Christmas Eve isn't the best time to learn about a rare bird that's been found. But so it was when a birder in Kent announced to the birding world via social media at lunchtime that day that he'd found an American Yellow Warbler on a nature reserve in Snodland in the Tonbridge area of the county. Being discovered so late on Christmas Eve was inconvenient not only because it was too late for us to travel down from Oxfordshire in the hope of seeing it but also because we'd be tied up doing the usual annual family stuff for the next two days. So we had to wait until the Friday before we'd get our chance.
Our good friends Rob and Thomas did manage to see the Yellow Warbler just an hour or so after it being reported and they, along with many others over the next two festive days, posted photos of what was a gorgeous little brightly coloured bird. Warblers are one of my favourite families of birds and this was definitely one that I wanted to see.
We decided to go for it on the Friday morning, for my part suitably sober again after festive over-indulgence, knowing that there would be a lot of other folk also making the trip. According to reports, over three hundred birders had seen the bird already, which had shown really well on all three days since its discovery. Generally the Yellow Warbler had been seen briefly early doors leaving its favoured roosting area. It had then disappeared for a few hours, presumably because it was feeding within an adjacent water treatment plant, but then returned in the afternoon to a small stand of alder trees where it happily hunted for food along with several Chiffchaffs and other common birds. While in those trees the bird offered unlimited opportunities for gaining good views and for decent photography.
We left before first light and enjoyed a smooth and swift journey along almost empty motorways for a change. We found the carpark easily and then took our time gearing up before walking along the well made path into the Leysdown Lakes nature reserve. We knew that the Yellow Warbler hadn't been seen because they'd been no reports of it up to our time of arrival at nine-thirty. I wasn't worried though because I thought it was fairly safe to assume that the bird was wintering in the area and would likely remain site faithful for a while yet. We strolled the quarter mile to where the alders stood. As we turned a bend in the path, it followed a millstream, the magnitude of the twitch became apparent. The very low key start to our day was now to be replaced by something much more frenetic. Lined up along the stream opposite the alders and the sewage works beyond were roughly around three hundred fellow hopefuls, and more were arriving all the time. I said hello to a few familiar faces and found a decent spot amongst the throng where we could view all of the trees supposedly favoured by the bird.
While stood there, I checked the latest bird news and was amazed to see that another mega head been reported in Kent. A Scops Owl had been found in Broadstairs, about an hours drive away. In keeping with many Owl species, it had been found after dark but had supposedly been present for at least five days having been seen by a householder perched on his garden fence. An organised effort would be made for later in the day so that the bird could be twitched, whereby a single light would be shone onto the Owl once it had been located using a thermal scope. We saw a Scops Owl just a dozen miles from our home in Oxfordshire eighteen years ago so already had the species on our UK list so didn't really need to go for it. Also we have a trip coming up next year to Lesvos, where Scops Owl are relatively easily seen. Thus I wasn't too interested in going for it since I didn't fancy adding another two hours driving to the day and I'm not "Big Year" listing this time around. The opportunity to see another though, would be hard to resist.
Back to the twitch in hand, almost three hours had passed since we arrived and there hadn't been a sniff of the Yellow Warbler. We'd seen a Firecrest, many Chiffchaffs, and a few other birds in the trees, and the brambles that underslung them but there had been nothing more brightly coloured than Blue Tits and Goldfinches. The weather was dank and dreary. Everything was cast in a cloak of greys and sickly browns. It wasn't really a day to be stood still outside. At least it wasn't freezing cold, like it had been when we had waited for a similar length of time at our first twitch of the year back in early January when hoping for another North American Warbler, a Northern Waterthrush, to appear.
Suddenly at twenty-five past twelve, the crowd almost as one, was on the move! Somebody had heard the Yellow Warbler call about a hundred metres downstream. Three hundred very eager birders stampeded to get to the spot leaving the likes of me and Mrs Caley trailing in their wake. At least there was room along the wide path, at the Waterthrush twitch when a similar rush of bodies had ensued there was no room for such manoeuvring and many folk came to grief on a steep bank or just got bundled over by those all had temporarily forgotten their manners. Decorum largely goes out of the window at such times of increased excitement, and twitchers become akin to a football mob rushing towards a confrontation, but thankfully without the violent intent. I know because in over forty years of watching my team, I've been caught up in many unruly crowds at football matches. We joined the back end of the crowd, listened in, and sussed out where the bird had been heard. It had been seen as well apparently. A very helpful chap directed me to where the bird was, in a sparse twiggy bush on the opposite side of the stream. My first view of the Yellow Warbler was a quick one when it darted quickly up a branch and then flew directly to the alders where we'd all been just a minute before!
