthed invertebrates, we trawled through the numerous Black-headed and Common Gulls in the hope of spotting the Franklin’s.

After several sweeps through the scope and with hundreds of gulls getting up from the neighbouring field and flying off towards the reservoirs, we headed east to see if the Franklin’s Gull had returned to the field it had been seen in yesterday evening. Walking along the reservoir track and dodging the hundreds of mozzies buzzing around our heads, again we were met with the sight of lines upon lines of gulls, clearly gathering in a pre-roost.

The picturesque evening light over Whittle Dene Reservoirs

With no sign of the Franklin’s in with the hundreds of Black-headed and Common Gulls, a stroke of luck saw a birder running down the track towards us, arms flailing in the air to get our attention and shouting madly. This could only mean one thing – Franklin’s!

Immediately, the 10 or so gathered birders, me and Alex included, legged it down the path, rushing over the fence and setting up our scopes on the opposite field, faces flushed and hearts pumping furiously.

Squinting through the scope, finally we had our prize – one smart looking winter plumaged Franklin’s Gull happily strutting along the clods of earth and picking at any morsels disturbed in the soil.

Much smaller than I had expected and with the head pattern much more subtle than I had imagined, zooming in revealed a number of diagnostic features to confirm the ID. The thick white crescent shapes above and below the eye were clear to see, as was the slightly darker mantle and blackish bill. The head pattern was also a giveaway from the Black-headed Gulls, being much more extensive and forming a large dark black patch behind the eye and up on to the head.

With the Derbyshire bird in 2010 being before my time and with all subsequent Franklin’s Gulls in recent years being just a touch too far away in Hampshire and Essex, it was great to finally catch up with this Yankee rarity.

Not being a huge fan of gulls personally (they all look the same!) I had to admit that I did especially enjoy the Franklin’s – the thrill of the bird being there against the odds when it looked like we would dip (as well as the relief that we wouldn’t have to shell out for a hotel to stay over and try again the next day) made it, along with the Laughing Gull at New Brighton, one of the more memorable gull twitches!

Alex's Franklin's Gull video

Having scored with both our targets, we headed back to Cheshire happy and content, having secured great views of both birds after what was hopefully the start of a promising and fruitful autumn. 

Eastern Crowned Warbler in Brotton - 3rd for Britain

With news breaking of the third ever Eastern Crowned Warbler on the Thursday, I was glad that this particular individual decided to stay until the weekend, offering me the chance to catch up with this stunning far eastern vagrant.

Upon arrival at the small patch of woodland adjacent to Brotton Golf Course in Cleveland, we were told that the bird had just been showing well in one of the small Sycamore trees, but had flitted off and out of sight 2 minutes before we got there. That wasn’t going to deter us or the hundreds of other birders still present, and we joined the crowd to wait for the bird to reappear.

After a tense (for me…. Alex had seen the 2009 bird in County Durham) wait for around 20 minutes, the warbler made a reappearance in what was now deemed to be its favoured tree, and with us luckily positioned just below it and at the front of the crowd, we were treated to excellent views as it hopped from branch to branch.

Sometimes remaining hidden in the leaves, the small warbler often proved difficult to locate, especially when sitting perched motionless – the lemony green and white colouration camouflaging it perfectly amongst the foliage. However, it seemed very obliging, undeterred by the hundreds of eyes all fixed on it, showing considerably well and often remaining stationary in one place allowing for several photo opportunities.

Miraculously, this was 3 years to the day exactly since the second Eastern Crowned Warbler for Britain was found, trapped and ringed in Hertfordshire after originally being ID’d as a Yellow-browed Warbler. The fact that the very first for Britain back in 2009 was also primarily mis-identified as a Yellow-browed, means that this individual at Brotton is the only one out of the three to be correctly identified in the field by the finder.

Travelling from the far east and such locations as China, the Eastern Crowned is structurally most similar to the profile of an Arctic Warbler in size and shape, differing in key features such as the dark rear crown - which is also wider at the hind on Eastern Crowned Warblers. The lemony undertail coverts were clear to see as the bird dashed through the canopy, as was the bright, clean white underparts – more reminiscent of a Wood Warbler. The orange lower mandible and darker upper mandible were also apparent, as was the large white supercilium (reminiscent of Arctic), two wing bars and on occasion the pale central crown stripe.

You can just about see the central crown stripe

As the bird did a bunk on the Saturday night, you have to feel for those that couldn’t make it until the Sunday, a dip possibly made worse by the no-show of the Blackpoll Warbler further up the coast at Easington which was discovered early on the Sunday and quickly vanished in to thin air. However, the fact that three have now turned up in the space of 5 years must offer some comfort - it is surely only a matter of time before the next is found darting around the canopy in an east coast location.

The discovery of both the Eastern Crowed and the Blackpoll Warbler really goes to show the potential of these small coastal patches of woodland and obscure pockets of habitat – the mind boggles at just what hidden treasures might lurk amongst them waiting to be discovered. If the finder hadn’t happened to just look back as he was leaving the woods that morning, then this third for Britain would undoubtedly have remained undiscovered – as must so many megas that reach our shores undetected and see out their days hiding away in unobtrusive locations, tantalisingly close to human habitation and just waiting to be stumbled upon by chance by the right person.