Bay-breasted Warbler, Ramsay Island, Pembrokeshire - only the second British record and the first twitchable!
ANOTHER GRAND DAY OUT TO PEMBROKESHIRE resulted in two UK lifers, Bay-breasted and Canada Warblers. Edging me closer to that magic number! Both are a product of the historic fall of North American passerines brought by Hurricane Lee in midweek. The Bay-breasted Warbler turned up on Ramsay Island on Thursday, while we were watching the Magnolia Warbler but there were no boats until Saturday, so, after a nervous day of waiting, Diedert and I set off again in the middle of the night. The 40 birders on the early morning boat from St Justinian was like a ‘Who’s who’ of British listers (with the exception of us of course!). Some of the guys noticed that a couple of folks came out of the house on the island, looked behind it and then went back in again - surely a sign the bay-breast was still there. They would have been wandering around looking for it otherwise right? After a nice wryneck on the path above the lifeboat station the news came through that the bay-breast was indeed still there. Game on! The locals did a very thorough job of policing the twitch, they had even called in two police officers to keep an eye on us! The warbler was very active indeed on a lovely sunny morning and showed very well to two boat loads at a time, between 40-80 people only! A minute crowd for the first twitchable one in the UK and only the second record here. What a lovely bird it was, with very striking white-edged wing feathers. I heard it call a few times, a very thin robin alarm-like whistle. Every now and again, it would retreat to the shelter of the willows in the garden after touring the tiny valley in which I saw the Indigo Bunting in 1996. Thank you Ramsay Island and all the folks who made the trip possible.
While we were in the boat to Ramsay, we re-entered mobile phone signal and news came through that a Canada Warbler had turned up near the Magnolia! The first UK record no less. Many of the old timers in the boat had seen the Irish bird but it was still a shock nevertheless. I got separated from Diedert as he raced off for the Canada Warbler with Dan but I enjoyed some more views of the bay-breast before the next boatload came over. What a terrific experience! We also saw up to eight choughs, a Peregrine, some Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests and a Blackcap in the vicinity of the garden behind the white house. The wind picked up gradually and I did zip over to Flimston for the Canada Warbler but it was total carnage there, a lovely little dell in the ancient willows around which it frequented, looked like a bison re-introduction scheme after the crowd had thinned out. Although I managed a couple of sightings, one a cracking full view for about 10 seconds, and another bits and pieces including in-flight view (thanks Sam Viles!) it was a really horrible crowd experience, easily my most intense in 42 years of twitching. The irony of enjoying climate change-induced events is not lost on me. We are going to see bigger and more powerful storms crossing the Atlantic as time goes by so the mega chasers will no doubt see more rare birds, as long as their populations hold out.
There is a Bay-breasted Warbler in the distance, behind that white house on Ramsay Island!
Former East Lancs birder Dave Jackson on Ramsay Island
Happy faces on the return to St Justinian