Sardinian Warbler
Curruca melanocephala (Gmelin, JF, 1789) (0, 1)
Photo © Kris Webb
STATUS
Mediterranean. Polytypic.
OVERVIEW
Record as per BOU (1971).
1950-57 RECORD
1). 1955 Devon Lundy, adult male, trapped, 10th May, photo.
(B. Whitaker, British Birds 48: 515; Lundy Field Society Report 1955; BOURC (1971), Ibis 113: 142).
History Barbara Whitaker (1955) in British Birds, Vol. XLVIII. p. 515, says: 'An adult male Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala) was trapped on Lundy at 0905 hours G.M.T. on 10th May 1955.
After being examined, measured and photographed, it was shown to F. W. Gade and then released about mid-day. It was not seen again.
The forehead, crown, lores, and ear-coverts were glossy black, the remainder of the upper-parts sooty-grey, with a brown tinge on the upper tail-coverts. The tail was blackish-brown except for the tip and outer web of the outside feather on each side, which were off-white. The primaries, secondaries, and wing-coverts were blackish-brown; chin and throat, white; breast and belly, greyish-white; flanks, dove-grey; under tail-coverts, grey. The mandibles were black, except for the base of the lower which was pale horn. Legs were light-brown, and the light-brown iris was surrounded by an orange-red orbital ring. Its weight when captured was 10.6 gm.
Soon after it was released it disappeared into thick cover, but during the brief time we had it in view its movements were reminiscent of a Dartford Warbler (S. undata), the tail being held upright at an angle to the body.'
[This appears to be only the second British record of this Mediterranean species. Full measurements and details of the wing-formula were taken, and these figures have been sent to us, together with photographs which clearly show the white in the tail and the area of black on the head. - Eds.]
Admitted nationally as the first for Britain (BOURC (1971) Ibis 113: 142).
NOT PROVEN
0). 1890 Devon Exmouth, male, seen, 16th April.
(W. S. M. D'Urban, Zoologist 1890: 467; D'Urban & Mathew, 1895).
[W. S. M. D'Urban, Victoria County History of Devon 1906: 299; Witherby et al., 1940-52].
History W. S. M. D'Urban of Exmouth (1890) in The Zoologist, 3rd series, Vol. XIV. p. 467, says: 'On April 16th last there was a great rush of Warblers arriving all along the South Coast, - Willow Warblers, Blackcaps (males), and Wheatears, - and whilst watching a Blackcap feeding on ivy berries in my garden, at 10, Claremont Terrace, Exmouth, where I was then residing, another bird, with a jet-black head, but pure white throat and under parts, and with a slender beak, longer and larger in proportion than in the Blackcap, settled on a twig quite close to it, and I was able to compare the two birds. The sun was shining very brightly at the time, and I did not notice the white tail-feathers. It was certainly smaller than the Blackcap, but nevertheless I have little doubt that it was a male Orphean Warbler.'
Comment Possibly of this species, but lacks adequate details. Not acceptable.
0). 1907 Sussex Near Hastings, male, obtained, 3rd June.
(T. Parkin, Zoologist 1907: 274; T. Parkin, British Birds 1: 86-88; T. Parkin, Hastings & East Sussex Naturalist 1: 115-116; E. N. Bloomfield, Hastings & East Sussex Naturalist 1: 124-125; Walpole-Bond, 1938).
[E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History Thomas Parkin of High Wickham, Hastings (1907) in The Zoologist, 4th series, Vol. XI, p. 274, and in British Birds, Vol. I. pp. 86-88, says: 'On June 4th a Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala) was brought to me in the flesh for identification by Mr. G. Bristow, jun., naturalist of Silchester Road, St. Leonards-on-Sea.
It had been killed the day before in the neighbourhood of Hastings, and proved on dissection to be a male.
Being unable to be present at the British Ornithologists' Club Dinner in London on June 19th, the bird was kindly exhibited on my behalf by Dr. C. B. Ticehurst, M.B.O.U., who informs me that this is the first really authenticated occurrence of this species in the British Islands, though Mr. W. D'Urban saw what was apparently a bird of the same species in his garden at Exmouth on April 16th, 1890....'
E. N. Bloomfield (1907) in the Hastings & East Sussex Naturalist, Vol. I. pp. 124-125, says: 'I am again indebted to Messrs. N. F. Ticehurst, W. Ruskin Butterfield and Walter Field for the following notices of rare birds which have occurred in our own and in neighbouring districts.
In the Hastings district - Sylvia melanocephala, Gmel., Sardinian Warbler, a male near Cripps' Corner, June 3rd, 1907, the first British example.'
Accepted locally (Walpole-Bond 1938 (2): 42).
Comment Hastings rarity. Not acceptable.
