27/09/2023 Long Nab, Burniston, North Yorkshire

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler: This Autumn just gets better and better, this time an Eastern bird and one I  have yet to catch up with. Travelling down from York where I was staying the night before, the bird was tucked away in a deep gully along a coastal path and stayed pretty distant foraging and playing hide and seek in the dense vegetation.

When it did come out it was a subtle, yet striking bird. A double negative I know, but its pale, pallid olive green plumage along with its long tail continuously pumping as it flits around in bushes and trees after small insects made it stand out.

Half of the twenty or so individuals that have been found in the UK have occurred in England, mostly south coast, but one each in Suffolk and Yorkshire. The other individuals have occurred in Shetland or Fair Isle, one each in Fife, Isle of May, North-east Scotland.

It is a medium-sized warbler, more like a very pale reed warbler than its relative the melodious warbler. The adult has a plain pale brown back and whitish underparts. The bill is strong and pointed and the legs grey. The sexes are identical, as with most warblers, but young birds are more buff on the belly. It has a characteristic downward tail flick

Eastern olivaceous warbler breeds from southeastern Europe and the Middle East, and the subspecies (reiseri) is thought to be locally common as a breeding species in southeast Morocco.