Barred Warbler (Sylvia nisoria L.) Titchfield Haven

Undertook two successful trips to Titchfield Haven to catch up with the very showy Barred warbler which had been giving confiding views in the Visitor Centre garden since the 3rd of Dec. The bird being originally seen on the 19th Nov by a number of observers - but then went unreported until the 3rd of December.

We visited on the 10th December and enjoyed exceptional views minutes after our arrival. However, because the weather forecast had been so dreadful, I had left the camera at home. As such, I only managed a cheeky phone video on the day .. 3 seconds of distant grainy grey flutter as it flew across the path in front of us.

This morning I returned, camera in tow with the 200mm lens only - as the 400mm is still awaiting repair! The food plant it had previously fed on was denuded of berries. The bird had been seen - albeit briefly - an hour before my arrival, by the pond on the eastern side of the reserve. It took almost another hour before it was relocated in the hedge line of the car park by the Sailing Club.

Having been refound the bird soon flushed back to the hedgerow leading to the Visitor Centre garden gradually making it's way back to a berry-full cotoneaster, where by it gave crippling views for about 15-20mins - feeding then skulking - feeding then skulking - before disappearing into a dense dogwood and out of sight. Even with the 200mm lens I was struggling to get the camera to work fast enough to freeze the motion. In all the ISO went up so high - I could only hope for a grainy record shot - and I was not to be disappointed!

Barred warbler (Cropped record shot)