Garden Warbler

A good mornings birding locally with Cranes, 4+ Little Egrets, 5+ Nuthatches, Blackcaps and Garden Warblers being seen and heard.
I have a lot of catching up to do locally, having been without a car for almost 3 weeks, so it was good to get out and see what changes there has been in my absence.  On the Butterfly front I did see some Large Skippers, a beautiful insect.
A female Cuckoo was both seen and heard giving its brilliant 'bubbling' call.  She will be migrating south soon.
I found a pair of Garden Warblers in traditionally used breeding habitat, song was delivered, as well as an alarm call.  The habitat used is one of Hawthorn and Bramble scrub within open woodland, although my pair were mostly watched in tall Holly.

Garden Warbler 20th June 2020

Much is written about the lack of plumage features on Garden Warbler, although a pale grey neck patch (may be just visible here) is a feature most guides focus on.  Notice here the almost indistinct buffish breast sides which appear to meet on the front of the breast forming a pale band and is demarcated from the whitish underparts.  The bill is strong.
The song of Garden Warbler is easy to separate from its close relative, the Blackcap, once learnt. For me, the song of Garden Warbler rarely has the fluty peaks of the Blackcap, its delivery lasts longer than Blackcap, and it often has the tonal quality of Blackbird.  From range, the song sounds like mumbling, however, it is stunning when listened too at close quarters, it is complex and varied with peaks, but not the high peaks reached in the song of the Blackcap.