Wildlife

Wildlife

James Lowen 

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20 October 2024 Two firsts

September is the new October.

On 25 September, an Arctic Warbler was found at Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire. Not a bird I would twitch, even (based on recent evidence) within Norfolk. By that evening, however, the finder was musing that it could be an Eastern Crowned Warbler, on the basis of its call. At this point, my ears pricked up. This was a bird I needed. I was living in Argentina (or literally moving back home) when the UK's 1st was found in 2009. I had a forlorn search for the second, in north London. I dipped the third, in Yorkshire, in 2014. And I was on Shetland for the fourth, in 2016. I couldn't travel for it on 26th, so waited nervously on news. There was no news: it was not reported that day. On Friday 27th, however, it was rebound and - critically - sound-recorded. The call was not that of Eastern Crowned Warbler, but of either Pale-legged or Sakhalin Leaf Warbler. And, once the spectrogram had been checked, it was unequivocally Pale-legged, the first unequivocal live record in the country. Not ask actual first but, from a twitcher's perspective, as good as. On the mainland, and on a weekend.

So that was it: straight into Bradders' EV, a few hours' kip in the reserve car park, then a nervous wait before, during and after dawn, until the phyllosc announced its presence with a single call, then a double call, then a brief glimpse. Over eight hours, we built up good views of its chunky, heavy-headed, stonking-superciliumed self, but I failed to get a photo of anything more of a smudge. But the call was fabulous - and easily the best way of locating it. 

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We stretched our legs with a couple of wanders around Flamborough Head itself, seeing Red-flanked Bluetail, a (glimpse) male Red-breasted Flycatcher plus two first-winters, an Icterine Warbler and a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers. Plus Siberian Chiffchaff, three Yellow-broweds and a blythiSiberian Lesser Whitethroat back at Bempton. God's Own, at its best.

The other first was unequivocal - and a few days earlier that week. Kevin Brett trapped an unfamiliar, small pyralid in Ormesby, northeast Norfolk. Via our local WhatsApp group, Dave Appleton and Mick A'Court swiftly identified it as a candidate Phycitodes lacteella, a European species Brough in on the same easterlies that deposited the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler in Yorkshire. I was fortunate to see it, thanks to David Norgate, before its identity was confirmed via 'gen det'. The provisional vernacular name Peppered Knot-horn has been suggested, chosen to reflect the distinctive peppering on its wings, has been given - but full details will be published in due course. Two 'firsts' in a week: September really is the new October.