Blyth's Reed Warbler, Hope Carr

An unseasonable reed warbler was found on Sunday at Hope Carr nature reserve on the outskirts of Leigh and just a couple of miles walk from my home. Even though it was initially reported as "only" a Eurasian reed warbler, it immediately piqued my interest because I don't ever recall hearing of them overwintering before, though with climate change perhaps it does occasionally happen in southern England these days. So it was worth a look anyway I thought, but I also wanted to see it for insurance purposes.... it wouldn't be the first time that a species on such an unusual date was later re-identified from photographs as something much rarer, and thankfully so it proved once again.

I decided to have a look for the bird on Monday, if nothing else it was a bit different to my usual walk around Pennington Flash. I arrived at about 9:30am to find two birders had got there before me and they provided me with two pieces of contrasting news; the first was that the bird had not been seen so far today and the second, it was now considered to be a Blyth's reed warbler, identified from photos and video taken the day before. So my hunch had proven correct, but the main part of my plan was that I should see the warbler which was no closer to happening...... the bird wasn't seen all day Monday.

The weather forecast for Tuesday was pretty grim, snow or sleet showers for most of the day, occasionally heavy. It didn't sound great and the temptation was to stay indoors, especially following the no-show the day before. However I decided that it was worth another look for what would be a new bird for me and I arrived on site at 10:15am, again joining up with two other birders. Today the news was better, they had just seen the bird in a patch of dense bramble. After a nervy 10 minutes without any further sightings, eventually I managed to relocate it in a different bramble patch just as the sun was breaking through the clouds. It showed very well on and off for the next 30 minutes or so and was heard calling frequently with a harsh "tack", quite unlike anything uttered by Eurasian reed warbler.

Apart from the call it's the emarginations on the primaries which help clinch the identification but seeing those was beyond me today and my photos are nowhere near good enough. However others have taken much better photos and confirmed the identification. Finally after it's brief appearance, the sun disappeared for the day and the bird shortly afterwards. A fantastic Greater Manchester tick, a fantastic inland record and a great winter record, possibly the UK's first ever overwintering Blyth's reed warbler.

Birders waiting patiently but ultimately in vain for the bird to show on Wednesday. The weather forecast was for bright sunshine and light winds, but the reality was freezing fog. I don't think that the bird was ever likely to show in these conditions. Wednesdays no-show now means that in the past three days the bird has shown for a total of less than one hour yesterday. Elusive is definitely the word for this bird.

One good piece of news from today though, the sonogram of the birds call has been analysed and fits perfectly with the sonogram of a typical Blyth's reed warbler, the final piece in the jigsaw which clinches the identification!

It's favourite bramble patch.

Thanks to John Tymon for this photo of me on site.