Granddad’s Camera
Yellow-browed warbler, as it appears in the game

No.107 · Birds · Rare visitor

Yellow-browed warbler

Phylloscopus inornatus

A tiny, bouncy leaf warbler with a bright yellow eyestripe and two pale wing bars. It blows in from Siberia each autumn and hunts through the tops of trees with tit flocks.

When to look

October to November, mostly at dawn and day.

Time of day

Best time
Late September to early November, peaking in the middle fortnight of October. Early morning after easterly winds.
Where in the game
the Norfolk Broads (carr and dunes)
Size
9.5–11 cm long
Weight
4–9 g; a juvenile averages about 6.5 g
Population
Several hundred find their way to Britain in a typical autumn, and in recent years well over a thousand have been recorded; a few now overwinter
Status
Amber-listed (Birds of Conservation Concern)

Diet

Tiny insects and spiders picked from leaves and twigs, foraging almost constantly in trees

Habitat

Breeds in Siberian taiga. On the Norfolk coast it feeds in sycamore, willow carr, elder and sea-buckthorn near the dunes

Breeding

Does not breed in Britain. Breeds from just west of the Urals eastwards to north-east China

Field signs

  • A loud, rising 'tsu-eest' call from the treetops
  • A tiny, hyperactive bird flicking its wings as it works along a branch
  • A long pale-yellow stripe over the eye and two pale wing bars

Did you know?

  • Some birds fly about 3,000–3,500 km from the Urals to Britain rather than the 5,500–6,000 km to south-east Asia, and may be a new regular route.
  • The first British record was in Northumberland in 1838, but records have risen from a handful a year to hundreds.
  • For its size (4–9 g) the call is strikingly loud.

Moments worth waiting for

  • Calling in the canopy September to November, dawn and day
    The tiny warbler freezes in a sycamore top and calls, its yellow eyestripe bright in the low sun.

Photo tip

Learn the call, then find the tit flock it is travelling with. Look for a bird that keeps moving. Use a 400 mm lens, a high ISO and 1/1000 s; be ready for the moment it stops to call.

Be a good naturalist

Do not use a call recording to lure it out. Playback stresses migrants that need to feed and rest. Keep to the paths and out of the private gardens.

The law

All wild birds are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

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