On 21 Sep 23, news broke that the UK's second Bay-breasted Warbler had been found on Ramsey Island, just off the coast near St David's in South Wales. It was a Tick for everybody, as the first record had only been seen by the finders. Although I hadn't visited Ramsey Island, I knew where it was, as it was where I took a rib out to Grassholm Island, after seeing a Pied Crow in a nearby campsite. The Pied Crow had wandered around a fair bit of the East Coast of the UK before resurfacing in South Wales. It seemed an unlikely vagrant, but a few other species that I've seen or not bothered with have subsequently been accepted and I decided to tie the Cetacean & Grassholm trip into the day, rather than just to look for the Pied Crow. It was a great day in South Wales, even if the Pied Crow ended up being presumed to be an escape.
Looking across to Ramsey Island from the mainland: It was behind the lower farm house (6 Jul 18)
Soon after the news broke, it was confirmed that no boats were going to be able to get across to Ramsey Island due to the sea conditions. The boat company and the RSPB who own the island, didn't think that would change over the next week. This looked like one rarity that I wasn't going to see. However, that afternoon I had a call from my oldest Birding mate from school days, Pete Aley, who told me there were boats running on Sat 23rd and Pete asked if I wanted a boat ticket. Pete had heard there was to be two boats at lunchtime & had secured one of the forty places on the 12:00 boat. When news broke of two morning boats, he bought a morning boat ticket & didn't need the lunchtime ticket. Fortunately, Pete decided it was easier to pass it on, rather than to try cancelling the ticket. Obviously, I jumped at the offer, despite the uncertainty of whether it would still be there in two days' time.
The Old Lifeboat Station: The boats run from the base of the slipway (6 Jul 18)
The next day I was on an ORCA Cetacean Survey from Pompey to Caen & back again and out of phone signal for the whole day. One of the rules is, that phones have to be turned off when we are on the bridge & I wasn't going to pay roaming changes to check the news when we were briefly tied up in Caen. It was only when it was dark and we were off the bridge and approaching the Isle of Wight that I turned my phone back on again. Fortunately, the Bay-breasted Warbler was still there. There was also confirmation from Pete that the boats were expected to run as planned. I had planned to head straight to South Wales from Pompey, as I wouldn't have got a lot of sleep if I had taken the longer route via Dorset. Soon after crossing the M4 bridge, I pulled off on a road towards Magor, the site of the 1981 American Bittern and I found a pull in where I could sleep in the Focus Hotel for a few hours. I was awake about 06:30 and after brewing a coffee, I was heading West. Fairly quickly, news came through that the Bay-breasted Warbler was still present. The weather was looking good, the boats were expected to run & everything seemed good with the world.
The Old Lifeboat Station Slipway (6 Jul 18)
The day became a lot more complicated mid-morning when news that the UK's first Canada Warbler had been found at St Govan's Head about an hour and a quarter driving time from Ramsey Island. I knew I didn't have time to consider looking for it on the way to St David's. What I didn't know was how long we were due to have on the island. I could only push on for the boat to Ramsey Island. I arrived in good time about ninety minutes before the boat was due to leave. There were a lot of old mates already in the queue for the boat and it was an enjoyable chance to catch up with their news over recent years. We were told that the boat was on a scheduled round the island trip, but if everybody was present, then we would be able to head off a few minutes early. Being aware of the Canada Warbler, the boat company said they would run boats back on demand, providing there was at least twenty people ready to depart from Ramsey Island. This could allow us to see the Bay-breasted Warbler and depart quickly to give a couple of hours to look for the Canada Warbler. All very frustrating, but with news it was going to be strong winds & rain all of the following day, then getting the chance to look for the Canada Warbler that afternoon was going to be the best option.
The Bay-breasted Warbler was frequenting the bushes to the right of the farm house
Finally, our names were called & we headed off to the old lifeboat station and down the ramp to the boat. Fortunately, there weren't checking people's Id and that saved me having to explain why my name had changed to Pete for a few hours. Within fifteen minutes of departing, we were getting off the boat on Ramsey Island. We had to wait for everybody to get onto the jetty before one of the warders who had found the Bay-breasted Warbler gave us all a briefing. Then it was a quick walk towards the farm house, where we had a second briefing from another warden of the best places to stand and to tell us where to look. Two minutes later we were looking at its favourite bushes at the back of the farm house. Within a few minutes, it was clear that people about fifteen metres to my left could see it. But we were too far away to hear the directions. Rather than race left, I decided to keep looking & hold my nerve. But all I was seeing was two Chiffchaffs, two Goldcrests and a Robin. Barry Reed had walked left, seen it, returned & given us directions to where we should be looking. I still couldn't see it. Then Barry offered me his scope to have a look. It was deeper into the bush than I had initially been looking, but now I had seen it. I quickly found it with my scope and got more views. Then it popped into a better position & I could get some photos. They weren't great, but better than nothing. It was a well-managed twitch & many thanks to the RSPB team, their volunteers and the Thousand Islands Boat crew who all really helped us to enjoy the visit to Ramsey Island.
