A phone call had quickened my pace. Andy had heard a series of unusual calls from a chiffchaff down in the village and he thought he had himself a tristis.
A Siberian Chiffchaff is a moody looking eastern waif with a voice complex. Immediately I saw the bird I thought it was too pale but soon realised the plumage was being bleached out by the bright morning sunshine. Difficult to photograph; hard to control the exposure as the bird flitted inside the shadows of the hedgerow and then perched bathed in the whitest of light. Then it called … I had no hesitation … it was a Siberian.
The bird disappeared with Andy. As he left he perhaps took it with him in his pocket! It was either that or the large lorry that swept the hedgerow with frosty morning air. Try as I might I couldn’t relocate it.
I’ll leave it to Andy to disseminate the sonograms. He had the foresight to record the bird calling and has a mastery of sound beyond my means; but to me it sounded good.
Another photo is on Andys blog at https://sites.google.com/site/tg23birdininabox/
Letter From Norfolk 