Year's First Warblers Return

This morning, with the weather forecast for bright intervals and no rain - it turned out dull and wet - we walked up the track which passes our house into estate land, where the gorse is now in exuberant bloom. We've noticed elsewhere that these big gorse patches attract a matchingly-coloured bird but we've never before seen....

....a yellowhammer here. He was singing at the top of his voice which seemed to have the odd effect of attracting....

....a greenfinch.

A little further up the track, and totally unexpectedly, we heard the call of spring's first chiffchaff - and we heard at lest three others as we walked on into the forestry.

Chiffchaffs may be noisy but they're small and difficult to photograph. This may, or may not be one of them.

As if the year's first chiffchaff wasn't excitement enough, as we approached home this bird was calling from the top of a gorse bush. I was thrilled - not only was it the first whitethroat I've seen in some time but it appears to have arrived back from its winter quarters south of the Sahara at least a month early.