Warblers and Goldcrests

Grasshopper Warbler (Common Grasshopper Warbler) Locustella naevia

Nelson's The Birds of Yorkshire (1907) mentions that the Grasshopper Warbler had been reported from near Hull. This is probably based on a bird near Sproatley, outside of the area covered by this book, in May 1897. Grasshopper Warblers were certainly rare in these parts back then; the Sproatley bird was the first that the observer, who was from Hedon, had ever heard in Holderness. Boylan's 1967 Birds in Hull makes no mention of the species. A bird singing in Saltend Marsh from 2^nd to 10^th May 1986 was the first modern record of the species in the Hull area. The second Hull record, and my first, came on the evening of 27^th April 1989 when B. Richards and I were birdwatching along the Foredyke Stream opposite Ladyside Close, North Bransholme. Richards alerted me to a monotonous buzzing sound, almost electrical in quality, that I had dismissed it as being the result of mist cloaking the conductors of nearby telegraph poles. Richards immediately recognised it as the song of the Grasshopper Warbler and patient stalking revealed the bird to be singing from the dense stands of cow parsley, burdock, hogweed and rough grasses that fringed the channel. It or another was heard singing there again on 13^th May, with two on 14^th July.

The following year at least five individual Grasshopper Warblers were singing from brambles and herbage along the Foredyke Stream and opposite the Highlands School at North Bransholme. The first bird of 1991 was heard singing at the now regular Foredyke Stream site on 28^th April and again on 25^th May, but that was all that year. None were singing beside Foredyke Stream in 1992 but one was heard from the scrubby fields off Thomas Clarkson Way, east of the Bransholme Sewage Works, on 4^th May. One was back at Foredyke Stream on 24^th June 1993. Another single there on 13^th May 1994 was followed by two singing throughout July 1995, despite poor coverage in those years.

The years 1996 and 1997 saw a return to 1990 numbers at North Bransholme, though by now the dominance of grasses along Foredyke Stream meant the singing birds had relocated to stands of herbage in the nearby scrub. Up to two singing birds were also reported from near the Carr Lane Nurseries along the Holderness Drain, east of Sutton, at that time. Singing birds are now annual in the Hull area, with numbers at North Bransholme varying between one and four individuals per year. It is probable that other singing Grasshopper Warblers have gone unrecorded around the outskirts of Hull, although regular watching of sites such as the Priory Road fields in the mid 1990s failed to find any.

A singing Grasshopper Warbler does not necessarily indicate breeding, as passage migrants commonly sing in suitable habitat but may only be present for a day or two before moving on. This was probably the case at North Bransholme in several years during the 1990s. In other years, however, birds have been heard singing from the same site for several weeks at a time throughout the summer, so breeding is highly likely. Breeding nevertheless remains very difficult to prove in light of the incredibly skulking habits of this bird.

The best place to find Grasshopper Warblers in the Hull area, therefore, appears to be the scrubby fields south of Foredyke Stream, southeast of North Bransholme, between the Kingswood High School on Wawne Road and the Great Culvert Pumping Station on the Holderness Drain. At least one bird should be singing sometime from late April to July, being most vociferous in the early mornings, evenings and after dark on warm still nights. The song is audible over more than half a mile and has been compared to the sound of a fisherman's reel winding in the line. It is monotonous in tone though not irritating, changing in volume as the bird turns its head from side to side every so often, with occasional pauses between 'reels'. I have a special regard for the Grasshopper Warbler, for on many a balmy evening during the 1990s I have stood at the bottom of my then Bransholme garden to hear the reeling song drift across the fields. To me, it really is the sound of summer.

Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

Boylan (1967) regarded the Sedge Warbler as a regular yet uncommon summer visitor to Hull in the 1960s, with passage migrants cropping up as far into the city as Queen's Gardens. It was still regarded as an uncommon breeder in Cottingham and northwest Hull into the 1980s. Just a single male was singing down Snuff Mill Lane in 1985, with unspecified numbers along the River Hull, while seven pairs were breeding at Saltend in the same year. A notable increase took place during the 1990s, however, with six singing males along Snuff Mill Lane and nearby Swine Bank in 1996. Seventeen songsters were at Saltend in 1998, while 11 singing males between North Bransholme and the Holderness Drain in 1989 had grown to 18 in 1993 and 21 in 2001. Two males were singing on the Priory Sidings, off Clive Sullivan Way, in June 1998 with another at Livingstone Road, behind Hessle Foreshore, in June 1999. A pair was also thought to have bred at Queen Elizabeth Dock the same year. It hasn't all been good news, however. A marked decline has been noticed in recent years along the Holderness Drain near Hedon Road and in the scrub of the old Hull to Withernsea railway line. Sedge Warblers were formerly common there but are not rather scarce. Other damp bushy areas or dense herbage beside water, such as the banks of the Barmston Drain and along stretches of the River Hull (e.g. parts of Bankside and near the Bransholme Sewage Works), may also have a few pairs.

The first Sedge Warblers of the summer have consistently arrived in the Hull area between 23^rd and 26^th April during the 1990s. The earliest bird outside of this period was on 18^th April in 1985. Most locally breeding birds have left by mid August but lingerers and passage migrants can occasionally be found until the end of September.

Reed Warbler (Eurasian Reed Warbler) Acrocephalus scirpaceus

The Reed Warbler is quite close to the edge of its British range at Hull, with only a few isolated colonies and sporadic breeders further north of a line drawn from Yorkshire to Lancashire. A summer visitor from Africa, Reed Warblers usually arrive in the Hull area towards the end of April or early May. In some years the first birds are not heard singing until the middle of May. The species is very closely associated with Phragmites reeds, the tall, feathery-topped reeds that flank the River Hull in places and also occur in pockets along the Humber and other wet areas. The limited range of Phragmites in the Hull area is the major factor determining the distribution of the Reed Warbler. The main reedbeds can be found on the Humber side of Clive Sullivan Way (between St Andrew's Quay and Priory Way), the tidal channels flanking Saltend and along the River Hull upstream of the Sutton Fields Industrial Estate. It is difficult to estimate the number of pairs breeding in these locations, but an idea can be gained from sample counts along the River Hull made between the bridge on Thomas Clarkson Way and Sutton Road Bridge. In May and June during the early 1990s there was, on average, one singing male for every 100 metres of reed-fringed river along this stretch. The reedy lagoons on Saltend Marsh, meanwhile, held around 15 pairs in the mid 1980s.

Conditions must have been excellent for the species when Hull was surrounded by marshy fields and the untamed River Hull was flanked by broad stands of reeds. Drainage in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries would have seriously reduced their numbers. In 1907 Nelson wrote that Reed Warblers were "formerly common" around Hull, implying that they were now scarce, but went on to say that they could still be found where conditions were suitable. They were certainly still breeding along the River Hull at that time, as Colonel Haworth Booth reported finding an unusual nest in a blackcurrant bush at Haworth Hall in 1896. Intriguingly, a search for breeding Reed Warblers along the Humber and River Hull by J. Lord and G. H. Ainsworth between 1938 and 1945 found many pairs outside the Hull area, at places like Patrington, Burstwick and Melton, but none on the River Hull below Beverley. Despite finding a nest near Hedon in 1945, Ainsworth and Lord make no mention of any birds elsewhere around Hull. Ainsworth lived on Gillshill Road and knew Hull's birds well, so one would have thought that if Reed Warblers were breeding along the River Hull just over a mile from his house then he'd have known about it. It seems they had totally forsaken the Hull area sometime between 1907 the 1940s. An apparently new colony was discovered at Hessle in 1947 and Reed Warblers seemed to be genuinely increasing their range in East Yorkshire during the forties and fifties.

During the 1960s the species occurred in very small numbers within the old Hull boundary and bred only at King George Dock and one other location. When T. P. Milsom looked for breeding Reed Warblers in the two hectares of reedbeds west of St Andrew’s Quay in June 1978 he found just one singing male. This was despite there being many dozens in the reeds between nearby Brough and the mouth of the Ouse. When the Cottingham Bird Club surveyed the birds of Cottingham and northwest Hull between 1981 and 1986, incorporating the full length of the River Hull between Beverley and Sculcoates, the only Reed Warblers were found way outside the Hull area at Beverley Beck. This suggests another decline had taken place. Breeding on Hull’s stretch of the River Hull may, therefore, wax and wane to some extent, although I have a feeling that they were simply overlooked most of the time. Indeed, the 14 pairs breeding at Saltend Marsh in 1985 were within the Hull boundary, if only just.