We now had the advantage of being at the front of the scrum so we got back to the original viewing spot before most, and managed to get a stream-side pitch, a much closer vantage point than before. I scanned the trees for movement. Helped by a chap who had already clocked the bird and who was calling its every move, I saw it and locked my binoculars onto it. What a stunner it was too, slightly larger than a Chiffchaff and even brighter yellow than I imagined it'd be. There was no mistaking this bird. My next priority, as it always is, was to get Mrs Caley onto it. Once that was achieved, I set about trying to get a photograph. In the poor conditions that proved less than easy, and although I followed the bird through the branches readily enough, getting the camera to perform well, was beyond my limited capabilities. I did manage to capture the bird but all my photos were affected, with branches in the way, poor focussing or the bird pointing away from me. Photography of small birds is not an easy sport in next to no light when extreme settings have to be used. Mind you, my mate Kyle (Birdwatch Britannia) who'd been stood close to me, managed to get a decent shot while my own efforts floundered.
The Yellow Warbler didn't stay for long and had soon flown back into the grounds of the water treatment works. The day before it had remained in the alders for well over three hours on and off, before going to roost. We weren't to be so lucky. The very fact that views had been so brief meant that most of the birders remained in attendance, hoping for improved views. I wondered if we'd had our chance but we stayed as well.
Another hour and a half of nothing much happening followed, until as suddenly as the first sighting, the Yellow Warbler was seen again in the alders. This time it appeared as if it would stay for longer but within a minute it was disturbed by a marauding male Sparrowhawk that flew menacingly into the same trees. The Warbler dropped like a stone into the bramble undergrowth. Birds have very effective safety strategies when threatened so even brightly coloured and easily seen prey for an attacking Sparrowhawk, can dodge the assailant quite readily. Hopefully it will continue to do so. The Sparrowhawk, a beautiful male, perched high in the trees for minute or so before flying off to try its luck elsewhere. It took a further couple of minutes afterwards for the Yellow Warbler to reappear. It was now two o'clock and the light was even worse than it had been all day, and it had never got above being dingy. In low light levels it's not just my camera that struggles, my eyesight does to, and my vari-focal lenses in my spectacles doesn't help one iota when alternating between close and far vision. I guess though, that I'd be far worse off without them, since I wouldn't even be able to see the trees! So it took me a while longer than I would hope, to lock onto the bird again. Once I had, I aimed the camera and took some more shots. Thankfully a couple of frames captured the bird, although the quality of the images wasn't up to much. But I was relieved, since I had record shots of my latest lifer.
Inexplicably, the Yellow Warbler stayed in the alder trees for less than a minute before it was flying upstream. The day before it had spent ages in those trees, today it had spent just a few minutes. The twitchers moved with the bird. We couldn't run along with them so sauntered our way up the path. With so many people stood across the path we couldn't get close to the bird. I just watched it through my binoculars and had probably my best views of it. I had no chance of adding to my photos.
The Yellow Warbler carried on flitting from one tree to another that bordered the stream. It was keeping loose company with a flock of Long-tailed Tits so was fairly easy to follow. I tried to gain some more photos but failed miserably. It had been a successful twitch but not a great viewing day, and I felt that it would rank alongside other anticlimactic twitches this year. Of two of those, for the Northern Waterthrush and the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, I supplemented the first disappointing encounter with them by revisiting the bird again a few days later. Unfortunately that won't be an option this time because the Yellow Warbler wasn't seen on the subsequent two days, much to the chagrin of two of our mates who left the twitch half an hour before the bird showed.
The Yellow Warbler was last seen disappearing into thick buddleia scrub where it had roosted on each of the three previous nights. It was only just gone half past two as well, a full hour before the bird had departed before. With no further action we headed to the car. Kev, Kyle & Karen were heading off to try and see the Scops Owl (successfully as well) while we found a cafe close by and enjoyed a warming coffee. It was then almost four hours of slow driving to get home. I hate going birding in Kent (and most of Sussex, Surrey & Essex) since it involves using the M25 which invariably is torturous when it comes to getting home later in the day but for new and exciting birds, it's a price that has to be paid.
The Yellow Warbler was my 435th bird seen in the UK and the 288th for the year, in which we chose not to go for the "magic 300" and yet could easily have gotten there with just a modicum of extra effort. In 2025, we've chosen to direct our energies differently but will still twitch new birds for our life list.
