Eastern surprise

EASTERN SURPRISE! Radde’s Warbler in Deeping... nearly! Words and photos by Will Bowell

As regular viewers of my blog will be aware, I do like to see rare birds, the ones that get blown off course and end up in far and distant shores, away from their intended destination. Indeed, at the end of September, I enjoyed a wonderful week on the Shetland Isles, finding and chasing rare birds and what a week it was. I saw three new birds for my planet earth list (including being the second person to see Britain’s 5th Tennessee Warbler) and three species of whales including the mighty Humpback and the charming Orca!

But I digress; I had only been back home for less than 24 hours when my good friend Mike Weedon called to say our pal Jonathan Taylor thought he had found a Radde’s Warbler, near Peakirk by the Folly!

OK, so you don’t know what a Radde’s Warbler is. It’s a small brown warbler, named after Mr Radde, I would imagine. That doesn’t sound exciting, does it? Radde’s Warblers come from central and eastern Siberia and should have been en-route to southern Asia for their winter hols. They have bright orange feet, apricot coloured undertail converts (that’s its bum to you and me) and a funky yellow flash above the eye.

When we arrived on site JT was frantic, pumped on the unique adrenalin rush finding a ‘rare’ gives you. I heard it but sadly, despite several hours of searching, there was no sign. Mike and JT stayed till near dusk and heard it once more after hours of nothing. This was clearly going to be a tricky one.

There is something else you need to understand about Radde’s Warblers; there are two flavours. There are the show offs which are easy to see, hanging out on the edge of the bush or there is the don’t-comeout-of-a-bush, ever, not ever, not even once variety. whole day, despite attracting a steady stream of socially distancing birders from near and as far as Oxford and London.

The following day, it popped out on my arrival, as if it knew it was my birthday, let me get some photos and then promptly disappeared for hours at a time. Our friend Hugh had been in Yorkshire for the first two days of its stay but thankfully came back on the Tuesday to enjoy superb views on a couple of occasions. But for the most part of the day, he stood staring at a bush, willing for it to come out.

On Tuesday 6th it had started to range more during the day, being seen on both sides of the Folly and with a clear start to the night, there was no sign the next day. Presumably it had continued on its journey having fed well at the bush diners of Peakirk!

Radde’s reach Britain in small numbers every year; normally only about 10 a year, but this autumn has been a good ‘un. As far I’m aware, there has only been one other inland record, in Bedfordshire in 1991. Being a first for Cambridgeshire, it certainly made the ‘Cambs lot’ make the trek up to our neck of the woods Radde’s Warbler at Peakirk, 6th October

and over the course of its stay around 100 observers came to Peakirk. Not all of them saw it though!

So why was it such a good autumn for these Siberian beauties? In the last week of September an easterly airflow coming all the way Asia hit Britain. At first, it hit mostly the Northern Isles and but by the weekend, it also hit the east coast of mainland Britain and with it many rare birds from Asia and Siberia arrived in a ‘fall’ of common migrants.

The truth is most rare birds are found on the coast because this is where they make first landfall and where the most observers therefore search. Some must filter inland but this Radde’s Warbler showed how hard they can be to see one inland, even if you know where they are!

It’s amazing to think such a small bird (size of a Robin) weighing just 15g can make it all the way from eastern Siberia to Britain. The odds against it must be huge, yet every year birds end up going in the wrong direction and hit our shores.

What’s even more amazing is that this lost waif, rather than spend a winter in Thailand, clearly would rather be in Deeping... nearly!

Will Bowell works at Grasmere Farm Butchers in Market Deeping but in his spare time enjoys wildlife watching locally and across the country. He is also a keen photographer. Many of his images can be found at http://justwildimages. blogspot.co.uk/

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