Scarce Warbler Fest #2, Asian Desert Warbler, Holy Island, 17th June 2020

La Vie En Rose!

My birthday is often spent either driving back home after our fortnights, sometimes three week, holiday to the Cairngorms or recovering from that 500 mile drive. This year of course, we have been unable to get to Scotland for our annual summer vacation but we've made up for it recently by taking some trips out to see some good birds. For this years birthday I had arranged a day off work so had watched the latest bird news for a few days in order to make a plan. On Monday afternoon a Northumberland birder checking his local patch, The Snook on Holy Island, a place where we spent a lot of time at the end of last May, found a rare bird, a Mega in fact, in the shape of an Asian Desert Warbler! 

Initially I dismissed the notion of "going" for the Warbler because Holy Island is over 300 miles from our home and such a drive in midweek wouldn't do me any favours considering as I would be a year older by the time I got home. Instead I had contemplated twitching a Savi's Warbler near Norwich and a Caspian Tern at Potter Heigham. My mate Jim, The Standlake Birder, went for the Savi's early on Tuesday and was successful and then incredibly drove to Holy Island from there to connect with the Asian Desert Warbler later in the afternoon. Ewan, The Black Audi Birder, rarely misses out on a twitch and he was travelling overnight on Tuesday to be at Holy Island at first light on Wednesday in his quest to see the bird. I went to bed on Tuesday night still planning the sortie into Norfolk for the Savi's and the Caspian Tern. As is my want, decision making never comes easy to me, I'm somebody who always wants to keep all options open. I was restless through the night and made up my mind and changed it over and over. By the time I'd gotten up at my usual 05:00 I had tentatively elected what I was going to do. Now I had to get my proposal for the day passed by Mrs Caley. After mooting the idea of spending most of my special day behind the steering wheel of our car, I was pleased when my wife said, "Well it's your day, I'm happy to go wherever you want". So we made good the kit we'd need, packed some food and set off northwards about seven o'clock.

I had of course caved in and decided to drive to Holy Island and hopefully add the Asian Desert Warbler to our life list. By the time we left home at just after seven o'clock the Bird News Services were already reporting that it was still present so we should see it since it wouldn't go anywhere during daylight. I messaged Ewan telling him that we were on our way and that I'd appreciate any updates as we progressed northwards. One thing I hadn't sussed out though, and it was only just before we left that I realised, was the state of the tides at the Causeway that leads onto Holy Island. A quick look on the internet revealed that the Causeway would be impassable between 11:30-15:00 so, allowing for a five hour drive, we'd arrive smack in the middle of the no go period. Fortunately my oversight would have a benefit in that it would give us time to stop on the way up and twitch an adult Rosy Starling that was frequenting a farm near Wakefield and just a couple of miles from the A1(M).

We arrived at Collingham at ten o'clock having made very good progress on the motorways and parked up next to a few other cars on a minor road alongside a tall hedge. The Rosy Starling had been seen regularly feasting on Cherries borne by several Cherry Trees that stood tall out of the hedge. It had been reported already that morning so would be around for sure. I asked a chap if he'd seen it and received negative news. A quick chat revealed that he and his mate were on their way back from Holy Island, they'd driven overnight from Essex, seen the Warbler and were now heading home. The opposite of what we were doing! Other reports of the Starling had placed it in a paddock that apparently was visible from the farm gate so I left all the other birders, including Mrs Caley, who were patiently waiting at the Cherry Trees and walked up the slope to look from there. As I approached the gate I looked over a lower hedge and was amazed to see the Rosy Starling fly in and land at the edge of a rough driveway leading to the farmhouse (bungalow actually). I'm not too familiar with good fortune so with such luck it must be my birthday! 

Rosy Starling

I called Mrs Caley to join me at the gate and created a mini-stampede containing the ten or so other birders. Many poured their gratitude forth, especially the chaps from Essex, although one gruff voice announced, "You jammy bugger, you've only been here two minutes!". As HMHB sing, "Them's the vagaries", some days you watch for hours and don't get to see what you want and on others the birds just fall into place. The Rosy Starling, our 175th species for the year, was also being very accommodating since it was actually walking towards us stood viewing over the gate. It was associating with a large flock of Common Starlings but was very much keeping itself apart from the others, perhaps birds understand the need for social distancing better than people do, since I continually had to move away from a chap who seemed to want to rest his camera and lens on my shoulder! Don't some folk have access to the news?

We watched the Rosy Starling approach ever closer, it was pecking away at the untended lawn at the side of the rough driveway, until the loud bang of a car door being closed by an over eager birder, who having seen us all looking over the gate had forgotten the need for stealth around birds, sent the whole flock flying across the paddock and over a ridge where they disappeared. For the next fifteen minutes there was no further sign of any of the Starlings but then I spotted the Rosy again creeping through the long grass but much further away. The flock was then disturbed by a tractor trundling across to the farmyard and all of the Starlings flew into the hedge and promptly disappeared.

