Full of Eastern Promise?

Once a very, very rare bird Yellow-Browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) has experienced a significant Westward shift in its distribution in recent years and now arrive in the UK each Autumn in their hundreds with some birds spending the Winter here.

A regular sight on the East coast they are still very scarcely recorded in the Midlands (though increasing). I will always remember a magical ten minutes one October morning at Filey a few years ago where I finally pinned down not only my first YBW but also my first (and so far only) Red-Breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva) in quick succession, just wow!

On Sunday (with news of these influxes still filling social media) I thought a search for my own local YBW was in order. The day started well as I spotted eight Redwing (Turdus iliacus), perched up in Poplars a few houses down the road and another six flew over the garden giving their textbook ‘seep’ call. Redwings are small, attractive Thrushes that arrive from Scandinavia in Autumn (along with their larger cousin the Fieldfare) and spend the Winter months all over the UK. Often forming large, roving flocks they are a fairly common and welcome sight feeding on berries in hedgerows and picking off worms from ploughed fields. They seem slightly later arriving this year so finding fourteen of these travellers heading west seemed like a good omen for my YBW quest!

Knowing many migrants tend to follow the route of water courses I headed down to the River Derwent at Pride Park. Across the river from the football stadium is a large expanse of scrubby rough grassland earmarked for development (Pride Park 2). In Spring it plays host to Skylark and a few pairs of Lapwing still attempt to breed whilst in winter it is a likely spot for Meadow Pipits, Snipe and possibly Chats. A scan from the Wyvern bridge produced a site best five(!) Stonechat with four of these being pristine males and it was entertaining to watch a possible wintering pair (male and female) chasing a couple of males about. Stonechats are fairly short distance migrants so it’s likely these birds may have made their way down from the uplands of Northern England and Scotland to find a territory for winter.

A quick visit to the Sanctuary Local Nature Reserve (LNR) produced little until a distinctive nasal call caused me to look up and find a fine male Brambling heading low to the West. These migrant finches are similar to our more familiar Chaffinch and arrive each year from Scandinavia in varying numbers. They are still a rare sight in Derby so I was really happy to have this little bird brighten up the view here. The Sanctuary used to be one of the best pieces of grassland habitat in the City, small but often very productive it played host to breeding Skylark, Lapwing and Little Ringed Plover (on the gravel areas), whilst it was probably the most reliable place around Derby to encounter Wheatear and Ring Ouzel on Spring migration. A few years ago the City Council proposed a mountain bike track over part of the reserve and a cycle track around the edge to complement the new Velodrome next door. Despite protests the planning committee approved the council’s own application and the very next day bulldozers appeared on site. A brave legal action by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust stopped the development and the council subsequently abandoned it’s plans, though a lot of damage had already been done.

Years of rancour and bad feeling followed with the council only allowing volunteers a few hours each year to carry out the most rudimentary of management tasks. Now the site is slowly scrubbing over and, although Skylark just about cling on here, the Lapwings, Little Ringed Plovers, Wheatears and Ouzel’s are a thing of the past!

Further down the river I encountered my first Warblers – Chiffchaffs. Two birds were flycatching from riverside Hawthorns that also played host to a lovely little Treecreeper. Chiffchaff’s would prove to be a common sight as I encountered several birds during my walk with two still belting out their onomatopoeic song from tree tops and a another bird in a mixed flock with two further Treecreepers and a couple of Goldcrests along with some delightful Long-Tailed Tits. These mixed flocks are a real joy in the Autumn with Tits, Finches, Goldcrests and others joining together to rove the hedgerows and Sycamores in search of food and shelter. Occasionally rarer birds such as Firecrests or Warblers will tag along so it’s always worth looking scanning through them.

I didn’t find the longed for YBW on my riverside walk but the Stonechats, Brambling, Chiffs and Treecreepers (alongside lovely views of Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Little Egret and Goosander) were ample reward and there plenty more time for finding ‘Sibes’ this Autumn!