diff --git a/pageserver/src/pgdatadir_mapping.rs b/pageserver/src/pgdatadir_mapping.rs
index c26abca1f745..d28a2142656a 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/pgdatadir_mapping.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/pgdatadir_mapping.rs
@@ -729,8 +729,12 @@ impl Timeline {
         let current_policy = self.last_aux_file_policy.load();
         match current_policy {
             Some(AuxFilePolicy::V1) => {
-                warn!("this timeline is using deprecated aux file policy V1 (policy=V1)");
-                self.list_aux_files_v1(lsn, ctx).await
+                let res = self.list_aux_files_v1(lsn, ctx).await?;
+                let empty_str = if res.is_empty() { ", empty" } else { "" };
+                warn!(
+                    "this timeline is using deprecated aux file policy V1 (policy=v1{empty_str})"
+                );
+                Ok(res)
             }
             None => {
                 let res = self.list_aux_files_v1(lsn, ctx).await?;
@@ -1657,7 +1661,7 @@ impl<'a> DatadirModification<'a> {
                 if aux_files_key_v1.is_empty() {
                     None
                 } else {
-                    warn!("this timeline is using deprecated aux file policy V1");
+                    warn!("this timeline is using deprecated aux file policy V1 (detected existing v1 files)");
                     self.tline.do_switch_aux_policy(AuxFilePolicy::V1)?;
                     Some(AuxFilePolicy::V1)
                 }
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
index 6eadf9a56448..3b8f19a6c088 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
@@ -2243,7 +2243,7 @@ impl Timeline {
             };
 
             if aux_file_policy == Some(AuxFilePolicy::V1) {
-                warn!("this timeline is using deprecated aux file policy V1");
+                warn!("this timeline is using deprecated aux file policy V1 (when loading the timeline)");
             }
 
             result.repartition_threshold =