Most of our fellow watchers dispersed leaving just the disappointed couple who's zealousness had caused the birds to fly off in the first place, us, and one other couple who had stayed further down the road at the Cherry Trees. It wasn't possible to find an angle to see the birds in the hedge so we returned to our car for some sustenance. It was still about two and half hours drive to Lindisfarne (the other name for Holy Island, there is a fine distinction into the usage but I'm not quite sure what that is) so it was pointless leaving too early because the tide would be very much covering the road. As we munched on a sandwich, a few of the Starlings flew into the closest Cherry Tree and began eating their own repast but the Rosy didn't join them. Mrs Caley and I went for a walk to check more Cherry Trees on the other side of the farm track, no sign of any Starlings there but there were Swallows hawking insects over a cereal field and a beautiful Wren was singing loudly from an old fashioned clothes prop in the garden of the farm.

Wren

Strolling back to the car we looked again in the paddock but there were no Starlings there. We were happy enough to have seen the Rosy Starling earlier but secretly I was disappointed that I hadn't had the chance of photographing it in the foliage of the Cherry Trees. There was now just one other birder left by the trees and as we reached our car he pointed up into the closest one. There, only a few feet from our car, was the Rosy Starling! This was "fill your boots time" and I fired the camera into action. I should add that the second part of my birthday present to myself had arrived the day before and I had paired a new Canon 100-400  f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens to my week old Canon 90D camera. It was a dream to use, focussing easily and quickly onto the subject and rewarding me with some really good images.

The Rosy Starling was feeding on some of the ripe cherries, seemingly selecting the softest fruits. It was unable to swallow the cherry whole so somewhat messily pulled the fruit apart. It wasn't particularly good at it either and appeared to drop more cherry pulp on the ground beneath than it managed to eat. In fact it wore a bemused look on its face as it struggled with the cherries, its belly was smeared with red cherry juice, and after a while just sat in the tree looking properly puzzled.

Our last view of the Rosy Starling was when it flew into the tree right next to our car, perched for a minute or so and then flew along the hedge and out of sight. We had been on site with the Rosy for a little under an hour and it was now time to get going on our way further north.

Holy Island Grail Bird

We pulled up in front of the temporary sea at the landward side of the Causeway at just after one o'clock having made very quick time on the A1. When we stayed in the area in May last year we remembered watching lots of cars driving the floods without any problems and I had harboured the idea of being able to cross safely even within the deemed unsafe crossing period. But viewing the water racing through under the bridge and the extent of the flooding I realised that the tides on this day were obviously far higher than those of last May. We wouldn't be driving through that for quite a while. We were resigned to wait until it was safe, the Lockdown meant that the numerous excellent cafes of the area were still closed, so we stood by the car scanning for any birds that might present themselves. Over the next half hour we added Eider, Little Tern and Sandwich Tern to the year list so it wasn't wasted time at all. We also watched Curlews, Little Egrets and Ringed Plovers feed at the edge of the racing water. A 4x4 vehicle rolled up and after waiting a few minutes drove through the flood. The water came up to well over half the wheel height so there was no way we could follow yet. Ten minutes later the same vehicle returned but the water appeared just as deep. By two o'clock though we could see that the water was receding very quickly so it wouldn't be too long before we could venture over. There were two other drivers waiting the same as us and I chatted to a chap who had driven up from Spurn (well met Dave @TringaCottage) to see the Warbler. At two-thirty a lady came hurtling down the road towards the flood on a "sit up and beg" bicycle, I inquired whether it was advisable for her to cycle through the water which was still covering most of the road. "Of course" she replied, "As long as I keep to the right hand and high side of the road" and with that off she went and sailed through the standing water which was now only a few inches deep. With that, always take note from the locals, it was back into the car and away we went. It was easy peasy!

Curlew

We were headed for the Snook carpark, although with hindsight later we'd have been better off parking by the road before reaching there. I had been in contact with Ewan again and knew where he'd seen the bird earlier that morning but despite that we still had a few problems to overcome when it came to finding the bird. The biggest issue was that all of the birders that had been in the presence of the Asian Desert Warbler in the morning had left the island before the unsafe crossing period, so the newly arriving birders, ourselves included, would have to find the bird unaided. I had looked at photos on Twitter that had been posted of where the bird had been seen so knew which of the pine trees that it had been frequenting and I used the photos to pinpoint those trees. It took me a while but eventually we did find the small group of three trees set amongst the dunes and slacks of the Snook area. However there was another snag. After nearly twenty minutes of watching the said trees and no sign of the Warbler I was getting more than a little twitchy so I looked at all of the Twitter feed and the news of the bird on Birdguides. There was a report that I'd missed earlier, one that announced that the Warbler had been flushed from a pine tree by a far too over eager Togger and had flown over a dune and was lost! That was bad news indeed.