A very few pairs of Reed Warblers also breed among tiny reedbeds in the marshy fields southeast of North Bransholme these days. Two singing males in 1994 was a typical number, and I suspect a few more may lurk in the upper reaches of the Holderness Drain near Carlam Hill Farm. Other small stands of Phragmites in the Hull area may also hold a pair or two. Unlike most warblers, Reed Warblers may sing well into August and an adult was feeding a newly fledged chick at North Bransholme as late as 28^th August 1992. The reedbeds are usually deserted by mid September as the birds begin their return migration. Passage birds may be encountered in other habitats in the Hull area at this time, such as along ditch hedgerows or willowherb stands. The latest bird seen in the Hull area was one at Saltend on 19^th October 1985 and this was undoubtedly a passage migrant, as the last local bird had departed some three weeks before.

Icterine Warbler Hippolais icterina

The Icterine Warbler breeds in woods and even urban parkland just across the Channel in northeast France and up to Scandinavia. It is no more than uncommon, if regular, passage migrant on Britain’s east coast and an extremely rare passage migrant in the Hull area. There is just one recorded instance of the Icterine Warbler in Hull, with one being found by S. L. James and a companion along the Holderness Drain near Hedon Road on 22^nd August 1986.

Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca

The Lesser Whitethroat is a widespread summer visitor to the Hull area but is thinly distributed and can nowhere be described as common. Generally arriving between the last week of April and first week of May, there has been a notable increase during the latter half of the last century. One down Haltemprice Lane, between Cottingham and Willerby, in 1951 was considered unusual and Boylan (1967) reported just one passage record for Hull during the 1960s. Another passage bird was in East Park on 5^th October 1969. The increase was being noted towards the end of the 1970s and early 1980s. Probable breeding was noted near Kirk Ella (Kerry Woods) and Cottingham (Wood Lane and elsewhere) at that time, with five pairs around Saltend in 1985. Three birds were reported from Saltend in June 1998, with another three at Cottingham in July 1999. Three pairs was the usual quota at North Bransholme throughout the 1990s, mainly in the thick Old Main Drain and Foredyke Stream hedgerows off Cumbrian Way. I was surprised to hear a bird singing from rose bushes flanking an underpass on Bellfield Avenue, East Hull, in May 1993 but Lesser Whitethroats are rather widespread throughout urban and suburban Hull. Recent breeding has been recorded along the old railway line between Goddard Avenue and Chanterlands Avenue, the Priory Sidings off Clive Sullivan Way, west of Calvert Lane near East Ella, along the old Hull to Withernsea railway line near Hull Prison and on the Holderness Drain behind the Maternity Hospital. The Humber Bridge Country Park also holds several pairs each summer. Indeed, many thick hedgerows and patches of scrub on the margins of Hull and the villages are likely to echo to the rattling song of Lesser Whitethroats at some point.

The Lesser Whitethroat is a little more numerous on autumn passage and roaming birds may be spotted in the parks and cemeteries. Inflated numbers also occur at the more usual sites, such as Saltend, North Bransholme and the Humber Bridge Country Park, but most have left by late September. A Lesser Whitethroat showing characteristics of the Siberian race, Sylvia curruca blythi, was seen briefly at Paull by S. M. Lister on 27^th September 1986.

