Our Big Year quest was over, we'd done enough travelling for one year, but we just couldn't resist ending the year by driving up to Earls Barton Gravel Pits near Wellingborough, to see another Yellow-browed Warbler. In fact there were two frequenting a hedgerow next to Mary's Lake at the northern end of the Summer Leys Nature Reserve and I'd seen some very nice photos online of the birds. We hadn't seen a YBW since the third day of 2022, having missed out on a Cornwall odyssey in October this time. Summer Leys has always been kind to us as well, we had superb views of a Purple Heron there a couple of years ago (see here) and had watched several Jack Snipe there earlier in the year.
I also had a new "toy" having finally taking possession of the Canon EOS R7 camera after waiting patiently for almost four months for it to arrive. The R7 is one of the new fangled mirrorless cameras and by most reports is a fantastic bit of kit. What better bird to give it it's first airing on than an energetic and haywire Yellow-browed warbler!
It was the 29 of December and it happened to be a fine sunny day, it's always a bonus to have nice weather for viewing small birds that like the cover of trees and bushes, and it would help me master some of the settings of the new camera. Although I've used Canon cameras for some years now, I had never held a mirrorless version before and there was sure to be some differences particularly with the controls. We parked easily at the end of the adjacent lane to the pits and walked back to join the dozen or so other birders who were there.
We spotted a Yellow-browed Warbler even before we reached the obvious viewpoint. One of the little sprites fluttered about very close to the ground right in front of us, and probably no more than twenty feet away. I aimed the camera, fully expecting to capture my best ever shots of a YBW. However, I had of course, momentarily forgotten that this was my first go with the R7, and those expectations were wishful thinking. When I had worked out a few minutes later on how to review the images they were all out of focus! Rather than continue watching the bird which had flown back to the sanctuary of the dense hedge, I checked some settings. I tried again but failed to focus properly once more. This continued for twenty minutes, and I was missing out on some potentially fabulous images. My old D90 was in the car and Mrs Caley, sensing my growing frustration, kindly offered to retrieve it but I decided to soldier on with the new kit. I had to, I just had to familiarise myself with the R7 and the YBW was a willing subject even if it was tricky to follow.
As mentioned earlier, there were two YBW's frequenting the area, and we got a quick view of both in a taller tree. Unfortunately the two birds seemed intolerant of each other and a quick battle commenced resulting in one, the brightest plumaged bird, ousting the other. Luckily for me though, the victor then settled onto a high branch and preened. Lucky because I now had an almost stationary subject to photograph which I finally managed to get in focus too. I felt a little bit better. It had taken me a good half hour to get some usable images.
The side of the hedge that we faced was illuminated nicely by the sunshine so that whenever one of the YBW's descended down into the brambles it would give fabulous close and bright views. I slowly got used to the focusing and ultra fast speed of the camera and began to get some decent images. I still had teething problems though, and wished I'd spent a bit of time photographing birds in my garden before chucking myself in at the deep end. I couldn't work out how to sharpen the viewfinder image for instance, and still couldn't for a few weeks afterwards until I finally realised that Canon had merely moved the sharpening wheel to the other side (doh)! The camera was also too quick, it was rattling off almost ten frames per second, which is great, but if the focus was out then I then had duplicate blurry images to delete. I would later slow the camera down to just three frames per second which suits me better. And of course being mirrorless there was no shutter noise which took some getting used to especially when shooting rapidly. Slowly however, I was growing into it and felt happy that I'd persevered with the R7 rather than reverting back to the older model. There were other minor nuances that I had to master but an hour into my first stint I had already secured better photos of a Yellow-browed Warbler than I'd ever managed before.
I could watch Yellow-browed's all day but if I had done then I'd have had to spend the next fortnight reviewing the images taken. In that first hour I had taken almost five hundred images. A lot of them would be deleted, however, but some were worthy of saving.
Although there were two Yellow-browed Warblers present, one was much brightly coloured than the other but there was never any mention of the duller bird that was originally touted as a rarer Hume's Warbler but which had been clearly identified as another YBW. I'm pretty sure that the more sombre plumaged individual never came into clear view, it always seemed to get chased off by the other bird, so all my photos are of the brighter bird which continued to show brilliantly throughout our two hour stay.
