Western Orphean Warbler.
This has been one of my best autmns for birding in many years and i added another new bird to my life list with the superb Western Orphean Warbler which is residing in Pembrokeshire South Wales , a pretty much uneventful journey soon had me parked up on site at approx 6.15 am , i made my way down to the house where the warbler had been seen the previous 5 days in their garden , i joined the already assembled birders and waited for the sunrise , as first light appeared there were one or two glimpses of a warbler in the nearby apple trees but nothing conclusive .
Then a birder further down the line to my right picked out the the Western Orphean Warbler on the furthest back apple tree , which was very difficult to get on in our position , however eventually we all managed to connect with this superb warbler , in an approx 3 hour period we got some really great views although i never managed a photo as rather frustratingly the bird was always behind leaves or moving around in the apple trees , a decent pic of its face where you can clearly see the white iris and long bill of this bird , it had a very dark crown which contrasted with the the white chin and upper breast .
One of many Ravens at Dale airfield.
I only had time for one more location after spending quality time observing the Western Orphean Warbler and that was at Dale Airfield where we had some decent views of 9 Lapland Buntings which were a very welcome year tick for me , these were very flighty but occasionally i managed to view them feeding in the long grass . i also saw a couple of Stonechats and plenty of Ravens here.
Record shot of 8 of the Lapland Buntings in flight.
2 Lapland Buntings feeding in long grass.
A special thankyou to the residents of the house for letting us all access their garden.
There is still time to have a go on my " Just for fun Quiz " just leave your answer in comments and i will reveal answer and correct entries tomorrow.