Whitethroat (Common Whitethroat) Sylvia communis

The Whitethroat was a regular summer visitor and fairly common passage migrant in Hull during the early 1960s. Breeding was recorded along the banks of the Holderness and Barmston Drain, around the docks and in other scrubby places such as neglected allotments off Kenilworth Avenue in West Hull. In 1968 drought struck in their wintering quarters in the Sahel zone of Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. This led to a massive crash in the British population of Whitethroats three quarters of them failed to return in the spring of 1969. Further knocks led to the low point in the population being reached in 1974. The Whitethroat was notably scarce in the Hull area at that time, with birds at Kirk Ella's Kerry Woods being the only ones reported, though there were no doubt others here and there. By the early 1980s the Whitethroat was slowly recovering to the point of being an uncommon breeding bird on Snuff Mill Lane and Wood Lane, off Priory Road. Disaster struck again, however, and the famous African droughts of the mid 1980s knocked numbers right back almost to the 1974 level. Around five pairs were breeding at Saltend in 1985 with a similar number east of North Bransholme in 1989, but the 1990s saw a welcome increase throughout the Hull area. By 1992 the number of singing males between North Bransholme and the Holderness Drain had climbed to 12, with a record 25 the following year and 20 in 1994. There were up to 10 pairs off Priory Road by 1996 and 11 males were singing at Saltend in 1998, more than double that of 1985. Whitethroats are now fairly common in scrubby areas and hedgerows around the outskirts of Hull and the surrounding villages, but they seem to be less widespread in the more urban areas than the Lesser Whitethroat. Recent breeding sites and numbers in Hull have included the fields between Thomas Clarkson Way and Bude Road (at least two pairs), King George Dock (one pair), Priory Sidings (unspecified numbers), the Holderness Drain near Hedon Road (several pairs), Victoria Dock (at least one pair), Bransholme Sewage Works (several pairs) and the railway lines between Hedon Road and the city centre (at least three pairs).

Scattered pairs are also likely to breed along the banks of the Holderness and Barmston Drains, along parts of the River Hull and along the railway lines as they pass through the city. There can be few hedgerows in the adjoining parts of the East Riding that do not have Whitethroats in them. The scratchy song and jerky display flight of the Whitethroat is first heard in the Hull area in the last week of April, occasionally the first week of May. The earliest arrival date was 17^th April 1981 and the latest 10^th May 1991. The males sing frenziedly throughout May, when the peak counts occur, before breeding gets into full swing later in the month. Most of the locally breeding birds appear to leave by mid August but passage migrants from Scandinavia ensure a presence until the end of September or early October. A bird found dead at Cottingham on 10^th October 1982 was ringed in Sweden just three weeks before, indicating the origin of these late birds.

Garden Warbler Sylvia borin

The Garden Warbler is one of the rarest of the regular summer migrants in the Hull area and is very local in its distribution. Boylan (1967) described the species as a very rare summer visitor and passage migrant in 1960s Hull. A failed nesting attempt towards the north of the old city boundary in 1959 was apparently the only breeding record, though migrating birds were seen as far into town as Queen's Gardens.

The region around the villages to the immediate west of Hull is the nearest thing to a stronghold that the species has in the Hull area. Breeding occurred at Little Switzerland (near Hessle) in 1967 and one or two have been seen or heard in Kirk Ella's Kerry Woods most Mays since the mid 1970s. Others were seen on Carr Lane, near Willerby, in June 1975 and in Cottingham’s Snuff Mill Lane and University Botanic Gardens in the early 1980s. A pair bred at nearby Wood Lane in 1985. A single pair bred in the Humber Bridge Country Park between 1993 and 1997, increasing to three pairs in 1998, and this site seems to offer the best chance of finding the species in the Hull area.

Over in East Hull, birds were singing in Hedon Road Cemetery in May and June 1983. Passage migrants were noted at Saltend in the mid 1980s, with singles or couples on a handful of dates between August and mid October each year and occasional birds in May. The earliest arrival date in the Hull area is 4^th May and the latest autumn migrant was seen on 12^th October, though most spring birds are seen in May and most autumn birds in September.

Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla

This unobtrusive warbler is mainly a thinly distributed summer visitor to the Hull area but increasing numbers are wintering in the region. The breeding and wintering birds come from two distinct populations, with those in summer spending the winter in Africa and the winter visitors coming from breeding grounds in northern and eastern Europe. Preferring a more wooded habitat than the other regular Sylvia warblers, the Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcaps can be found wherever there are tall bushes and trees with a thick understorey. They also venture into the suburbs. Boylan (1967) tells us that the Blackcap was a rare summer visitor and passage migrant in the old Hull boundary of the 1960s. Breeding was also recorded at Little Switzerland, near Hessle. Bonavia (1990) considered it to a be an uncommon breeding bird around Cottingham and northwest Hull in the mid 1980s. I found it to be much the same at North Bransholme and the Bransholme Sewage Works in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with two or three singing males at both the Old Main Drain hedgerow and the Sewage Works plantation.

