On Wednesday morning I went over to the sewage works in a village called Sedgeberrow which is a couple of miles west of Evesham.My target was a Yellow Browed Warbler that had been there for a couple of weeks.
Seeing it would not be a tick for me as I'd seen some in Norfolk a few years ago but had not got any shots despite trying for ages at both Titchwell and Wells Woods.They are little devils to get shots of as they ping around a lot deep in the gloom of bushes and trees.
I was taking a bit of a chance that it was still there because there had been no reports for a few days now.Got to Sedgeberrow just before 10.00 AM and little did I know at the time I was about to make the first of many mistakes I made that day.I searched for quite a while in the village for somewhere to park which was not easy and when I eventually did find a spot I had driven so far I had a very long walk back to the sewage works.
When I got near the sewage works path I bumped into a local birder who was walking her dog and she said my best bet for getting shots at this time of day was to go down the path on the other side of the river to the sewage works.This turned out to be another mistake.
Got down to the spot she'd advised and had good but pretty distant views of the sewage works.The good news was the bird was still there but it favoured the fence line on the west side of the sewage works approx. 60 m away and never came any closer during my 90 minute stay.These are the only shots I could manage.Oh Dear ! ! !
Did not see any other birders at all and my only friend was a Robin who I'm sure was telling me I was in the wrong spot.
Feeling knackered and badly in need of refreshments I headed all the way back to the to the car to grab some lunch (should have taken it with me another mistake).After lunch feeling refreshed and the weather still pretty decent I thought as I was here I'd have another go this time I had a plan.I had spotted on my walk back to the car that if I cut across a couple of crop fields I could get right down to the sewage works on the right side of the river.
This plan worked a treat till I got within 20 m of the sewage works and another mistake occurred.A timber post and rail fence approx. 1 m high with chain link fencing at the bottom and barred wire at the top blocked my way.This would be easy for a young person to climb over but for an old goat it was a formidable barrier.Managed it but very nervously and with lots of swearing.Ended up with a cut hand and a tear in my trousers.
I was now in a good spot to get shots of the YBW being pretty close to the fence line on the western side of the sewage works.I soon had a few glimpses of it pinging around in the gloom of the hedgerow but was having trouble being distracted by a pair of Robins, a Dunnock, 3 LT Tits and a pair of Wrens also using the hedgerow.
Another mistake occurred now because also flitting around here was a Chiffchaff and I didn't know till I got back home and was checking my shots on the computer that I had taken lots of shots of a Chiffchaff when I thought I was getting shots of a YBW. At this point I panicked that I had not got any shots of the YBW.My only excuse is that you only get a very quick chance of a bird flitting round in the hedgerow and you've got no time to ID it first.
Luckily I did manage a few half decent first shots of the YBW.
On my way home I made another mistake.Keen to have a coffee I called in at a McDonalds at a service station near Alcester.It tasted like canal water and I had to leave it.
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