The big stories
Lundy scored yet another first for Britain at the start of June. David Price, Paul St Pierre and Dean Jones discuss the monumental discovery.
An astonishing June produced a stunning first for Britain and two surprise firsts for Ireland, as well as the first Egyptian Vulture for more than 150 years.
DAVID Price: It was early on the morning of 8 June that I came out of our accommodation in the old lighthouse on the west coast of Lundy to check my moth trap. As I walked to the trap I noticed a bird on the stone wall in a corner where there was a little alcove for the dustbins. I hardly glanced at it until a few seconds later, when it tilted back its head and sang quite strongly.
It was only a brief, five-note repeated song, but I realised it was one I’d never heard before; I was immediately on full alert for this being something unusual. It flew up onto another wall and obligingly perched sideways and I was able to get a brief but reasonable view of it.
I had a clear impression of a warbler with a very prominent supercilium that stretched way back behind its eye and maybe a hint of an upturn at the end. I could see no other obvious plumage features. The supercilium reminded me of
Radde’s Warbler, but the bill was quite delicate, thin and pointed, and its body wasn’t really that chunky. It then moved off.
I flicked through my Collins Bird Guide app looking for birds with obvious supercilia and playing their songs and calls – Dusky Warbler sounded very similar. I walked through the village thinking that I would surely come across it again if it was there, as it had been singing so obviously, but despite there being a few bushes and shrubs, I had no joy. I reckoned, like most migrant warblers, it would probably eventually find its way to more appropriate habitat in the wooded valley of Millcombe. So I headed down there.
Once there, initially there was no sign and I was on the verge of thinking I’d better go when
Paul St Pierre came into view on his early morning check of the valley. We chatted for a bit about possibilities as we wandered around searching for it. And then,
there it was: a burst of song from a sycamore across the valley.
Paul quickly got onto the bird as it flitted through the canopy, feeding very actively, and sought to pick up the main features. Good views were difficult. Most sightings in the canopy were distant and against the sky, somewhat burned out in the bright morning sun, or in dappled shade cast by leaves, so assessing colouring was not easy. Based on our observations and particularly the good match of the song with that on the bird app recording, Paul felt that it was a good shout for Dusky Warbler.
Fortunately, while the bird was still performing, Dean, the Lundy warden, hove into view and we beckoned him over. From our back-of-the-camera views it did look like a Dusky Warbler, albeit quite a brightly coloured one, and so it was with some relief I handed over responsibility to Dean for him to put out the news and ensure that all potential interested parties were informed.
Dean Jones: Once back in the office, I sent a back-of-camera shot to Lundy legend Tim Jones via WhatsApp, who, after a brief congratulatory correspondence, shared the image on his Twitter page. Still grinning away, I was unaware that a Twitter storm was brewing! Less than an hour later, as I wandered unknowingly into a 4G hot-spot on the island, my phone gave off a series of rapid pings.
Opening my phone with haste, I was met with a number of messages from Tim asking me to
check my emails, with a brief note saying: “Your Dusky might not be a Dusky!”
On getting to my laptop, I had received a number of emails requesting the original record shots as well as a recording of the warbler’s song if I had one. In addition to the requests, one or two emails also asked “have you considered Sulphur-bellied Warbler?” Huh? No! A quick Google and a listen on XenoCanto to Sulphur-bellied Warbler recordings – “you must be joking”, I thought!
Following this, I sent on the original record shots of the bird, along with a clear recording of its song, to a number of experts. Then, 15 minutes or so after, I got a message from fellow island birder Jamie Dunning, just as the ship was coming alongside the jetty, saying: “The news is out – it is a Sulphur-bellied Warbler!”
After making sure all the visitors disembarked the MS Oldenburg safe and sound, I headed back to Millcombe to try to obtain some better views. The bird flitted around the valley for the rest of the afternoon. By 6 pm the first charter boats had arrived at the jetty and as soon as the birders reached the valley they were on the warbler within minutes.
After brief initial views of the bird in North Wood, it alighted on one of two small trees next to Millcombe House, providing superb views and photo opportunities as more and more birders arrived. At one point, shortly after 7 pm, the warbler moved from the tree-tops above Millcombe Pond and spent some
time flycatching from a thicket of hawthorn between bouts of calling and singing – occasionally pitching down on the bare rocks, providing similar views perhaps to those that would be seen in the bird’s typical rocky, semiarid breeding habitats out east. Absolutely stunning!
All hopes were set that the bird would remain for another day. Come the morning, however, despite extensive searching, the warbler was nowhere to be seen – it most likely left the island in clear and calm overnight conditions.
A full account, including videos and sound recordings, can be found on BirdGuides.com. ■