A marked increase was noted in many parts of the Hull area in the mid 1990s. The number of singing males at North Bransholme doubled by 1998, three pairs were found around Priory Road (Wood Lane and the Pickhills) in 1996 and more were occurring in the Hedon Road area than formerly. These latter birds included three singing males along the old Hull to Withernsea railway line (behind Hedon Road Cemetery) and another two along the Holderness Drain, near the Maternity Hospital. Breeding is also thought to occur in the larger gardens of Cottingham and Hull’s Avenues. Other sites include the Kerry Woods near Kirk Ella (four males in 2000), the old railway sidings west of Calvert Lane and in East Park, where I heard a male singing near the aviaries in early summer 1999. One was also singing in the Trinity graveyard, near Hull Marina, in April 2000. Others are now no doubt breeding in many other localities with a strong element of trees and tall bushes, such as the golf courses, cemeteries, small woods and copses scattered throughout the area. There is little information from what must be one of the best sites for the species in the area, the Humber Bridge Country Park, but breeding numbers must easily exceed a dozen pairs in this prime habitat. The first birds of spring are generally heard any time between mid April and early May, with the last week of April being the most usual arrival time. Timing the arrival of summer migrants is a little difficult, however, as the presence of wintering birds singing on sunny days in early spring clouds the situation. Wintering has been noted in the Hull area for almost half a century, and these birds come from central Europe. A male observed in a Kirk Ella garden for much of March in 1956 is the first on record. Up to three have been seen between November and March in most years since the early 1970s, particularly around Kirk Ella/West Ella, Cottingham and the Avenues area of Hull. This western bias is almost certainly related to the higher proportion of trees and wooded habitats in those areas compared to East Hull. Peak months for seeing winter birds are January and February, when hard weather and exhaustion of natural food forces them into the suburbs and onto bird tables, and in March, when sunny days tempt the males to sing and advertise their presence. Brian Fendley's garden on the western margin of Kirk Ella attracts a Blackcap in most winters, with two on 21^st February 1997 and in January 1994. Locally breeding birds probably leave for the Med and North Africa in late August or September, with passage migrants occurring until October. The handful of wintering birds probably join us around November.

Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus

A scarce but regular autumn vagrant to Britain's east coast from the taiga forests of Siberia, the Yellow-browed Warbler has occurred only twice in the Hull area. On 2^nd November 1986 D. and J. Wilkinson saw a Yellow-browed Warbler on 'Shrike Hill'. This is a long bush-covered mound on the north side of Saltend Marsh (immediately south of the railway lines) that is now largely gone due to development. The bird stayed for another two days. The second Yellow-browed Warbler was found on the afternoon of 4^th November 2000 in trees near the aviaries in East Park, but was gone by the following morning. It is interesting that both of these records share a common date, 4^th November, this being towards the end of the typical period during which the species is found in this country.

Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix

Nelson (1907) mentions that the Wood Warbler was common in a few places in the East Riding at the beginning of the 20^th Century but nowhere in the Hull area was specifically mentioned. None now breed anywhere in the East Riding, with the nearest being in woods on the North Yorkshire Moors and Pennine foothills, but Wood Warblers may still occur in the Hull area as very rare passage migrants. There are just five records, however, the first being either one or three birds (depending on your source) in East Park on the late date of 21^st September 1969. One was at Kerry Woods, Kirk Ella, between the 9^th and 10^th August 1979. Two were there on 10^th August 1981 with one more on 4^th August 1987. One heard singing in Hedon Road Cemetery in early May 1986 is the only spring record and this was the only time the metallic, trilling song had reportedly been heard in the Hull area.

Chiffchaff (Common Chiffchaff) Phylloscopus collybita

Chiffchaffs are regular, if rather uncommon, passage migrants and very thinly distributed breeding birds in the Hull area. They arrive from their African wintering grounds between the last week of March and the second week of April, sometimes later. Many birds quickly move on and much of the area does not see another Chiffchaff until returning birds pass through again from late July through to September. Boylan (1967) described the Chiffchaff as a rare passage migrant in Hull during the 1960s, giving only seven records between 1960 and 1967 and naming Northern Cemetery as one of the sites visited. This scarcity seems overplayed now, but it appears that Chiffchaffs were genuinely scarcer in the Hull area in those days. The slow increase in frequency and numbers seems to have occurred during the 1980s. Trees along the railway line behind Hull Prison did not see their first Chiffchaff until 1980, but up to two singing males are now annual in that area. A few more can be found in nearby Hedon Road Cemetery, where the first record did not occur until 1981.

