Dusky Warbler

Went to Arbroath today to see the Dusky Warbler - saw it so that's okay - yeah?

Well yeah but no but...

Arbroath has a one-way system, must have driven round it five times before giving up on parking where I'd planned and parked on a street close by. Well in fact it was actually closer and better than where I'd planned, but could have been better - but that's okay - yeah?

Arrived at the site and there were about six other birders. The bird had been seen but only fleeting glimpses as it roamed up and down a heavily vegetated willow filled gully - it'll be okay - yeah?

Over the course of the next three hours we scanned the gully. Some birders like standing still, I'm more of a roaming about man myself. The first sighting came while I had found something in the middle of the gully, but others at the end of the gully were calling us over. I caught a few glimpses of a bird - it was definitely a bird, others were saying it's definitely a Dusky Warbler - so that's okay - definitely not!

A few dispersed after this sighting, a few new faces arrived. I decided to stop the roaming and took a seat at the start of the gully. Today's photo is my view - exciting yeah?

Eventually lost patience with sitting still and as I was wandering towards the end of the gully there was another sighting, not by me though even though there were instructions being given, but one V in a willow tree looks a lot like another V in a willow tree. It had flown a bit left, so we worked the area and reconnected with the bird, this time I saw it fairly well and was happy to agree it was a Dusky Warber. So that's okay - yeah?

Well RCB wanted a photo so while most birders departed, three of us remained and again we found the bird, and actually had good views even if through vegetation and willow branches, but really not much chance of a photo. RCB tried but lost the bird between swapping binoculars for camera and even though being told where it was and firing off a few shots, they all missed. We all decided that was as good as it was going to get and for me after three hours of scanning vegetation and willow scrub I was quite happy to say yeah, that was okay.

RCB found a nice Dunlin on the beach, so he didn't sulk for too long.