One from Shetland
No. 6 Blyth's Reed Warbler 26th May 2014
One singing on the 26th May 2014 in a thicket west of Centre
Road and, at the time, only the 3rd record for London
Another of those, if you got it you voted for it:
Tim H: "For rarity value alone, and I actually got to see the bird"
Not many of the audience were so lucky
Sean K: "Heard only, but another mega!"
The month started off where April hadn't quite finished with the late arrival of our last Spring migrants; namely Whinchat, Tree Pipit, Reed and Sedge Warbler, Common Tern, Cuckoo and Spotted Flycatcher. Then the weather got nicer and the birding worse, but that had changed again by the end of the month and with it our birding luck changed big time, and that change of luck will be what this May/Spring/Year will be remembered for. And that piece of good fortune came in (I would say shape, but few if any saw anything of the damn bird) the song of a Blyth's Reed Warbler on the 29th. A bird that fully deserves to have its name in bold, seeing it's only the third London record. The improbability of it all reflected in the national sightings webs: "most sensationally" - Bird Guides; and "more remarkably still" - RBA in their respective weekly sightings coverage of BRW sightings.
... and true enough it was most sensationally and more remarkably lucky. If I hadn't thought I had heard a Willow Warbler I would not have gone via the fairground copse to Jubilee and then on to Cat & Dog. If there I hadn't heard the singing Reed Bunting I would have not been out of position on my return to the SSSI, and if hadn't been for the lack of decent birds I would have probably not have gone to check the heather patch and heard our unlikely visitor. But I did and it did.
Luckily for me I had heard a Blyth's up in Norfolk a couple of years back, and after quickly ruling out Marsh Warbler, I was left with BRW, but I hadn't had any conclusive views. That didn't improve when Dan turned up (luckily on holiday), or Bob (day-off), Marco (retired) though we did get to see it was an acro with a greyer tinge to the back than you'd expect on a Reed Warbler. Luckily Stuart Fisher's interest had been roused by my texts and made a slight detour on his way back from Canary Wharf. His broad grin when he arrived confirmed what we had thought. The news could be released.
As Tim had left his phone at home, I can only imagine the profanity that erupted from his lips on reading his messages on his return. My phone went in to melt-down; a notorious one-day wonder and major blocker for many London listers, so imagine a good number turned up. Certainly Mr Lee GR Evans did and was, apparently, trying to say it was a Marsh Warbler, luckily many better birders than me came and confirmed our diagnosis. It would have been better if it had showed a bit and we had some photographic evidence, but its song was sublime.
We did have a recording by Dave Darryl Lambert, but that appears to be not working, so have one done by our own Stuart Fisher
https://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/VXZDHTKCBO/XC185464-BlythReedPunkaharju1.mp3
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