On this day - Eastern Crowned Warbler

Eastern Crowned Warbler - October 2009 - Trow Quarry - Rob Laughton

On this day in 2009 Stu and I had travelled through the night, slept a couple of hours on my Mum’s floor in Durham, then continued north to be at Trow Quarry, South Shields by dawn.

It was my first ever proper twitch and for a bird that, before it was found, I’d never heard of! I am sure others might not admit that, but I certainly hadn’t heard of Eastern Crowned Warber till the days before we twitched it. It was also a raw introduction to the marvel and idiosyncrasy of twitching and twitchers!   

I was yet to travel to India and expand my avian horizons! At that time Yellow-browed Warbler was exotic, this new crowned sprite was entirely on another level! It remains an awesome memory, especially as I wouldn't touch a national twitch of this intensity with a barge pole at present... 

Eastern Crowned Warbler twitch - October 2009 - Trow Quarry