A burst of winter song from Cetti's warblers
Cetti's warblers have been reported from sites all across northern England as birds disperse from breeding sites and take up winter quarters.
Three are present at the RSPB's Blacktoft Sands reserve and three at the Far Ings reserve further down the Humber, while others have been reported at Potteric Carr, Bolehill and Catcliffe Flashes, Rother Valley Country Park and Blackburn Meadows in South Yorkshire.
One, possibly two are present at Wheldrake Ings, North Yorkshire. In West Yorkshire, there has been at least one at Wintersett reservoir and one at Pugney's Country Park near Wakefield.
Cetti's stay here all year. They are notorious skulkers, only showing themselves briefly, but fortunately have one of the loudest songs of any small European bird.
It is an explosion of clear penetrating notes, each recital lasting only a few seconds, ceasing as quickly as it begins and may not be repeated for several minutes.
Cetti's warblers sing most regularly at night and will perform just as loudly in the middle of winter with snow on the ground. As most other birds are silent in winter, this makes the song even more noticeable.
The Cetti's warbler, named after an 18th Century Italian priest, are usually found in tangled vegetation near water or reedbeds where there are alder trees or undergrowth containing nettles and brambles.
It is one of the birds that has expanded its range northwards because of the run of milder winters. At the start of the last century, it was almost totally confined to the Mediterranean regions of Europe but there was a rapid expansion and by 1960 they were breeding along the Brittany coast and on the Channel Islands.
England was reached the following year with breeding pairs in Hampshire and Sussex and by the end of the millennium there were almost 700 pairs.
The first pair bred in Yorkshire on the Tophill Low reserve, near Beverley in 2006.
Cetti's warblers are at risk from prolonged periods of cold weather and there was a population crash following the severe winter of 1986-87.
But they seem able to cope with most winters now and it seems inevitable that there will be more breeding pairs in Yorkshire before long.
More whooper swans have been seen in the region with 33, along with one Bewick's swan, seen at North Duffield Carrs, near Selby.
There have also been large numbers of pink-footed geese moving back to winter sites.
Along the Yorkshire coast a lesser whitethroat of a race found in central Asia was caught and ringed at Kilnsea, and three little auks, 33 snow buntings, 47 twite and a yellow-browed warbler were among the birds seen at Spurn.
Bitterns are being seen across the region with three on the Far Ings reserve and two at Potteric Carr.
Short-eared owls have been seen at several inland sites including Wheldrake Ings, Deer Hill reservoir and Swillington Ings near Leeds, while a long-eared owl has been seen at a daytime roost at Fairburn Ings.
Very high numbers of duck have arrived back at Fairburn including a site record count of 550 shovellers, and there have been two water pipits and six kingfishers.
A redhead smew was seen at Tophill Low.
tealebill48@yahoo.co.uk
Email to a friend
Print this page- Three-inch blanket of snow heading our way today
- Alan Shearer in list of favourites for Leeds and England jobs: Latest odds
- Barnsley’s Keith Hill invokes Fawlty Towers over link with Leeds job
- McCormack feels United search can be narrowed down
- Redfearn throws down gauntlet as queue builds at Elland Road
- Rival chips in with £500,000 to restore the original Harry Ramsden’s
- Visit from Princess as Serbian culture celebrated
- Was this woman on your train to Manchester Airport?
- SportsTalk: Leeds United’s manager search, Super League and Calcutta Cup
- Libraries aren’t like supermarkets, they are magical places where dreams begin
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
