Marmora's Warbler:The Return

Having spoken with Richard Smith and Dan during the week and being totally dissatisfied with the photos I managed on my first visit the three of us plus the young "Twitchmeister" headed back up to Blorenge on Saturday afternoon in the hope of better views and some much better photographs for myself.

We had all seen the bird and Richard had already managed some superb images on a couple of previous visits during the week and being "in the know" advised that mid-afternoon appeared a good time with the bird showing much better and giving closer views once the crowd of visiting birders had thinned out.

We arrived at about 2.30pm and would have arrived sooner if Richard hadn't taken us on the scenic route via Govilon although I have to admit that the views from the more easterly approach were stunning !

The bird had been showing about 10 mins before our arrival but such was our luck that it decided to keep it's head down for a further 45 mins or so before putting in another appearance.

It showed at various distances whilst doing it's circuit but didn't come close enough to get a good photo.

As the afternoon wore on birders left and the numbers dwindled until there were only a handful of us left,true to form and exactly as Richard had suggested the bird started to perform really well and eventually came close enough to get what I hoped were some really good shots.

Myself and Richard let loose with the 7Ds and both Dan and Gethin got "crippling" views.

It scuttled about in a spindly gorse bush at the side of the road and with the sun behind us and fully on the bird it gave great views.

It disappeared again for a while before reappearing on the other side of the road but this time sillouetted in bright light which made life a little difficult,I ended up overexposing a little too much but Richard excellent photographer that he is shifted position to get some greenary behind the bird,must remember that handy tip next time.

We had experienced great views,I had got the photos I wanted,Richard had added to his already vast catalogue of images of the bird and both Dan and Geth had got brilliant views,"everyone a winner" and we headed home a happy bunch (although this time we took the shorter route via Blaenavon !!)