Mystery birds

I'll start with a mystery bird photo. Answer at the end of this post.

Headless chicken?

The flashes contained four Green Sandpipers, but no Common Sandpiper. The early autumn feel was enhanced by the presence of a substantial Tit flock which also featured a Nuthatch, Blackcap and several Chiffchaffs, one of which was giving a very strident "hweet" call. "Hweet". I say Chiffchaff, "Hweet" Hmm. I started to get interested in seeing it. "Hweet". It was somewhere on the otherside of a thick hedge. "Hweet". It stopped calling, so I wandered on. "Hweet". Oh for goodness sake. "Hweet tick" Now I was really interested. I climbed the public footpath gate, currently padlocked! and tried walking to the point where I heard what I was now pretty sure was not a Chiffchaff. The light faded and there was no further sound. After another 10 minutes a bird flew and landed in the hedge. I focused on a superb male Redstart before it flicked back into the thickest part of the hedge.

I resumed my walk back just as the last rays of sunshine burst from beneath the cloud cover bathing the whole landscape in a glorious orange glow. The pool still hosted a Little Grebe, while 12 Swifts and two Sand Martins hawked insects overhead. Another sound entered my consciousness and stopped. Then started again. It was faint, but surely a reeling Grasshopper Warbler. I headed across the field away from the pool and stood at the top of the ridge. Sure enough it started again, still distant but much clearer. I decided it was singing from the hedge at the back of the ridge field but decided not to investigate further. Presumably the bird heard on June 22 is still here.

Back at the car a cacophony of Tawny Owls was hooting from Bannams Wood. The sun still hadn't quite set.

Oh yes, the mystery bird.

Cormorant

What a disappointment.