During the 1980s Chiffchaffs were uncommon passage migrants and possibly scarce breeding birds around Cottingham and northwest Hull. Only a few birds were seen each year, including one singing in Pearson Park in April 1982 and another at Cottingham in May 1988. The Chiffchaff was also described as a scarce passage migrant at Saltend around this time, with other spring birds seen at Kerry Woods (Kirk Ella). A gradual increase has been noted at North Bransholme since the late 1980s, from one or two spring birds quickly passing through to a tendency to remain all summer and probably breed. Up to two pairs are now believed to do so along the Old Main Drain hedgerow. Breeding is also annual at the Bransholme Sewage Works plantation, along Thomas Clarkson Way, with at least two pairs there too. Breeding is also believed to occur in the Priory Sidings off Clive Sullivan Way, near Gipsyville, and doubtless in several other scattered locations where there are trees with a suitable bushy understorey. They are, nevertheless, common nowhere.

Chiffchaffs have been recorded wintering in the Hull area on several occasions. Two did so in December 1987, at Bransholme and elsewhere in Hull. Singles were in a West Hull garden on 25^th January 1998 and at the Bransholme Sewage Works on 22^nd January 2000. Others at the Sewage Works on 12^th March and in East Park on 7^th in 2000 were also likely to be winterers rather than early migrants. These winter Chiffchaffs sometimes show characteristics of the eastern races, either birds from Scandinavia or eastern Europe (Phylloscopus collybita abietinus) or further east from the Urals to Siberia and Mongolia (Phylloscopus collybita tristis). These races may also occur on passage. Birds identified as abietinus were reported from Saltend on 26^th and 27^th January 1988, 12^th September 1997 and at the Bransholme Sewage Works on 5^th April 2000. One showing characteristics of the much rarer tristis, described by its finder (B. Richards) as 'sub-tristis', was at the latter site on 3^rd January 2000. These races may one day be considered as separate species.

In the spring of 1998 I found a male Chiffchaff that had taken up territory at the southern end of the Old Main Drain hedgerow at North Bransholme, just opposite Ladyside Close, that had a very unusual song. It started familiarly enough, with around eight of the 'chiff' and 'chaff' notes, but then carried on the second half with a descending trill identical to that of Willow Warbler. The song was virtually half of one and half of the other, and I can only assume that it was a hybrid. B. Fendley informs me that he heard an identical song at the Kerry Woods near Kirk Ella on 29^th April the following year. B. Richards has noted other peculiar songs from potential Chiffchaff x Willow Warbler hybrids at the Bransholme Sewage Works. One heard on 15^th April 1999 began a little like a Willow Warbler before continuing as a typical Chiffchaff, another on 29^th June 2000 mostly sang like a normal Chiffchaff but every so often gave a near perfect Willow Warbler song, while another in the spring of 2001 once sang like a Willow Warbler but usually preferred to sing just the ‘chiff’ notes of the Chiffchaff song.

Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus

One of the more common summer migrants in the Hull area, the sweet tumbling verse of a Willow Warbler song may be heard in most outlying parts of the Hull area. The first birds of the spring are most often heard around the middle of April, the 13^th being a commonly recurring date. First arrivals vary quite a lot from year to year and have been known to be as early as 31^st March or as late as 20^th April. Willow Warblers were reputed to be thinly distributed breeding birds in 1960s Hull (Boylan, 1967), with a key site being the railway embankment near King George Dock. Possible breeding was reported from Northern Cemetery, while young birds were frequently seen in gardens during autumn passage. One such youngster visited a Kirk Ella garden in August 1978, with several more in July 1987, and nesting was occurring in nearby Kerry Woods throughout the 1970s and early 1980s at least. Breeding was common in large gardens and woodland around Cottingham and northwest Hull in the 1980s (Bonavia, 1990). Meanwhile, around a dozen pairs were recorded at Saltend in 1985, with up to 22 on passage in August and September. Between three and six pairs were breeding in hedges between North Bransholme and the Holderness Drain in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This had increased to around eight pairs by 1998. Four pairs were found around the Priory Road fields in 1996 and breeding was also reported from the Priory Sidings, off Clive Sullivan Way, in the late 1990s.