Bay-breasted Warbler: Not the best of photos, but it was the best I could do in the time I had
After watching it for ten minutes, I was conscious that a number of Birders had already left for the quayside to catch the second lunchtime boat as it returned to the mainland. I decided to head to the quayside, as we didn't know how quickly the boat would return to take the next boatload off. I arrived to find there were already fifty Birders on the quayside and so I wouldn't be getting on the first boat off. At least I was in the first ten or so people for the second boat. A bit frustrating as I could have spent more time with the Bay-breasted Warbler, but as more people arrived at the quayside, I would probably have only have fifteen minutes before the second boat was also full. It was about forty-five minutes before the Thousand Islands boat arrived again to take us off. A few of the Grey Seals on the island put on a good show to keep us entertained while we waited for the boat.
Grey Seal: Showing the long parallel nostrils that separate them from Common Seals: which are more v-shaped nostrils
While we were waiting it, an old mate Neil Bostock heard that his driver had made it onto the first boat & had driven off to look for the Canada Warbler & stranded the rest of his car load: what a selfish ****. He should have told them he was going for the boat & given them the chance to leave promptly as well. I offered Neil & fellow passenger Mike Edgecombe a lift down to St Govan's Head. This was helpful as Mike sorted out the navigation for the final few miles & it saved me having to try figuring out the exact location on my Sat Nav. It was a smooth run down to St Govan's Head.
Grey Seal: They can close their nostrils, so that the water doesn't get in when they dive
Finally, we arrived at Chaos Head. We drove onto a narrow road onto part of the army firing range that was open for the weekend. There was a large car park at the end, but a number of selfish idiots were parked partly on & off this narrow road. Mike had heard the police were on the way to deal with the problem. I finally got passed the parked cars & into the car park, just before many of the parked cars were finally moved into the car park.
Grey Seal: A good view of the long head profile of Grey Seals
It was only a few minutes back to the wood. I got into the wood to find there were the best part of two hundred Birders in there and they were rapidly heading to the far side of wood as the Canada Warbler had just moved. Directions weren't easy to figure out in the stampede, but it quickly became clear that the small Passerine I had seen fly back towards the near side of the wood was probably the Canada Warbler. But it was only a fleeting glimpse of small Passerine to me. I headed back to its preferred area and there was a solid rank of four or five layers of Birders, with a few climbing trees to try to see. Most had twitched the UK's third Magnolia Warbler that morning & then driven onto look for the Canada Warbler, hence the large numbers of Birders.
This was turning into one of those nightmare twitches from the Isles of Scilly in the 80s, that I hadn't seen for many years. I found a place to look from, but I had a poor view of the tops of the trees, not realising that it was favouring feeding well into the tree undergrowth and well below head height. Soon there was another stampede to the other end of the wood. I took advantage of this to get a better position. I was still three rows back, but I now had a half view. I spotted Pete Moore just in front of me & he checked if I had seen it. When he found I hadn't, he kindly offered to swap places, as he was waiting for better photos than the record shot he had taken.
Grey Seal: Grey Seals can live for twenty-five to thirty-five years
I now knew its preferred area. Another stampede & I shuffled left a bit & I was in the front row with a clear view of the preferred area. But after thirty minutes, it hadn't reappeared. Then there was a whispered "what's that movement" and some directions, quickly followed by "that's the Canada Warbler". Soon after I saw a very bright yellow breast of a New World Warbler. Clearly, it should have been the Canada Warbler, but with a Magnolia Warbler only two miles away and a fall of American Passerines on the Welsh coast, it was too poor a view to be sure, let alone tick it. Fortunately, I had a good, identifiable set of views as it moved right in the vegetation about five minutes later. I stayed looking for another twenty minutes or more, but I didn't get the bins on the other movements that I saw. When I turned around there were four lines of Birders behind me & it wasn't going to be easy to get out. After I few minutes, I offered my place to one of the other Birders, in exchange for a route out. When I checked outside of the wood, the Magnolia Warbler was a couple of miles away & the light wasn't going to be great, so I decided against looking for it. I wasn't too bothered as I had been on Scillies when the first Magnolia Warbler was found & I had enjoyed excellent views of that individual with about fifteen other Birders.
Grey Seal: Ramsey Island is one of the most important Grey Seal breeding islands in the UK with between five hundred and seven hundred pups born every year
I couldn't complain, I had seen two New World Warbler Ticks in a day & this was only the third time this century that had happened: so I should have been happy. Truth be told, I was glad to be out of the wood. The behaviour from many of the Birders was very bad, with a number of stampedes & a number of selfish idiots happy to try pushing in front of other people to try seeing the Canada Warbler. I had two people who asked to kneel in front of me. I said yes, but both realised that they were too low & then tried standing up. The first was taller than me & would have blocked my view, so he was told to behave & get down. Within a few minutes, a second Birder also tried the same trick and had also to be told to behave and sit down again. This was after several Birders had already tried blocking my view earlier in the afternoon. There was a lot of other bad behaviour from people panicking that they hadn't seeing the Canada Warbler. I was pleased to have taken the decision to use the stampedes to get a good position and be patience. This was such a frustrating twitch & contrasted totally with the very enjoyable vibe from the morning.
Chieftain Tank at the nearby Castlemartin Barracks: Chieftain Tanks were the UK's main battle tank from 1965 to 2003
I had a quick chat with my Welsh mate Steve Preddy, but kept it short and telling him to where to look. I finally arrived home about 01:30. I was knackered, but very happy to not be having to stay over & look for it in the strong wind & rain of the next day: when it wasn't seen. The Ramsey Island part of the day had been great, but not long enough and a real contrast with the bad twitch at St Govan's Head.
