Portesham at Last

Pallas's Warbler, Portesham, March '16 ( Copyright T D Wright )

Pallas's Warbler, Portesham, March '16 ( Copyright T D Wright )

I decided to go see the Pallas's after it had been present for 3 weeks as they are such superb birds. I've seen a couple on the Scillies in the past and I've seen them in all 3 East Anglian counties but they weren't as showy as this one. However, the one I saw at Flamborough Head in Yorkshire in November 1991 was probably the most exciting. What a day that was! A mate who'd been voluntary wardening for the RSPB at Dungeness all week decided to collect four of his friends from London on Friday evening and drive us to Staffordshire in his Ford Cortina. Why Staffordshire? Well, a Nutcracker had been visiting an orchard there so we joined the throng of 'Twitchers' at dawn on Saturday and were treated to excellent views of it. Not satisfied with that, we headed across country to Flamborough because there was a long-staying Desert Warbler at South Landing. Once again, we saw the bird very quickly and therefore had time to go round to the lighthouse area where a Pallas's was flittering about the cliff face. I got it in my scope and followed it, having only seen one at dusk in a Southend park up to that point in my life, and was in Pallas's heaven as it showed off its stripes, bars and rump to impressive effect. To cap it all off, one of our 'crew' heard what he was convinced was a Dusky Warbler calling from a patch of grass. We alerted the ringers who set their net at one end and flushed the bird into it. We were now treated to Dusky Warbler in the hand! A day to remember all right! I suppose this makes me guilty of having been a sometime twitcher but it's possible to be both Birder and occasional Twitcher I reckon. I just hope I'm not too much of a Gripper...