Some Quality Arrives!

After getting up this morning I checked my phone to see I had received a text message from Derek Smith alerting me that he had just found a Yellow browed Warbler at Shuart. After getting ready I made my way over there about 9.15am and after speaking to Derek made my way to the area he had seen it in. The sun was in and out and by now the wind had picked up considerably, not ideal conditions for finding a little bird in the tree tops. I wandered around for half an hour or so not hearing or seeing it. I did see c5 Goldrest, 1 Chiffchaff, 5 Long tailed Tit, 3 Siskin flew south, 1 Common Buzzard flew over and my first Fieldfare of the autumn called as it flew over. I made my way back to the original area and set about looking again. I soon picked up a small bird in the tree tops moving through and after getting on to it, could see it was the Yellow browed Warbler. It called occasionally and seemed to be moving along the hedge line so I moved in front of it hoping I would be able to get a record shot of it. Rather than auto focus which was picking up on the leaves I opted for manual focus and with a bit of patience I managed to get a few shots of this little beauty. The second shot is not that good but I liked the way the sun caught the eye stripe making it stand out.

Yellow browed Warbler

It was not easy work, the settings constantly being changed as it went from dark in the tree to brighter in the tree tops. Needless to say, my use of settings was not very good but I managed along with Mike Gould who joined me a set of usable images.

Yellow browed Warbler

I left it in peace and decided to walk down to the sea and west to Chambers Wall and back through Chambers Wall. The sun was quite warm when out but a strong wind I suspect kept the small stuff down. Birds noted were 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 15 Skylark, 26 Mute Swan, 3 Grey Heron, 1 Kestrel, 35 Lapwing, 1 Rock Pipit, 1 Black Redstart east of Coldharbour on rocks 1 Curlew, 15 Ringed Plover, 54 Mallard, 13 Oystercatcher and 5 Sanderling. There were 3 Grey Plover, 2 Turnstone, 3 Stonechat, 1 Jay, 3 Redshank, 2 Marsh Harrier and 2 Green Woodpecker. Iv'e not many shots of Yellow browed from anywhere and only a few dodgy one from a few years back at Reculver so to get some today was very pleasing on the patch.

Yellow browed Warbler