Yellow Rumped Warbler - High Shincliffe

What can i say; 11 hours round trip and did i need a beer after it or what, luckily the fridge cooperated. 

4.30am on Saturday i was on for the longest twitch i have done so far, the Yellow Rumped Warbler - High Shincliffe. Monster winds, driving rain, diversions and i hate to say but a very nasty; ridiculously awful; my thoughts are with the relatives accident. It wasn't even 6am.

I think if both me and monkey are truthful we were both glad to get to Mackie Dees for a break from the road even if we still had a stretch to go, plus it was still dark and we had no news on the Warbler.

We get to Shincliffe and start to head towards the birds location, not many cars but enough, we knew others would be there already. As we walk the bend, all eyes were to the skies, it was there and in view. A brief run and we're both straight on it. Yellow Rumped Warbler - Tick no7 for 2014.

Tree to Tree, to Coconuts, Roofs and hedging all in sight with good views for about half an hour before it heads off.

We take our leave at this point looking for the Waxings in the area; these were not to be found. A little news from a local who had just walked from somewhere through some woods, a Willow Tit. We didn't find that either but wasn't that concerned after all we had just seen Myrtle.

Back to the bird and we spent some more time watching it flit about in the bushes around the coconuts, this time preferring to stay within them. A brief chat with a few of the other London guys and we came home..

Photo by Martin Blow - Cheers for driving