Eastern Crowned Warbler, South Shields

Possibly the birding event of the year (the finders of the Tufted Puffin might disagree!), an Eastern Crowned Warbler at South Shields was identified from a photograph on Thursday evening, and was relocated yesterday and again today. A first for Britain and only the fourth ever in Europe, I decided that it would be rude not to make its aquaintace.

I took it at a leisurely pace, only leaving home this morning at 8:45 once I was certain that the bird had been seen again today, and spurred on by positive texts (thanks John) I arrived at South Shields at noon. Though it was dull and breezy, the forecast rain and gales had not arrived yet.

I saw the bird about five times, twice through the scope, but the best view of all was through the bins at a distance of about 10m for about 2 minutes. The bird had flown straight towards me and landed in a bush next to where I was standing! I saw all the relevant features, crown stripe going down to its nape, broad eye stripe, yellowey / green fringed flight feathers, couple of wing bars, white underparts with yellow vent and generally a bulky bird, not unlike a vireo. Easy to dismiss this bird as just another Leaf warbler, but it's actually quite a nice bird, in the same way that Pallas's Warbler is a nice bird.

Also flitting around was a Yellow-browed Warbler.

Yellow-browed Warbler: Year 221
Eastern Crowned Warbler: Year 222