September 21st
Was all set last night for a day year ticking Grey Phalarope when word came in about the Magnolia Warbler in Pembrokeshire, not just in Pembrokeshire but on the mainland (this will become even more important as today went on) so after two recent dips in Little England Beyond Wales I was determined to make it third time lucky. To be honest the Magnolia Warbler was a lot more enticing than the Short Toed Lark that I'd dipped twice (and had seen in Cyprus anyway)
I set the alarm for 4 but couldn't even sleep that much so was out of the house by 330 and got to the site just after sun up The bird had just been seen by a decent size crowd but I had a very frustrating and seemingly long time (probably really short but anxious) of not getting on to it, The cries of 'by the gorse' were accurate but not great for getting onto a small bird that was largely keeping to cover a reasonable distance away. I did get some quick flight views, the yellow apparent even if the finer details weren't. As it got warmer and I got my eye in it got a lot easier and eventually I was not only happy with the views but had prolonged excellent scope views tracking it as it moved through the bushes and even a few photos although my fogged bridge camera wasn't going to win any awards. A gorgeous bird when you could scope the details and the sun hit it.
It was only my second decent sized twitch and I was really struck by just how helpful, patientand friendly everyone was. I did my best to get people onto the bird too, eventually it got displaced up the gully and I decided to head back. I've a feeling it probably showed even closer later on but I had quite a few really good views.
As I travelled back east it became evident that the country but especially south wales was absolutely flooded with vagrants. Some really classy North American birds on Pembrokeshire's islands where hopefully they will get seen by a few more people than just the lucky few already there.
Stopped on the way home for a Red Eyed Vireo found at kenfig/sker but got there just after a downpour that had cleared both the bird and most of the early birders, it ended up with a large crowd of birders returning from the magnolia twitch and a few familar south wales faces but no real signs of just where the bird was and it wasn't found in the 2 hours i was on site.
Two new yanks for me would have been greedy and I was very happy that the one I got was the Magnolia. Hopefully will get to go out again sunday, who knows what will be around by then in the new migrant hotspot of the UK.
326 Magnolia Warbler
Birds 326 Mammals 27 Herp 25 Butterflies 94 Total 472 Lifers 141
