June 2nd 2026
I was sitting here at the Mac editing photos (for a change) when i got an email from Jenny, telling me she kept seeing a Redstart over in a specific area of the patch, Merlin tells us there are Redstart around quite often but I have yet to see one, I will persevere so, on this occasion, I donned suitable patch wandering attire and headed over that way.
We ended up meeting there and having a chat about the possible Redstart and the area in general before i decided to wander on down to the Fox den and see what I might see.
Warning – This post may contain photographs of warblers 😉
I saw quite a bit as it turned out but, not one Fox. Some of you may remember that I’ve been lurking in that area quite a bit recently, watching for Fox cubs but also, listening to an elusive Garden Warbler which continues to sing its heart out from the surrounding cover but pop out to be photographed? Not a chance. I did get a couple of distant shots a few days back, good enough to confirm ID but I really wanted to get some decent shots.
On May 22nd I heard and spotted it in a distant tree and got those shots, good enough for someone on Bird Forum to confirm ID for me.
There’s a Willow Warbler that pops onto a dead Gorse bush and watches and sings at me every time I go down there so, i started my time with a couple of long shots of it.
In fact, that tree in the second shot, is the usual hiding & singing tree for the bird I have been stalking 🙂
I’d only been there for about 8 minutes but I’d not even heard the Garden Warbler, I could hear all sorts, all around me except that and then …. a short burst of song from the same tree and ….
A warbler flew out of the undergrowth and onto the Gorse in front of me.
It was a wee bit bigger than the Willow and a just looked …. different.
I was pretty sure it was the Garden Warbler. I had put my old AF-S 300mm lens on this morning; I’d been editing photos and realised that the clarity with a prime lens was better than my Z160-800mm but, it didn’t have the same reach.
Now, when I’m editing these shots, I try to keep them as real as possible so, the first above is as produced out of the camera, the second is cropped closer, lightened slightly and resized only.
They’re not all great images but, much better views of the bird than those at the start and they also gave a full view of it.
All these shots have been cropped but, to centralise the bird as much as possible without cropping too close.
It was now foraging right in front of me and not too far away, what a change from standing near a tree for a couple of hours! Having said that, I’m hoping they are all Garden Warbler!
I was standing next to the deer fence which protects the shelter belt area and the bird landed on it and stayed long enough for me to slowly turn about 45° with the camera still at me eye.
It dropped down the wire …
I really liked the second shot above, then gone. It disappeared for a couple of minutes, which felt longer at the time.
I took a couple of shots of the Willow Warbler in its regular position, there was now a Chiffchaff calling in the undergrowth as well.
A bird flew out from the shelter belt and landed on the Gorse a little further away, I included the shots here because it just looks a bit different but, I think it is still Garden Warbler.
My memory tells me it was still Garden Warbler song. I guess what I was now seeing was a bird with hungry mouths to feed, hence it was now out in the open and foraging for food, it would appear in front of me, then disappear back into the trees and shrubs and repeat.
OK, that is a lot of photos of one warbler. I was very happy to be allowed to get so many and I might now recognise one in the future and not just by the call.
See, other birds were available 🙂 There’s a Dunnock nest in that Gorse somewhere too.
Oooops, more Garden Warbler! Well, it was a first for me 🙂
Oh look! A Reed Bunting male, the area is full of lovely wee birds but today was pretty dull and overcast so they were kind of quiet.
OK, last set. It flew out of the Gorse, right by me and started foraging in the scrub behind me.
You’ll be pleased to hear that I started making my way back up the hill at this point, there’s only so many images you can take of one bird, right?
The green lane, as I call it, runs along the top of this area so I decided to head along that way for a change.
There are Willow Warblers all around at the moment, as I headed on along the lane, I could see a small group of small birds flitting ahead of me.
Sorry, distant shots but they are lovely birds, I called the last shot of three, the law of ever diminishing Linnet! 🙂
I was back between two rows of Gorse and the bird calls and songs were all around me, Blackbirds and Song Thrush singing or calling loudly, very peaceful then a Sedge Warbler joined in. The very first time I ever heard and saw one was way back in S. Wales above the village of Solva (an older post of memories from Wales)
I stood on the opposite side of the clearway to give it some space and up it popped, watching me and calling loudly, they have a great and varied call and song.
Look at the colours inside that open beak! It took off and flew around behind me, calling all the way and I realised I could probably capture a few shots in flight if it flew back ….
You can see that it was calling the entire flight but it landed and dropped out of sight again so I moved on. Wait.
What’s that?
Oh no! Another Garden Warbler!? Really? Yes, in fact I think there were a couple of them but …. I won’t inflict any more shots on you 🙂
In fact they flew into the nearby trees and disappeared so I moved on and ….. that’s where I will finally end this post.
I’d had yet another great session out on the patch, there was more to see and the wildlife cam to check but, I’ll save that for another time.
Stay safe and well and thank you for dropping by.
patch photos
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