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Report on rare birds in Great Britain in 2003 British Birds 97 • November 2004 • 558-625
M. J. Rogers and the Rarities Committee
Lanceolated Warbler Locustella lanceolata (9, 87, 4)
Orkney North Ronaldsay, 8th September, trapped, photo (A. E. Duncan, N. Gates et al.).
Near Burrian Point, Sanday, 29th September (G. P. Catley, K. Durose, D. M. Jenkins).
Shetland Fair Isle, 28th September, photo (S. J. Aspinall, D. N. Shaw, O. L. Wardman et al.) (Brit. Birds 96: plate 411).
Out Skerries, 30th September to 2nd October, photo (P. Forrest, M. J. McKee, C. Turner et al.) (Brit. Birds 97: plates 314 & 315).
A typical spread of dates, but it seems extraordinary that these include only the second and third records for Orkney, following one on Pentland Skerries way back in October 1910. In contrast, there are now more than 80 Shetland records! Perhaps, in recent years, this difference is more a reflection of the relative amounts of vegetation than observer effort, and it is just reward for North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory that its dedicated band of observers finally registered the island’s first. Three more reports from Fair Isle are still under consideration, or have yet to be submitted.
(Singing males regular in E Finland. To E, breeds discontinuously from C Urals E across much of Siberia to Kamchatka, Kuril Islands, Hokkaido and NE China. Winters in Indian subcontinent, from Nepal E through NE India into SE Asia and Philippines.)
My notes:
Lanceolated Warbler Start Point, Sanday Orkney September 29th (only date) 2003
Observers: Graham P Catley, 13 West Acridge, Barton-on-Humber, N Lincs DN18 5AJ
Kevin DuRose, David Jenkins
Experience of species:
Two in the UK, in the hand at Spurn September 1996 and Rimac Lincolnshire September 1996 plus several in China May 1993
Grasshopper Warbler---a few seen most springs but not regular in autumn Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler—maybe next time!
I had long thought about an autumn visit to the northern isles but had never got round to actually going usually using up holidays on spring trips somewhere more exotic. Kevin had already made two pioneering trips to Sanday having come to the conclusion from studying maps and reports that it was ideally placed to get some good eastern vagrants and was virtually birder free so offered a good chance of finding your own birds. In two previous weeks on the island Kev had located Great Snipe, Arctic Redpoll, Pallas’s Warbler and a number of scarce migrants so when he suggested an autumn visit in 2003 I was slightly interested. After some badgering from Kevin and David I accepted that I had to go sometime and I could not let them find the big one on their own!
Timing is critical so the last week in September and the first days of October was chosen. We arrived on Sanday following an overnight drive and two ferries on the night of September 27th. The wind was a light southerly maybe with a hint of south-east so it was with an air of anticipation mixed with trepidation that we emerged from our cottage at Stove on the morning of the 28th. Before I could get out of the door Kev had bumped into a Bluethroat in our ditch at Stove and while looking for the elusive chat he also turned up a Yellow-browed Warbler. Things were looking promising! By the end of day one we had amassed two Bluethroats, three Yellow-browed Warblers, Barred Warbler plus odds and sods like Willow Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Pied Fly and a Grey Phal I picked up off Start Point. Day two 29th seemed to have the same wind, a light south to south-east and we set out with high hopes of a bigger prize. After a full days slog by 16:00 we had found another Barred Warbler and four Yellow-broweds plus Lap Bunting and 5 Wheatears, not quite what we had hoped for.
Come into play KDD theory number one; from studying county reports Kev had worked out that on average you needed to find 12 semi-rarities to each BBRC rarity—a tough task but at 16:00hrs we had the magic twelve on the list and set off down the grassy ridge which leads towards the crossing point to Start Point. Almost as soon as Kev walked into the marram he flushed a small bird which did a quick flight and dived back into the grass. Sensing it was something good Kev called David and myself onto the grassy ridge and within seconds the bird flew from near his feet—a very small and apparently dark brown warbler with a tapering tail and heavily streaked upperparts! We all exclaimed as one it must be a Lancy---the first impression of the bird was its small and compact size without the floppy tail of groppers. Adrenalin flowing we carefully worked towards the spot where the bird had landed but frustratingly it would always flush before we could get a look at it on the ground and on landing dived straight into thick grass. After about 20 minutes of working it along the ridge we came to an area of thinner grass where we hoped to get it in the open. It flew and dived in again but landed briefly on the grass instead of submerging in it allowing out first confirmatory views of the tertial edges and the general level of streaking making us almost certain that it was indeed a Lancy, but it then it set off and ran like a 100m sprinter through the grass covering about 3m in two seconds! Eventually I obtained good views from the side by lying in the grass as it worked its way through some daisies and then it stopped in some thin grass and we were all able to get good views of the upperparts as it sat looking at us out of the vegetation. After a few more views it flew across the track into an adjacent grassy field from where we returned it to the ridge. We then managed to walk right past it as it failed to move when we walked to the end of the ridge but on returning to the spot where we had left it Kev put his hand into the grass and out it jumped. Having had good views and not wishing to cause it any more aggravation we left it alone on the ridge and walked off onto Start Point island confident of finding another goody! But to no avail.
Description:
Clearly a small warbler, even when first flushed it suggested a Lanceolated Warbler from the dark colouration and the small compact size with the tail neatly grafted onto the rear body and tapered not loose and rounded as in Grasshopper Warbler.
Typical Locustella shape but the tail was always less conspicuous than on Grasshopper being neatly tapered to a blunt point. Bill quite hefty and dark horn on the upper mandible and tip of the lower mandible with the base of the lower mandible being an orangy-flesh colour. Head pattern quite well pronounced with a large dark staring eye and a pale buff eye ring, more obvious above the eye. Crown a dark slightly oily looking brown with fine and dense black streaking from the culmen right across to the nape which was a paler shade of brown with less obvious streaks. Ear-coverts paler brown. Chin and throat pale creamy colour becoming a darker ochre tinged area on the upper breast and lower throat, all of this area covered with fine dark brown streaks which became broader and more obvious on the upper breast where they met to form a gorget. Remainder of underparts dull ochre tinged buff with two to three rows of dark brown streaks running down the breast sides, along the flanks and onto the lateral undertail coverts. Mantle and back dark oily brown with very heavy and broad black streaking running down to the rump and scapulars. Rump slightly paler brown again with black streaking and uppertail coverts heavily streaked with black. Tail dark almost blackish brown. Greater coverts blackish centred with pale buff fringes and tips. Tertials solid black centres with a very fine and sharply demarcated creamy-buff fringe, diagnostic of Lanceolated Warbler. Primaries were also dark brown and closely clumped beyond the tertials showing a very short primary projection of about one third the tertial length. Legs and feet were a dull dark flesh.
Copy of field sketch attached.
Unfortunately due to the conditions, late in the day with dull light, and the fact that observations were restricted by the vegetation we did not manage to obtain any photographs of this cracking little beast!
Graham Catley
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