A Mega in East Yorkshire

News broke of a Pale legged leaf warbler at Bempton Cliffs on the 27th September so a few text messages between Ryan and Stuart and myself and it was sorted we would be going there on the Saturday 28th.

Up early and snap and flask made and Stuart picked me up 630 and we was going to meet Ryan there.

We arrived shortly after 830 and was already greeted by a very big crowd of people already looking for the warbler. We parked up and went to join the crowd we bumped into a few friends who we knew Wayne Glossop was in amongst the very sizeable crowd who had heard the bird calling and seen the bird in some thick vegitation so the signs were good it was still here.

The Crowd

After about 35 minutes the bird began to start calling so we all were checking the bushes and we got brief views of the bird moving in the bottom of the bushes and the last time it flew out and went to another area of scrub the crowd moved quickly to get into position if it came out on view. The bird seemed to go to ground and wasnt seen or heard for roughly an hour when it was refound at a different part of the reserve so the crowd assembled there which was near the entrance road and it was calling frequently and after a short period of time it flew directly over our heads into the bushes where it was first thing.

I decided to have a walk around the reserve as some other birds had been seen a Siberian Stonechat which i had never seen so we set off for that part of the cliff top where it had been seen after a walk which took us 30 mins we got into the area where it had been seen and Ryan spotted a Whinchat which was a welcome year tick and then the next bird he looked at was the Siberian Stonechat it was feeding on the fence post for roughly 20 mins before we decided to go back and look for the Pale legged leaf warbler again.

We arrived back at the Warbler site and the bird had moved to another area so we patiently waited and waited and eventually the bird appeared in a opening in the bushes low to the ground this was by far the best view of this rare bird we had all day. After watching this bird for a further 30 minutes on and off we decided to go to Flamborough as there had been an Icterine Warbler and Red Breasted Flycatcher seen there.

Pale Legged Leaf Warbler

After a short drive we arrived at a place called Thornwick Bay where a Icterine Warbler and Red Breasted Flycatcher had been seen in a sewage compound after we parked up we crossed over the road and made our way to where the bird had been seen after a short period of time we picked up a Yellow Browed Warbler which was flitting in and out of the sycamores. The next bird we picked up was a nice Red Breasted Flycatcher which showed extremely well.

After about a wait of 20 minutes i saw a bird fly in the top of the Sycamore at the right hand end of the compound and i said to a lady next to me thats the Icterine Warbler and sure enough it was it was on show for about 3 minutes and was dropping through the trees till it reached the base and then flew off right .

That was time for us to call it a day as it was approaching 4pm so we decided to head home a great days birding with good friends .