First stop of the day today was Warren Wood and as I entered the wood I thought to myself on a day as nice and sunny as today if there were any Chiffchaffs about they'd surely be singing, and within 5 seconds of that thought I heard one singing just in front of me! A second bird was also heard but my phone then rang and it was my Dad letting me know that he had located a roosting Tawny Owl in Felbrigg Park.
So the Chiffchaffs were left till later and I quickly made my way to Felbrigg as Tawny Owls are hard birds to actually see on the patch, although I hear them calling now and again from the house throughout the year. Fortunately it was still present when I arrived buried deep inside a conifer with just its head and the top of its breast on view, and was as always a very nice bird to see. Whilst we were watching it a few Crossbills were heard flying around the trees and a couple of Sparrowhawks were circling up high over the park.
We then returned to Warren Wood where after initially hearing one in song again, I eventually located one of the Chiffchaffs high up in the trees where it was seen chasing off both Great Tit and Blue Tit when they got too close to it.
A Small Tortoiseshell was on the adjacent playing field, and a male Stonechat was watched flycatching from the bracken tops on the edge of the golf course.
I then went to Trimingham where I quickly located a singing Firecrest which had been seen earlier in the morning, and after a walk along the clifftops there, I found a second bird in Pond Plantation. Just to make sure it wasn't the original bird just having moved I rechecked the first bird was still there, which it was, and I managed a quick picture of it through the branches.
