Hume’s Warbler – Denburn Wood, Crail, Fife, 7th November 2000
My loan pager came good again on the 7th November 2000, just a few days after the epic Long-tailed Shrike twitch. It informed me of the presence of a Hume’s (Yellow-browed) Warbler at Denburn Wood, Crail around about the same time that my ex-, Gillian, arrived back from work and the child-minders with the girls.
I carefully negotiated permission to leave her alone with the girls again and having ‘phoned Graham Clark just in case, I departed at about 14:00. The day was truly evil, continual pouring rain and howling winds making driving ‘exciting’, to say the least. The roads were flooded in places and obstructed by branches, etc., in others. A combination of this, and the more usual tractors and learner drivers, meant that it took a good while to get to Crail and I was convinced that I would dip out as a result, as it was getting very dark by the time I reached the East Neuk reaches of Fife.
But I was buoyed up by my recent successes and consoled myself with the maxim, “If you don’t buy a ticket, you can’t win the raffle,” (or perhaps that should be the lottery).
Finally, at 15:20 I arrived at the gates of the church, and quickly gathered up my binoculars, coat, etc.. The light was very poor, and the weather was still wild, so I was not overly confident. I rushed through the graveyard and into the Denburn Wood valley and was relieved to see a small group of birders on one of the paths within the wood. Surely, they weren’t on it?
I quickly made my way to them and was ushered over as indeed they were on it. Almost instantly on arrival I was put onto the bird as it erratically worked through some low cover beyond the trees in the valley floor. Viewing conditions were dire as the light was so poor, but at least I was able to get on the bird and be reasonable sure that it was a yellow-browed warbler spp.. Almost as soon as I had seen the bird moved on, and despite my attempts to relocate it further up the valley where I guessed it might be moving to, I failed.
I thought I would be thwarted by the continuing deterioration in conditions, as my views had not been good enough to allow my conscience to count it. However, after a brief interlude during which the bird was ‘lost’, it was relocated and this time gave me vital (if brief) good views as it moved through low cover on the other side of the valley. It was below us as we stood on one of the paths and in relatively sparse cover that included a brash pile and two spindly alders. These views were indeed vital because the bird was not seen again that day.
Particularly when in the brash pile and the two spindly alders I was able to get views good enough to make something of a knee-jerk comparison to Yellow-browed Warbler. Compared to Yellow-browed Warbler it was apparently anaemic – basically like the difference between Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. I was not able to examine the details of the plumage, etc., in any great detail, but I did see that the wing coverts, tertials, etc., were ‘less contrasty’ and that the legs and bills were darker than those of Yellow-browed Warbler.
I was extremely lucky to see this bird, and another tick, so soon after the Long-tailed Shrike twitch, and I also saw Angus Murray, Alan Lauder, etc., before leaving
The bird was still there the following day but was replaced by a Yellow-browed Warbler soon afterwards, leading to some mild confusion!
