South Wales - Magnolia Warbler x 2

A truly memorable encounter during an unprecedented period in British birding history heralded by a fall of American passerines as a result of a fast-moving warm weather front emanating from the North American eastern seaboard. While many had predicted the precipitation of some New World passerines, I don't think anyone would have predicted the scale of the fall. The west coast from the Outer Hebrides, down to Scilly and across into Ireland have produced a variety of forlorn vagrant birds blown across the Atlantic into isolated patches of vegetation within our shores. South Wales has fared particularly well. And as many have commented, for those found, how many birds are still out there waiting to meet their finders, and also the sobering thought of those wayward vagrants that would have inevitably perished along the way.

But vagrancy highlights the brutal realities of nature and the anomalies within the natural order.  The draw of the rare that sets birders and notably twitchers into a mad frenzy. It's not difficult to get caught up with the fun of the fair.

It's a long drive to Pembrokeshire. Frequently and predictably ribbed about my overnight stays, an overnight stay was made at Port Talbot, arriving at the St. Goven's Head site shortly before dawn.

The wait for the bird to show was agonising, fleeting glimpses that were initially missed but eventually nailed on, but fleeting they were. Until the keen-eyed noticed prolonged feeding within a dense area of hawthorn and birch, the gaudy magnolia warbler was seen well flitting through the understory, the sharp yellow front contrasting with gentle grey/blues and a rather fetching white tail with those strong black tips. A glorious bird that cannot be fully appreciated through photographs. Watching it's feeding sallies were breath-taking. Like the blackburnian warbler encounter on Scilly last year, these yank warblers really are something to behold and it was a privilege to be in its orbit for a few moments.

Groups of vocal chough flew overhead as did a couple of raven. In good company, this was a belter of a twitch and something that will hope to be repeated in the not too distant future.

24th September 2023

A day of chasing my losses in trying to connect with some of the other American vagrants that were on offer on Saturday, although the blustery weather meant that birds were hard to find with many I'm sure hunkered deep down within the vegetation. Remarkably though, a second magnolia warbler found at Briton Ferry, Glamorgan showed intermittently adding sparkle to the gloomy conditions.

American warblers are really something special - thinking of a Central Park trip sometime soon.