Burton Washlands - on 23rd May, 2010

This day I went on another of Dave Scattergood's excellent birdwalks. This one was on a patch that I've never been to before. Dave is a life-long birder, has amazing powers of observation, and hearing that can pick out a Lesser Whitethroat cough at 500 metres! He, therefore, always manages to find a great number of birds that I would never have spotted, or would fail to identify. However, his walks tend not to yield too many photographic opportunities, and this was to be the case on this day.

I was very pleased with the Speckled Wood that settled on a nettle that was in bright sunlight whilst the surroundings were in deep shadow.

Speckled Wood

At one point a male Whitethroat flew onto the fence in front of us - closely followed by a female! - closely followed by a male!! - closely followed by a female!!! There was then a bit of a 'ding dong' before they flew off - presumably some sort of territory dispute.

Whitethroat (male)

Whitethroat (female)

It was also good to see the Banded Agrions (my first damselfly/dragonfly sightings this year).

Banded Agrion (male)

Having listened to a few Garden Warblers singing from well inside the foliage, and occasionally flitting from tree to tree, one eventually came out into the open to sing, even if it was distant!

Garden Warbler - record shot!

Just as we were heading back to the car park, we came across a group of newly fledged Long-tailed Tits, which were quite confiding, but which I could not get a good photographic bead on.

Long-tailed Tit (juvenile)

Thank you, Dave, for another fascinating walk.