The Dartford Warblers at Bourne Valley NR - My All Time Favourite Bird.

It was a sunny January day today so I decided to go and look for my favourite bird, the rare Dartford warbler is one of the species that is so special to the Dorset heathland. 43 years ago when I was 9 years old the warden at RSPB Arne nature reserve showed me this bird when it was much rarer than today and I have been hooked ever since.

Patience is the name of the game here. After spending a few days wandering around the reserve listening for their distinctive calls I have found 3 pairs but I think there are at least 4 to 5 pairs on the heath. Its important not to disturb these birds even though they are not nesting so I sat quietly on a path for over an hour waiting for a bird to perch on a gorse bush I had seen them use. I think the walkers using the path though I was either homeless or a bit strange sitting on a path getting slowly frozen.
Dartford warblers seem to go round in 2-3 acre circle as a group so I new they would come by sooner or later.

My patience paid off and this first image looks like a young female and the next image looks like an adult male. They don't have their spring plumage yet so I am finding it a bit difficult to be sure of the age and sex of these birds.

A different bird again by chance its on the same branch. To be honest this is the first time that I have photographed Dartford Warblers and had the luxury of being able to look at the difference in plumage. Normally a quick glimpse is all I get.

Again this looks like a different bird and I was surprised to see this when I got home and looked through the images from my camera. I have quite a few images to look at yet but i think these are 5 different birds taken in the same area in the same day.
I think today I have learnt that there is a difference between looking and seeing.