Paddyfield Warbler 210711

We were very fortunate to get an early morning call from Ian Dodd, who was out ringing beside the Fleet, when he trapped an unfamiliar warbler that turned out to be this long-awaited Dorset first:

On examining the head we were immediately struck by not only the striking supercilium, but also the pale 'semi-collar', the remarkably pale iris and the bold, two-tone pattern of the lower mandible; these features are of course typical of Paddyfield but they seemed stand-out characteristics when your standard fare is the likes of Reed Warbler:

Quite apart from being pretty unexpected in a tiny reedbed in Dorset in July (...has there been just one previous British record in this month?), this very worn adult was somewhat plainer than might have been expected had it been in fresher plumage, in particular there was little sign of dark borders to the supercilia (the dark blotches above the rear supercilium in the photos above are just an effect of feather loss in this area), the tertials barely contrasted with the rest of the upperparts, and the rump lacked any sort of rusty contrast. Overall the upperparts were a warm, sandy tone, although out of direct sunlight the bird took on a remarkably pallid appearance (the photos below were taken from some distance with the 'big' lens and so perhaps accord more with how the bird might have appeared in the field); also note the single fresh, darker tertial on the left side (presumably replaced after accidental loss) which was the sole 'new' feather on what was otherwise a very abraded and bleached bird:

The legs were a surprisingly pale, yellowish-horn:

The short primary projection was a noteworthy feature on the closed wing, the spread wing showed a particularly blunt profile and the tail was conspicuously long and rounded. Ian kindly furnished us with some biometrics - notably, tail 51mm and wing 57mm = a ratio of .89 - which were all spot on for Paddyfield.

As we were driving over to see the bird and pondering what it might be, we'd been concerned that Ian had mentioned some white on the outer tail-feathers (Paddyfield, or indeed any of the other acros, shouldn't have this) but in the event this looked to be more likely an effect of bleaching/abrasion rather than a genuine plumage feature: