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Sunday 31 July 2016

Lesser Whitethroat, other Warblers and butterflies at RSPB Greylake!

Yesterday afternoon the sun came out for the first time in a few days and I popped to RSPB Greylake, knowing full well that birds would be hard to see and photograph as the undergrowth has grown very high, hiding most of them! However, I was hoping to get some butterflies, and there were plenty about, mainly Peacocks, Red Admirals and Cabbage Whites.
   It was whilst photographing them that I noticed a small patch of undergrowth where small birds were flitting about, occasionally showing briefly on an old dead branch. I stood motionless in one spot for about an hour, and in that time I had repeated views of 5 or 6 different Warblers, all in the same spot!! The best being a Lesser Whitethroat, an uncommon and elusive Warbler that I'd never seen at Greylake before, and had only ever seen 4 or 5 times in my whole life!
  The others were Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Common Whitethroat and possibly a young Chiffchaff, though this could've been a young Willow Warbler, as they're very hard to tell apart when they're not singing!
   Amazing to see so many different Warblers in one tiny spot!

Below are some of my captures from yesterday;







^Above^ - The Lesser Whitethroat, posing quite nicely!


^Above^ - Common Whitethroat.






^Above^ - Reed Warblers.


^Above^ - Willow Warbler.



^Above^ - Sedge Warbler...it was seen in the same spot but not photographed, these pics are from another part of the reserve.






^Above^ - Could be young Chiffchaffs or Willow Warblers, hard to tell as adult Willow Warblers have light coloured legs, though young ones legs can be dark like a Chiffchaffs!


^Above^ - Wren with food, in the same spot as the Warblers!





^Above^ - Great White Egret.



^Above^ - Little Egret.


^Above^ - Male Reed Bunting.


^Above^ - Grey Heron.







^Above^ - Cabbage White Butterflies.





^Above^ - Peacock Butterflies.





^Above^ - Red Admiral Butterflies.


^Above^ - Tortoiseshell Butterly.




^Above^ - Dragonflies.




^Above^ - Greylake flowers.