Arctic Warbler. Holme, Norfolk. September 2010.

My Dad and I made it to Holme ( after 2 close encounters with a Belgium Lorry driving dickhead ) in the hope the Arctic warbler was still present. It had been seen the day before but with a clear night and strong winds and my luck I was on edge to say the least. After about 3 hours, wait for it, the Arctic' showed itself, Hooray, and although the episode didn't last for long I had as well as my dad added a new species to our lists. It was very elusive and hard to track amongst the pine canopies but on separate times my dad and I got good views of the head patterning. The supercilium really stood out when viewed against a dark background and the way it held itself looking for food gave it an elongated but slim shape, with no other birds to size against it looked very much chiff chaff size and pale underneath when viewed from below, especially in the dark pine canopy. A bird I had been after for some time and now added, with the wind increasing and the bird disappearing we left, no pictures unfortunately but on the elusive nature of the bird and in that wood we were lucky to connect with it.