Twitchers flock to tiny isle in flap over seeing US bird

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It is only the fourth time the Blackburnian warbler has been spotted in the UK – and photographed in such detail. People descended on Bryher, in the Isles of Scilly, from as far away as the Shetlands to see the young male, many waiting overnight.

The warbler is thought to have got lost while migrating from North to South America.

John Judge, who first identified the visitor on Bryher, said: “No one really knows what happens to these American birds once they’re here. They show up and then disappear again.”

Chartered accountant Richard Stonier, 47, believes the bird was blown across the Atlantic by a recent storm.

He said: “If it tries to fly back, it is extremely unlikely it will make it, but it might try to migrate south.

“Warblers this side of the world flit from one branch to another. This one was more walking and leaping across twigs, almost like a mouse.

Blackburnian warblers breed in eastern United States and Canada and winter in South America.

Previous UK sightings have been on St Kilda in 2009, Fair Isle in 1998 and Skomer in 1961.

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