No Blyth's Reed

Last night I got a call to look at a photo of a warbler taken at Ferry Meadows Country Park on Friday by Roy Norris. Cetti's Warbler was suggested but it was clearly more like a Reed Warbler. No sooner had I posted the link on the newsgroups did I have a call from Chris Batty of Rare Bird Alert explaining it was virtually certainly a Blyth's Reed Warbler, an extreme rarity from central Asia. This would be the first for Cambridgeshire and one of only a handful of inland records.

Today I should have been manning a climbing tower at the Trek Kits open day in Oundle but high winds and flooding meant I could get to Ferry Meadows for a search. Another 10 or so birders were there but we had no luck.

This Chiffchaff was very showy though and there was a rather pale-headed Long-tailed Tit among a flock of more regular birds. I've included the only poor shot I managed of the pale one along with another for comparison.

Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita

Long-tailed Tits Aegithalos caudatus