An ‘Icky’ & Greenish

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It was nice to see good friend Andy during my early morning walk. Neither of us had been able to get out during the late arrival of migrants the previous day and we were hoping for a consolation.

I’d already had a Hobby stirring up the hirundines and a Whimbrel heading high to the south. The target however was small passerines. A few Whitethroats and a Lesser Whitethroat had set the scene and Andy and I watched a couple of Blackcaps rumble through an elderberry as we stood chatting. We were just about to move on when the elongated form of a pale warbler perched up in front of us; an Icterine Warbler! It showed a little and then it too moved on. The hill here in Northrepps is good at turning things up … but they don’t stick. It’s nearly always a case of find it or miss it.

Revelling in our good fortune we both eventually returned to our timetable.

I checked a few other likely places and turned up Chiffchaffs and the like but as the day cleared it was obvious things had in the main resumed their migration.

Back at Falcon Cottage a tame Southern Hawker demanded a macro lens to show her off in all her glory. As I lay recumbent on the lawn I heard a scalding squeak behind me, A Greenish Warbler landed among the wild flowers called again and headed off west; the second good bird of the day but far too brief. Despite looking in all the likely places down in the village I couldn’t relocate it.

A flock … well, three … Pied Flycatchers and a dark Chiffchaff, I couldn’t metamorphose into anything else, were consolatory.

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