RSPB Ham Wall twitching River Warbler

Having wrapped up my work for the moment, and now with a bit more time on my hands I have been able to get out birding more. Although, for the most part, the plan is to stay local there are still a few birds that could tempt me.

On Friday a River Warbler was found in Somerset, which was showing well by all accounts and would have been a world tick for me. Whilst I have not bothered with other, more accessible, world ticks already this spring, this one was very tempting, it being a normally very elusive species, and just a straight up stunning bird. Weekend twitching is never a good idea, too many chumps and idiots to contend with, so I waited and on Sunday afternoon, with the bird still present, I decided I would try for it.

I left Halifax just around 04.00 and after a four-hour drive, I arrived at Ham Wall. The reserve is fantastic with extensive reedbeds and riverside vegetation that has attracted a number of rarities over the years. Despite this, I made my way straight to the location where the River Warbler had been singing and after a wait of maybe 10 minutes, I got my first glimpse.

To say it showed well would be an understatement. It would perch up and sing maybe 8 meters away for around 5 – 10 minutes before it would drop down into the shrubbery for another 10 – 15 minutes before returning. As the day got warmer when the morning haze cleared, these intervals did get longer. In the end I stayed with the bird for three hours, and would happily have stayed longer were I not risking hitting rush-hour traffic at either Birmingham or Leeds.

The plumage of the bird was a nice warm brown, with the underparts being a more dusky-buffish colour. The throat and breast were heavily streaked giving way to a clean belly. The tail was superb, as it is in all Locustella warblers, and at one point it completely splayed its tail in sunshine to dry off the matted ends. Of course, the absolute peak part of the bird are the Undertail coverts, which were just as stunning as I had imagined. Most of the time these were obscured by vegetation but even then the white tips stood out. The song was extremely pleasing to listen to, less monotone I thought that a Savi’s or Grasshopper Warbler. I tried to record the bird but there was always a chump talking in the background.

River Warbler gets a solid 10/10 from me, one of the best birds I have seen in Britain and well worth the journey down.

-River Warbler

Species List:

RSPB Ham Wall: Mute Swan, Gadwall, Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Common Wood Pigeon, Common Swift, Water Rail, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Northern Lapwing, European Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Cormorant, Eurasian Bittern, Great Egret, Western Marsh Harrier, Western Barn Owl, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Western Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Bearded Reedling, Sedge Warbler, Eurasian Reed Warbler, River Warbler, Barn Swallow, Willow Warbler, Common Chiffchaff, Cetti's Warbler, Eurasian Blackcap, Eurasian Wren, Song Thrush, Common Blackbird, European Robin, Common Chaffinch, European Goldfinch, Common Reed Bunting, Hairy Dragonfly, Emperor Dragonfly, Four-spotted Chaser, Large Red Damselfly, Common Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly,