Forgive me. I’m writing this in an attempt to manifest a real-life yellow-browed warbler into a local hedgerow.
Yellow-browed warblers are minute miracles. They breed in Siberia, no closer to the UK than Russia. Most of them migrate to southern Asia for the winter.
And yet, each autumn, thousands of young birds go west instead of south, and turn up as far as the Atlantic fringes of Europe.
This makes them, by quite a way, the commonest of the small vagrants from Siberia that manage find their way here.
Late September and through October is the peak time. And why the east coast hosts the most, a good number of these intrepid travellers make it into the interior of the country, where perhaps they would go completely unnoticed if it weren’t for their loud and persistent call.
It has the sweetness of a coal tit, and a distinctive dip in the middle.
See-a-wit? Pee-a-bit? I can’t quite make it out. But it sounds like it’s asking a question.
It’s one you can attempt to ask too, with a little whistled impression.
I’ve spent many an hour wandering along woodland edges and down country lanes making this noise. Alas, the only thing I’ve managed to attract so far is the attention of my dog.
But I live in hope.
When in the UK, yellow-browed warblers like to hang around with other ‘little green jobs’, especially chiffchaffs and goldcrests.
Superficially they resemble a chiffchaff, but the yellow line above the eye was clearly drawn on with greater feeling, and with a dark line through the eye for good measure. Two pale bars on the wing can be quite noticeable too. They are smaller, shorter-tailed and overall more compact-looking than a chiffchaff.
Where do these westerly-wandering warblers end up? Records have increased so dramatically over recent years that some suspect there’s an as-yet-undiscovered wintering grounds for these birds in western Africa.
In which case perhaps we now lie on a deliberate migration route, as opposed to an outpost for hopelessly lost birds.
More on the arguments for and against the existence of new migration routes for yellow-browed warblers here on Birdguides.
Also quite spritely: Goldcrest
🌅 Now booking for spring 2025: Walkshops in Brighton and London
Tune into the birds next spring on an early morning walk with a small group. We’ll listen for firecrests, woodpeckers, thrushes and other woodland birds.
Limited tickets - and a £10 discount for paying subscribers to Shriek of the Week (see separate email, or contact me for details).
Media credits:
Yellow-browed warbler audio by Hugh Harrop (Soundcloud) and Rob van Bemmelen (reproduced with permission from a recording at xeno-canto).
Yellow-browed warbler image by Frank Wassen on Flickr, reproduced under CC licence CC-BY-2.0
Goldcrest image by TheOtherKev on Pixabay
Sprite of the Week: Yellow-browed Warbler