Which is Europe’s smallest bird?

Pallas's Warbler (Jesse Wilkinson)

Full marks if you thought Goldcrest or Firecrest, which share the title with a bodyweight of 5-6 grammes. And a gameshow fail klaxon is you thought Wren, almost double that at 10 grammes. Always a good one for a pub quiz. But occasionally, another species joins the ‘crests’ as visiting lightweight champion of Europe, and last Friday one was in a shelter-belt of trees at the foot of Holyhead Mountain.

I rarely travel to see vagrants that feature in BirdNotes, but I made an exception for this Pallas’s Warbler as I was already on Anglesey and hadn’t seen this stripy Siberian waif in North Wales since one on the Great Orme in 1988. Around 40 more individuals have occurred in Wales since, but it remains a scarce migrant from coniferous taiga forests east of the Ural Mountains. More numerous on North Sea coasts, this one at South Stack was among the first half dozen recorded in Britain this autumn.

It took a couple of hours standing among the bracken watching every flicker and movement in the trees, hopes sporadically raised by Goldcrests that had also arrived from the northeast. The dozen birders were starting to drift away when the object of our search appeared briefly beside the trail. We enjoyed views for half an hour as it hovered to pluck insects from the underside of leaves, pausing occasionally among the spiky lichen that adorned the branches. Magic, especially for those who had never previously seen a ‘seven-striped-sprite’, including the birder who found it that morning.

The Holyhead area hosted at least 14 Yellow-browed Warblers last week, including four in a single bush at Breakwater Country Park. Others were at Wylfa, Cemlyn, Nefyn, Porth Meudwy, Shotwick, Bwlchtocyn near Abersoch, three on the Great Orme and Bardsey. Other sightings last week included Lapland Buntings near Cemlyn, Rhoscolyn and on the Great Orme, where a Barred Warbler was seen and a Richard’s Pipit landed briefly. Six Cattle Egrets are at RSPB Cors Ddyga, five at Shotwick and counts of Great White Egrets include site records of nine on the Conwy and 13 on the Dwyryd opposite Portmeirion. Whooper Swans seen across the region included a flock of 30 over the River Clwyd.