A few good birds were available in Yorkshire this weekend, so a day twitching on Sunday was a wise move.
A male Black-headed Bunting and a female Subalpine Warbler sp, had been discovered at Flamborough Head, whilst a Great Reed Warbler was continuing to sing and show at Wintersett Reservoir, near Barnsley.
The Subalpine Warbler, with it being a female, was virtually impossible to ID to species in the field, but was most probably a Western Subalpine Warbler. This species has now been split into three – Moltoni’s, Eastern & Western Subalpine Warbler. The females look like a diminutive Common Whitethroat, very delicate and quaint in appearance but require tail pattern and a call to be sure of species ID.
The male Black-headed Bunting was showing along the Old Fall Hedge, but always remained distant. Good views of it though through the telescope.
These buntings are rare migrant overshoots from Eastern Europe and several male birds have been seen at various sites in the UK during the past week
A Great Reed Warbler had taken up residence in a large Reed-bed at Wintersett Reservoir, near Barnsley. So we called in to see it on our way back home. The bird was easily heard croaking away as we walked towards the site. It was very difficult to try and get a photograph, due to all the differing reeds and branches in the way, but I managed a few record shots of this very rare warbler from Europe.
Nice Reed Warbler pics. So good I could hear it singing.