Singing rare warbler draws the crowds

After it was first heard distantly and later identified last week arrangements were made for supervised visits to a normally closed part of the reserve in the early mornings and some evenings to give the best chances of both seeing and hearing the bird.

At other times it was heard from the Wath Ings hide but had fallen silent by Bank Holiday Monday, although it may still be present.

The Savi's warbler isfrom the same family as the more common grasshopper warbler but its song is a lower pitched buzzing compared with the more rattling sound of the grasshopper warbler.

During my evening visit to Old Moor it was nice to compare both species as they sang at the same time, although I was unable to catch more than a fleeting glimpse of the Savi's as it stayed at the bottom of a reed-fringed ditch.

Early-morning visitors seemed to have had more success, with the bird occasionally climbing into view on a reed stalk.

Named after an Italian professor, Paolo Savi, who first positively identified it early in the 19th century, a few pairs bred in Norfolk and East Anglia until 1860 when widespread drainage of farmland led to its extinction.

In 1960 its buzzing call was heard again at Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire and small numbers were found in Kent and Suffolk during the 1960s and 1970s. But numbers never rose above 30 pairs and there are now no more than three or four breeding pairs in this country, their locations kept secret. It seems likely that they will become extinct here again.

This is not the first record for Old Moor – one was there between April 23 and 29 in 2001 when it was trapped and ringed. Another Yorkshire record was at Burton Riggs, near Scarborough, in May 1992 while also in the 1990s there were two records at Blacktoft Sands.

Earlier last month one was in Silverdale, two miles from the RSPB's Leighton Moss reserve in Lancashire where staff again organised visits to see it.

There are alsoa pair ofMediterranean gulls at Old Moor, the female appears to have built a nest,while the singing Iberian chiffchaff has remained at Potteric Carr.

A summer plumage red-necked grebe is back at Ten Acre lake on Hatfield Moor.

Two spoonbills were seen at the Blacktoft Sands reserve near Goole.

A honey buzzard, osprey, three red kites, marsh harrier, hobby, bittern and two little egrets are among the birds seen at Fairburn Ings.

Along the coast, a woodchat shrike was at the Parish Wood reserve, Filey, while at least two common rosefinches were at Flamborough.

Two curlew sandpipers were at Beacon Ponds while a curlew sandpiper and little stint were at the RSPB's Saltholme reserve on Teesside.

A red-backed shrike, red-breasted flycatcher, Icterine warbler andgolden oriolewere seenat Spurn, while another golden oriole was at Sammy's Point.

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CW 5/6/10