Great excitement amongst the British twitching word at the moment with the discovery of a new species for the UK, an Eastern Crowned Warbler! This tiny bird all the way from the far east, usually to be found in Korea or Japan at this time of year, was found in a disused quarry near South Shields, County Durham. First seen late afternoon on the 22 October and luckily for the twitchers still showing on Saturday 24 October.
The news broke while Alan was in the pub at a “birders social” talking about rare birds past and present. Alan had joked with Mike Duckham, early in the evening that a Yellow-browed Warbler seen recently in Ireland by some of the guys in the pub, would be re-identified from photos as an Eastern Crowned Warbler. This would then be cruel for Alan and Mike who had considered going on the trip but in the end not gone. So imagine the shock an hour or so later when news broke of an Eastern Crowned Warbler, first for the UK! Whats more the bird had been identified from a photograph of a supposed Yellow-browed Warbler!
We are giving another talk at RSPB Conwy on Friday the 11th December at 7pm. The talk will be about our adventures during The Biggest Twitch but we are putting together lots of new images and stories to share with you. Contact the reserve now to reserve your seat, space limited! There will also be the chance to register for your signed copy of the forth coming book “The Biggest Twitch” the print run for the first edition will be limited and demand is already high so if you don’t want to miss out come along and guarantee your signed copy. We hope the book will be published in April 2010.