By three-thirty there were at least forty birders checking all over the area so at least there was more than adequate coverage but I was having my first negative thoughts of the day. We stayed faithful to our group of trees since that is where the Desert warbler had holed up for the last day and a half. Just before four, with my confidence ebbing away quicker than the causeway tide, a chap from on top of the nearest dune waved at us vigorously and pointed eastwards. We got to the top of that dune as fast as we could and saw just about every other birder was surrounding a pine tree about four hundred metres away. My big day and I was about to be last to the party! The bird had to be over there, so we had been well and truly barking up the wrong tree! Five minutes later I arrived at the throng and because of the importance of the occasion, there was lifer on offer after all, asked the nearest fellow birder, "Where is it?". It took me less than ten-seconds to add the Asian Desert Warbler to my life list once directed to it, and, once she'd caught up, a few seconds more for Mrs Caley to add it to hers. Talk about relief, I am deeply grateful to the birder who waved to attract our attention and showed us the way to go. Whoever you are, you saved my birthday!

Now it was a task to try and secure some photos which would be no easy job since the Asian Desert Warbler, comparable in size to a Chiffchaff and much smaller than most other Sylvia type Warblers, was hopping around in a dark shady part of the pine tree. Its movements were very deliberate so it wasn't difficult to follow but initially at least it was keeping to the thickest section of the Pine canopy. It seemed to take an indeterminable age before the bird broke cover and I was able to grab my first photos of my latest life bird. 

Asian Desert Warbler

The Asian Desert Warbler is a very drab looking bird, all subtle shades of sandy-brown and greys apart from a richer brown coloured tail and rump. However the bird has one very striking feature, a bright yellow eye, and I've heard the bird referred to as "Banana Eye". The Asian Desert Warbler breeds in arid areas of Central Asia and is a migrant further west to Arabia in winter with, as this one has, the odd vagrant turning up in Western Europe. Until recently it was combined with an African form under Desert Warbler but studies proved that the African Desert Warbler (never recorded in the UK) was largely sedentary in North West Africa and had a slightly different song and morphology. On it's normal territories the Desert Warbler only has thorny spindly bushes and isolated trees to choose for cover, feeding and nesting so it was clear why it had chosen a similar area on Holy Island to use for its temporary home. After a while the Warbler flew right over our heads into a dense and tangled hawthorn bush within which it promptly disappeared. I had seen where it had entered the bush though so was looking in the right spot when it reappeared, luckily at the side facing us. It was perched facing away from me but at least I could capture the contrast between the tail and the rest of the plumage.

Unlike most of our Warbler species, the Asian Desert warbler isn't particularly dynamic and creeps and hops between branches rather than fluttering and darting. That trait made it relatively simple to track although clear views were difficult because of the dense interwoven branches of the bush. The new camera and lens was coping admirably though and I was more than pleased when viewing the results later at home.

The Asian Desert Warbler very obligingly stopped in full view for a preen and brush up. This allowed all present to get some photos for posterity. I messed about with camera settings while the bird finely manicured its appearance.

The Warbler tree hopped again, this time to another Pine Tree. Once again it chose the darkest recesses of the canopy and disappeared. Occasionally it would appear on the sunlit side of the tree allowing for a quick volley of shots to be taken before it edged back into the tree again. When it flew out from the side of the Pine, over the dune and out of sight, we called it a day. 

We had been fortunate to watch the Desert Warbler for almost an hour and now faced the long drive home. Firstly we had to negotiate the dunes and long grasses to reach the car. The Snook, the part of Holy Island closest to the mainland is a wild area with just one house and is internationally renowned as a place to find some of the rarest plants in the world. Thus it is a highly sensitive area and much care must be taken when navigating around it, and we definitely wouldn't want to be guilty of trampling a rare plant even if we have no clue as to its identity. On the way I tried to get some decent photos of some of the Swallows that were swooping around the Snook House garden. For some reason I have never taken a photo of a Swallow that I'm delighted with, and that quest will continue since none of the ones that I took were that good either!

Swallow

What a day! A birthday that I'll always remember, two great birds in just a few hours and maybe this blog should have been titled "Rare Warbler Fest" but then it wouldn't be a true trilogy. During the day we added 6 birds to the year list, we also saw a Fulmar while on Holy Island, taking that up to 180 and "only" 62 less than by the same time last year! Interestingly neither the Savi's Warbler or the Caspian Tern in Norfolk were reported on the day so I was right in my choice to go for the rarer bird. The Rosy Starling was a delight but the Asian Desert Warbler with that piercing "banana eye" will be a bird that I'll never forget!