Twitching Sardinian Warbler

A male Sardinian Warbler in Spain in the summer - today's bird at St Abb's looked about 100x smarter!

We had a family walk today at St Abb's Head. Not because there is a cracking male Sardinian Warbler there, but let's say it didn't exactly put me off. On arrival at the Mire Loch, two birders told us that they had waited 7 hours for a view so I was pretty much certain that we would just be walking and not watching. The rest of the family seemed happy to let me have a few minutes to have a look around the favoured areas of gorse and bramble so I decided to give the area a quick circuit before continuing. Deep within the first area I checked I could hear a subdued complex warble and thought that I might be onto something. I quickly got my camera out but before I was quite ready the stunning Sardinian Warbler had hopped up onto the top of a sprig of gorse. As I pointed the camera it disappeared into the thicket again with a scolding call. Wow! I wasn't expecting that to be so easy. No picture, but a stunning close view in good light, with the bird's plumage looking much smarter than the moulting birds that I was looking at in Spain in July. Anyway, five minutes effort and its on my British list and we can get on with the family walk. Only difference is that now I seem to be much better company! Maybe I could get used to this twitching... Meanwhile here are some more Sardinian Warbler shots taken in Spain this summer - just as difficult to photograph as today's bird.