Rare Booted Warbler causes a flap on the Great Orme

23:34, 3 Oct 2016

Updated 23:35, 3 Oct 2016

By Andrew Forgrave

 

Bird Notes columnist Julian Hughes of RSPB Conwy reveals what birds have been spotted in the past week and where to go birding in the coming days 

Russian bird pays a surprise visit

I couldn’t find anything more unusual, but early visitors to the Orme on Monday did – a Booted Warbler.

This unremarkable-looking songbird from Russia should have been on its way to India for the winter.

There have only been two previous sightings of the species in North Wales, both on Bardsey, so this was an excellent find.

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New bird species observed

A new bird species - the red-flanked bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus) - has been observed in Latvia, ornithologists told LSM's Latvian news website on Friday.

The portal latvijasputni.lv announced that on September 25 Dmitrijs Boiko, an ornithologist at the Latvian Natural History Museum, has caught a member of the new species in a net with the intention to ring it.

This find marks the 362nd bird species that has been found to be in Latvia, according to Kārlis Millers of the Latvian Bird Fund.

According to Wikipedia, the red-flanked bluetail is a species that breeds in mixed coniferous forest with undergrowth in northern Asia and northeastern Europe, from east Finland across Siberia to Kamchatka and south to Japan. It winters mainly in southeastern Asia.

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Ring-necked ducks spotted at nature reserve

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Birdwatchers have flocked to a former gravel pit in Oxfordshire to see the "unprecedented" sight of four rare birds.

The ring-necked ducks are native to North America and are thought to have come over to the UK during a storm.

Mark Thomas, at the RSPB, called the sighting "really unusual" and possibly the largest group seen in England.

Official bird recorder Ian Lewington said the ducks in Standlake were attracting a stream of admirers.

The three drakes and one female were first spotted on Saturday in "Pit 60" by Witney birdwatcher Dave Doherty.

"We've got four American visitors here in Oxfordshire," Mr Lewington explained.

"We get two or three records in the country a year... but they've always been single birds.

"A single ring-necked duck on its own would attract a trickle of admirers but four is unprecedented."

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