"Dozens" of Willow Warblers could be heard singing along the old Hull to Withernsea railway line throughout the 1990s, especially in the trees and bushes around Hedon Road Cemetery, Hull Prison and the Maternity Hospital. Small numbers are scattered throughout the more built up areas of the city where bushes and scrub has been allowed to develop, such as the old railway sidings west of Calvert Lane and along the Holderness and Barmston Drains. There were several sightings in the Avenues area of Hull in 1996, with breeding possible, and one was singing from the old boundary hawthorns on Bellfield Avenue, in East Hull, in April 1994.

Other regular breeding sites in the Hull area include the Bransholme Sewage Works plantation and hedgerows off Thomas Clarkson Way (at least half a dozen pairs in the early 1990s), the Hull to Hornsea Rail Trail as it passes through Sutton and East Hull out towards Swine, the Risholme Carr area off Saltshouse Road (around the Prince’ss Royal Hospital) and the Humber Bridge Country Park. Breeding is not thought to occur in any of the main Hull parks, although passage birds have been seen in East Park in recent years and they probably visit the others too. Most of the locally breeding Willow Warblers appear to have left by late August and the handful that are seen until early October are likely to be Continental in origin.

Goldcrest Regulus regulus

The Goldcrest, Britain's smallest bird and one of the World's tiniest songbirds, is a very rare breeding bird in the Hull area. It becomes widespread in autumn and winter, however, after Scandinavian migrants pour in during September and October. Late autumn is the best time to find a small party of Goldcrests flitting among the branches of some wood, hedgerow or other patch of trees and bushes in the Hull area. They are often in the company of tits and warblers and they show a distinct preference for conifer trees. They are very pretty and fragile looking birds but are clearly tough enough to fly across the North Sea non-stop. Their constant calling, a very high pitched, repeated "tsee", gives them away despite the fact that they rarely sit still for long enough to allow a decent view. Boylan (1967) considered the Goldcrest to be a rare winter visitor to Hull during the 1960s, quoting just five records and going on to describe it as a scarce passage migrant. Summering, and therefore possible breeding, was very rare in the city back then but Northern Cemetery was one of the sites where this had occurred. Goldcrests were relatively common around Cottingham in winter during the 1980s according to Bonavia (1990), although the only suspected breeding was out towards Bentley and Beverley. Rather small numbers were reported from Saltend during the mid 1980s, with a maximum of just four from September onwards in 1985. Goldcrests were unheard of in Hedon Road Cemetery before 1980 but have since increased to be present all year round and have even bred, making this the only confirmed breeding site in the Hull area. As with virtually all places, Goldcrests are always more numerous there once the migrants arrive in September.

I always found Goldcrests to be a little erratic and unpredictable in occurrence at North Bransholme during the 1990s. The best months were October and November but numbers rarely exceeded four or five at a time. Up to 12 were in the hedges and woods off Priory Road in autumn 1995 and a few were seen on and off until March. The best count in recent years was an impressive 30 among Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits in the Bransholme Sewage Works plantation on 21^st November 2000. Autumn or winter Goldcrests may turn up in any trees or bushes right into the city, however. There were three sightings near conifers in the Avenues in 1996 while up to six birds in East Park during passage in late October and early November 1998. All the cemeteries, parks, drain banks and railway sides throughout Hull will see a few Goldcrests at some point, as well as the woods and hedges in the outlying areas. I have even heard them in Queen's Gardens in recent autumns.

Firecrest Regulus ignicapillus

The Firecrest, a rare winter visitor and passage migrant in East Yorkshire, has only been recorded in the Hull area on three, possibly four, occasions. The first record is the only potentially unreliable one and concerns a reported sighting in a Cottingham garden on 6^th November 1983. This coincided with an influx of Goldcrests and Firecrests on the coast, but the record remains unconfirmed and there is now no way of knowing for sure. The other records are more straightforward. One was at Paull on 7^th May 1987 with another, conceivably the same, found singing near Saltend on 27^th. The singing bird was in Jubilee Copse, which lies alongside Paull Road between Hedon Road and Hedon Haven. The final record concerns a bird reported "in Hull" on 30^th March 1993. As always with unobtrusive small birds, it is likely that several more have gone unrecorded.