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| Blyth's reed warbler - the magic is in the song |
AN undoubted highlight of the UK ornithological scene in June has been the influx of Blyth's reed warblers.
There were at least 17 sightings in the first eight days of the month - impressive given that the total of records up to 1982 was no more than 12 or 13, the first occurring on Fair Isle back in September,1910.
This month's sightings (and hearings) have stretched from Shetland in the north to Dorset in the south.
On the website, Rare Bird Alert, Jon Dunn wrote: "Clearly something has been going on - something remarkable."
Presumably part of a westerly drift, the arrival of the warblers seemed to coincide with that of rose-coloured starlings, a far more colourful species though nowhere near as rare.
One of the Blyth's has been a long-stayer at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's reedbeds-rich Far Ings nature reserve at Barton-on-Humber in North Lincolnshire.
In his superbly-illustrated blog (https://pewit.blogspot.com), county expert Graham Catley describes how he found it here - on his own patch - on June 7 while also keeping an eye out for other potential vagrant arrivals such as rosefinch.
"The weather didn't really inspire this morning but I decided to carry the camera and gear around the pits as June is the month to find something good.
"I heard what sounded like a blackcap that seemed to be uttering some very odd notes, walked a bit further and discovered the odd notes were coming from a large weeping willow tree.
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| Tree where the bird was first heard |
"I was starting to dream Blyth's reed when a pale brown warbler appeared on the edge of a bush and sounded some of those notes!
"Dragging out my recorder I got a few bits of song then heard a forklift with a very rattly body coming down the track - timing could not have been worse or so it seemed, but after a few seconds, the warbler started up again and I even managed a few record shots before locals started to arrive.
"This was a bird I had only ever seen a couple of in autumn and had never heard singing.
"It was a patch tick, county tick and self found British tick and a fitting 300th self-found Lincolnshire bird - all rolled into one!"
Graham subsequently put out the word through the Lincolnshire Bird Club's WhatsApp group whereupon the reserve's Target pit subsequently proved a magnet for scores of enthusiasts, some of whom, including Austin Morley of Wigan, travelled long distances.
The Barton bird - still reported present today (June 19) - has stayed for at least a fortnight during which time it has been much photographed and recorded.
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| Warbler's-eye-view of Target pit |
Like most warblers seen in Europe, given its grey-brown plumage, this species can scarcely claim to be a 'looker' - at least to any casual observer.
What makes it remarkable is its song - melodic, deliberate, perfectly-timed and, through mimicry, incorporating the sounds of other species it has encountered.
With this particular bird, chaffinch, great tit, quail, bee-eater, swallow and blackcap were certainly part of its repertoire - so much so that it was often difficult to tell which parts of its melody were authentic to its own species.
Despite being only a rare vagrant to Britain and western Europe, Blyth's reed warbler is a common breeding species across much of eastern Europe, including the Baltic States, plus Russia, Iran, Afghanistan and much of Arabia and Asia.
According to the late Eric Simms, author of the authoritative British Warblers, it cross-breeds with marsh warblers in some areas where the two species' habitat overlap.
However, despite its name and its preference to be near water, the Blyth's reed warbler is not strictly a wetland species or even a lover of reedbeds,
Although it readily perches on reeds, it is not generally to be seen 'sliding' up and down them in the same way as, say, reed or sedge warblers.
The Lincolnshire bird seemed happiest singing and feeding either in a hawthorn bush or nearby ash and weeping willow.
In those areas of the world where it breeds, it is said to favour dry scrubby edges of woods and fields, not necessarily adjacent to wetland.
Its winters quarters are in Burma, India and Sri Lanka where it often roosts in clumps of bamboo.
Among literature about Blyth's reed warbler, there is an authoritative report - with illustrations by Laurel Tucker - in the September, 1984, edition of British Birds.
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| One of Tucker's illustrations |
Authors W.G. Harvey and R.F. Porter describe in detail how best to distinguish it from a range of historical 'confusion' species including paddyfield warbler and marsh warbler.
Say the authors: "We make no claims to having solved all the riddles, and we make no apology for placing our heads on the ornithological chopping block in order to take this long-standing identification problem a little closer to elucidation."
The species is named after Edward Blyth (1810-73), who was born in London and went to school in Wimbledon before working for a while as a pharmacist in nearby Tooting.
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| Edward Blyth |
This line of work was not for him so, in 1841, he emigrated to India to take up the position, in Calcutta, of curator of the Asian Society of Bengal.
The salary was poor - £300 a year - so he sought to eke out his income by writing articles about wildlife and, controversially, by trading, through a London-based agent, in animals, dead or alive.
He had wealthy clients, including Lord Derby, who were happy to spend large sums on exotic creatures for their zoos or menageries - or simply as pets to impress their guests.
However, this venture was risky and stressful, with others seeking to secure a cut, so that it never brought Blyth the fortune to which he aspired.
Blyth was a friend of Charles Darwin who declined offers of specimens though he may have taken advantage of the former's experiences to supplement his own extensive research on natural selection.
Married to a widow, Blyth never recovered from her death, in 1857, after which his own health went into decline.
He returned to London in 1863, but neither his health nor his fortunes improved, and following a mental breakdown, he entered a private asylum as a patient.
Later he took to drinking and was once reportedly arrested for assaulting a horse-and-cab driver.
He died of heart disease in December 1873.
Although he is far from having been one of the giants of Victorian ornithology, Blyth certainly made his mark.
As well as to the warbler that this month has been starring all over Britain, his name is given to these other species he is credited with having discovered: Blyth's hornbill, Blyth's leaf warbler, Blyth's hawk-eagle, Blyth's olive bulbul, Blyth's parakeet, Blyth's frogmouth, Blyth's rosefinch, Blyth's shrike-babbler, Blyth's tragopan, Blyth's pipit and Blyth's kingfisher.
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| The bird's admirers came from far and wide - these were from Hull and Tadcaster |
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| New copies available now (£1.99 including postage) via ebay |
