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| Eastern Bonelli's Warbler - the bird here was photographed in Israel |
A MEGA-rare Eastern Bonelli's Warbler sighted on the Lincolnshire Coast has today been a magnet for twitchers.
A vagrant from south-east Europe or western Asia, the bird was described as a "probable" when first spotted at Gibraltar Point nature reserve by warden Kev Wilson, then photographed by colleague Owen Beaumont.
But its ID was later confirmed as this species, rather than Western Bonelli's Warbler, on the basis of its one syllable call note - likened by one hearer to the "back end of a Marsh Tit's call".
The bird, a member of the leaf warbler family, was elusive this morning, but more conspicuous from early afternoon.
For this species, there are believed to be fewer than 20 other UK records, and this is the first for Lincolnshire.
The bird is named after Italian naturalist Franco Bonelli who grew up in Turin and became professor of zoology at that city's university with further responsibility for oversight of its zoological museum.
The professor realised he had something special on his hands when a specimen was brought to him in December 1815 - a momentous year for him because he had earlier married Ferdinanda Dancona.
Sadly, for the next 15 years of his life he was dogged by ill health, and he was only 46 when he died on November 18, 1830.
He also has a species of eagle known after him.
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| Franco Bonelli - only 46 when he died |
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| Bonelli's Warbler as depicted in an antiquarian book |
* Pictures: Wikimedia Commons
