On Monday 5th February 2021 I noticed a small bird in my back yard. Any bird in my back yard is worth a look! As I approached my back window for a closer look, it seemed to be a brown bird, so I was expecting a House Sparrow. However, the bird was now at the back of the buddleia forest in my back yard. I like the buddleia for a couple of reasons: it's great for butterflies & it's free. I'd recently cleared out a large part of the forest (though you can't tell from the photo above taken from my bathroom window) enabling better views of anything arriving, usually Blackbirds. The bird was moving in a very un-sparrow like way, flitting about continually. I raced to get my bins & quietly stepped out of the back door into the yard. The bird was very difficult to see at the back of the buddleia along my back wall, but I did realise immediately it was a warbler & most likely a Chiffchaff. I thought I caught a brief glimpse of a greyer toned head & nape with a green panel on the wing, indicating "Siberian" Chiffchaff. Unfortunately, it flew off to the left & I was unable to see where it went around the corner of next door.
The warbler visited briefly on 6th February 2021 & then again briefly on 8th February 2021, but this time I heard it call a couple of times: a single straight note with no alteration of tone at the end. I saw it again on 18th February & 23rd February 2021. This last observation was the best & I could clearly see grey tones on the head & nape with a green panel on the wing. A whitish supercilium was only visible above the eye.
The call was the one which clinched it as a "Siberian" Chiffchaff. Undoubtedly, the rarest bird I've had in the back yard!
