Pale-legged Leaf Warbler at Bempton RSPB

News of an Arctic Warbler at Bempton mid afternoon on 25th September was noteworthy and then it was upgraded to probable Eastern Crowned Warbler later that evening. Now as good a bird an Arctic Warbler is, it's no Eastern Crowned Warbler with only four previous British records and the last being at Bempton in 2016 so this news was greeted with a certain degree of twitchiness. My home schedule didn't allow a mad dash up the A1 to Bempton and I was relieved I'd held back when on 26th there was no sign of the bird. Roll on 24 hours and the bird had been seen again and successfully photographed and sound recorded. This recording lead to the bird being reidentified as Pale-legged Leaf Warbler. Now as good a bird the Eastern Crowned Warbler is, it's no Pale-legged Leaf Warbler. 🤣

There is just one previous record of PLLW in Britain and that was a bird found dead on Scilly in 2016 although there is also a record of one at Portland Dorset in 2012 which apparently wasn't seen well enough to confirm fully.

The bird was still present on Friday but not reported until early evening delaying the twitch until the weekend and sure enough there was a massive twitch on Saturday and to a slightly lesser degree on the Sunday where the bird proved difficult but reliable if given time. I couldn't get a free day until Wednesday but having checked the weather and seen two days and nights of rain on Monday/Tuesday I hatched a plan with the Jims to give it a go Wednesday morning if it had been seen at all on the Tuesday which it had.

We set off at 3am and made Bempton just after 7am to find around thirty early birds already looking for the bird and several using thermals to aid the search. At around 8am a guy using a thermal picked up a sign and quickly put out the shout that he had it. I was lucky to be close enough to get on his directions and spent the next hour or more finding it in the bins and trying to help as many people as possible to get on it which was by no means easy. I didn't lift the camera once due to the bird being deep in cover and the role I'd taken upon myself to help others where I could. I heard a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers during the time on site and saw one briefly drift through the Sycamores. 

In the nearby scrub I found lots of Tree Sparrow as you'd expect at Bempton plus a Garden Warbler, Blackcaps, Goldcrests and a few Chiffchaffs. I missed a Firecrest by a few moments but failed to refind it before we left for Flamborough.

At Flamborough we managed to see a rather showy if some what distant Icterine Warbler and Red-breasted Flycatcher. The Icterine was Jims second lifer of the day and one he was very happy about having missed a couple in the past. The Arctic Warbler had been reported again at Spurn so with the Jims needing that for a life tick I decided to drive them down there too, just another 50 miles or so but who's counting.

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Icterine Warbler

Icterine Warbler

We arrived at Spurn to news that nobody had seen the Arctic Warbler since about 9.30am but a guy had heard it recently in the car park which explained why at 12pm twenty or so people were gathered there in expectation. I had a quick look around the car park then set about walking off to see if I could relocate it and of course being Spurn there's always the chance of bumping into something else. I hadn't gone more than fifty metres from the pack when I found the Arctic, I phoned the Jims and very quickly the car park crew were with me watching the Arctic which was great as for many it was indeed a life tick. We left this scene so as not to crowd the area any more than needed and walked up to the trapping area were we found a couple of birders who put us on a Barred Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher.

Before we left for home we dropped into Kilnsea Wetlands where we spotted the American Wigeon sleeping on the muddy banks to give probably the worst views I've had of this species but it did provide another welcome year tick.

Pink Feet Geese and Redwings moving over head with small pulses of both Swallow and House Martin provided some romance to the day too. I would have liked time for a bit of a Sea watch as there was some decent reports of Pom, Sootys and Petrels during the day. We almost made the ten mile detour on the way home for the Hoopoe but traffic was heavy, I was knackered and we still had a four hour drive to do so did the sensible thing and carried on towards home arriving back in Loughton at 7pm.

Now if the above seems like a dreamy birding day consider also the birds we missed in Yorkshire whilst up there. Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Two Barred Warbler, Wryneck, Hoopoe, Great Grey Shrike, Olive-backed Pipit, Dusky Warbler, Pallid Harrier, Marsh Warbler, Corncrake, Ring Ouzel, Little Bunting, Snow Bunting and Lapland Bunting. All of these were seen yesterday while we were there with the Two-barred being the only one that was a bit of a distance from us. 

Roll on to Thursday the day after our visit and firstly it would appear that my concern over the clear night of Wednesday giving the PLLW reason to depart seems was justified as it hasn't been seen yet today nor has the Icterine but we have yet more new arrivals in the shape of a Rustic Bunting and another that has since been reidentified as a probable Black-faced Bunting (just nine accepted British records and only one prior in Yorkshire) then an Isabelline (Daurian Shrike) or Red-tailed Shrike (Turkestan Shrike) (yet to be determined but less than a dozen records of either so either way a decent bird again and in the afternoon a Red-flanked Bluetail at Flamborough.

My question is then, is Spurn the new Shetland? 

A great day out with Jim and Dad with a life tick and seven year ticks.

Life list now back to 448

year list now 244