Singing Sedge Warbler

One of those spur of the moment ideas that went rather well ..

Woke up to a bright and sunny morning at silly o clock. I decided it was rather too good to waste, and I was wide awake, so I got up, got dressed and headed to Newport Wetlands.

It really was a case of the early worm catching the birds. It was glorious when I got there, and I was the only one there at 8am. That was a first. I have been there early before and the car park has had several cars in it. But not today.

By lucky coincidence it was a Spring High Tide too, and the tide had come right up to the sea wall. The first time I have seen that high. There were several sea ducks and Canadian Geese paddling past the seawall. It was a new perspective on things.

The reed beds were alive with warblers. Very quickly I saw my first Reed Warbler of 2013, that was followed by something rather special. There was a distinctive song coming from the reeds, one that sounds like no other ... google Grasshopper Warbler song and you will see why it is called so.

Being there early should have increased my chances of a Bearded Tit photo. I heard several. I saw a couple. I photographed none! Ah well ...

The magical moment of the day must have been this displaying Sedge Warbler. It is another in-flight songster. Taking to the air in short flights and belting out a virtuoso burst of song before floating back into the reed beds. I took up a position and just waited until it climbed a reed bed in plain sight to get this photo. It took me about twenty minutes. I think it was twenty minutes well spent!

I left with a record breaking (for me) 50 species day!

Top top birding at a location some people have the audacity to say has no birds!

To put the icing on the cake, this photo taken with my humble iPhone got used on the BBC Wales weather forecast all day! Just goes to show you don't need a big fancy camera to take a nice photo!

More photos from the day can be found in my Newport Wetlands Spring 2013 Flickr Set.