After a check round East Runton drew a blank on the migrant front, I then moved on to the lighthouse area and whilst taking my usual route through Warren Wood my attention was grabbed by a series of loud disyllabic calls, very akin to that given by a Pied Wagtail, coming from an area of trees just in front, and although I was initially puzzled by the call, an educated guess was that it may well be a Greenish Warbler given that there had been 3 others reported along the coast over the last couple of days.
Although the calls quickly stopped I guessed they had been eminating from a holm oak on a high point above so I carefully made my way up the slope and under the tree hoping that it was still in there. After a few seconds I glimpsed a movement above me and quickly ascertained that it was indeed a warbler and then with brief tantilising views through the foliage started to note its appearance - nice clean white underparts, pink lower mandible and a fairly strong supercilium. Frustratingly I was only getting it from underneath so I was actively willing it to give me a decent view of the wings, and after what seemed like an age it finally obliged to reveal to my delight a wing-bar and fully confirmed my suspicions as to its id.
I quickly phoned my Dad and another local who were both on site within minutes, and although I'd temporarily lost sight of it whilst making the calls, I soon noticed a movement within another holm oak, but before I could get a look at what it was it began to call loudly to reveal it was indeed the Greenish as it took flight and disappeared off over the tree tops out of sight but continuing to call loudly upon landing.
It was then a further hour and three-quarters before it again called but remained undetected in the canopy, and then a little while later during a short burst of sunshine my attention was drawn to an unfamiliar song coming from the area of the original holm oak, which was a very quiet jittering Wren like song, and although I vaguely considered it at the time, I didn't realise until checking later that it was indeed the Greenish probably doing a sub-song.
With no further sign and the evening starting to close in, I decided to call it a day hoping it would be around tomorrow, and obviously I was elated at the find and that others had connected too, with it being only my second patch record following one at Sidestrand which was part of the August 2007 influx to the county.