Both the bird and the camera were superb and I couldn't wait to get out again and try the latter out some more. I spent a lot of time in the evening editing the photos taken, which was actually a lot easier and quicker than before since the images were much sharper and better exposed. All I really had to do was to crop the photos to the size I wanted. I also read through the camera manual to see what else I could do with it and to discover how to improve on my skills. The R7 was definitely new territory for me, I am definitely not technically savvy and do muddle along somewhat but I was excited about using the new kit. I had a feeling it would prove to be a game changer for me.
Little did I know that my next outing, the following day, would be to see another YBW!
While we had been watching the YBW's at Earls Barton, I received a message from our local Oxon birding group informing that a "dull" Yellow-browed Warbler had been found in Oxford. It was too late in the day to leave the Earls Barton birds and travel to Oxford before the daylight would go but the possibility of to being a "dull" bird got my attention, as it would do for every Oxon birder. If the "dull" YBW actually turned out to be a much rarer Hume's Leaf Warbler then that would be a potential county tick for us. In the event by the end of the afternoon the bird had been confirmed as being a YBW so there was no need to panic since I had already had the species on my Oxfordshire list.
As I've mentioned previously, I can't get enough of Yellow-browed Warblers so after sitting out some pretty awful wet and windy conditions the following morning, a break in the weather saw us travel to Donnington Bridge which spans the River Thames in the south of Oxford. Because of the holiday it was easy to park and we made our way briskly over a smaller bridge over the weir stream to the area where our good friend Steve Roby had discovered the bird the day before. Another friend of ours, Tom Bedford, was already there but up to that point hadn't located the bird which was reported to be feeding in roadside trees. The road is busy so there is much background noise to combat against and the afternoon was dreary with dark skies and little light was penetrating into the trees and understory. While Tom searched from the ground beneath the trees we centred our search from the roadside, looking down into the trees. Some twenty minutes later a shout from Tom alerted us to the fact that he had skilfully found the YBW, high up in the trees but feeding around some thick ivy covered branches. The bird was difficult to observe and photography was a non-starter but a few minutes later we had added another YBW to our growing collection.
We were on our own, Tom was happy with his views and had left for home. That turned out to be a wise decision because ten minutes later the heavens opened and we got a proper drenching. There was no further sign of the YBW so after huddling under an overhanging tree for a while in a forlorn attempt to stay out of the worse of the rain, we decided to head off home ourselves. As we reached the road I spotted a small bird feeding in the outer branches of a tree next to the path. Instantly I knew it was the YBW, and a quick check through the binoculars confirmed it. I aimed the camera and took some shots, dark and dingy owing to the low shutter speed, but they'd count as a record nonetheless. Unfortunately on review of the images I realised that I'd photographed a Goldcrest which must have been feeding in the same tree at the same time and I inadvertently had locked onto the wrong bird!
Another couple joined us in the resumed search but for the next half hour there was no further sign of the YBW. The rain had abated at least but it was still lousy weather for birding and photography. A shout of "there it is" had us running back to the same spot that we'd checked for ourselves just minutes before. I'm usually good at clocking the small birds but today I was right out of luck it seemed. Still I was happy to get another chance. This time I was able to follow the correct bird through the branches and gain some satisfactory record shots of the YBW.
New Year's Eve was marked by more atrocious weather and we were stuck indoors. For most of the day I prepared The Old Caley End of Year Review. Around lunchtime I glanced out of the window at my feeding station and caught a glimpse of a small grey bird flitting away from a seed feeder into the Pyracanthas that overhangs my rear fence. I stood watching and a few minutes later saw a male Blackcap poke its head out of the bush.
This sighting caused great excitement amongst the Old Caley household since it was the first Blackcap we'd seen in our garden for seven years. I grabbed the camera and took some shots of the bedraggled and smoking wet bird through the kitchen windows.
The Blackcap wasn't around on New Year's Day but I felt happy that we'd helped it through an awful wet day by providing some nourishment. Hopefully it won't be another seven years until we see another garden Blackcap.
great blog as usually Nick and cracking photos!!!
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