Mega-Rare Green Warbler and Perching Albatross

Another long drive to a familiar haunt (Bempton RSPB) paid dividends and this time, not just with the long-staying Albatross, but with an ultra-rare "phyllosc" - Green Warbler (formally the nitidus sub-species of Greenish, recently split). It had arrived at the Heligoland trap in the bushes between Bempton and Buckton a little earlier in the week but was seen first thing on the Saturday (11th Sep), so I dashed over to join the crowds. This was, after all, the first twitchable mainland bird of its kind - and only the 9th for Britain. I knew it might be hard to pin down (reports mention it being highly elusive), and sure enough it took the best part of 4 hours to get good views. Pleasingly, I eventually managed to get myself in the right spot to connect with the bird and got some pretty decent images (some of the best I've seen on the internet to date, I think) but this took numerous attempts and numerous dips, running from one viewing place to another, with me often missing the bird by seconds. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the 'ride' on the seaward side of the plantation provided the best shelter in the strong wind and proved to be the favoured location for the warbler; I decided to settle here and wait...and the strategy eventually paid off. Sure, not the most spectacular or distinctive of birds, the main clues to its identity being the strong yellow supercilium (which did not extend to the forehead, like it does on Greenish), the small faint wing-bar (some have more distinct ones, even a second) and 'wood-warbler-green' upperparts. To all intents and purposes, it looked very similar to the nearby Willow Warblers. (The silver ring on its right leg certainly helped!) It didn't help, I suppose, that this was a first-winter bird and was probably less well-marked than the typical birds of its kind.

This is best shot, probably, heavily cropped (and not quite as sharp as I would have liked - how I wished I'd used a faster ISO!):

Having satisfied myself that I wasn't going to get better views, I left in search of the Black-browed Albatross (it's not often that two megas turn up with half a mile of each other!). It was great to see this magnificent beast again and for the first time I saw it perched on the cliff (and later in flight). I got some decent images again and some that showed different aspects of the bird, which was nice. So, despite the long drive, it was very much worth it.