[Swindon Addick]

I heard something singing which sounded vaguely thrush-like, but wasn't a song thrush or a blackbird. I scanned the tree, thinking I was probably looking for a mistle thrush (whose call I'm not familiar with), and this bird was all I could find. Doesn't look like a mistle thrush to me, so I'm baffled. But of course it might not have been this bird singing...

I realise the photos are a bit ropey, even by the standards of the ID forum, but is anyone willing to hazard a guess?

Location was Ravensroost wood, an ancient woodland managed by the wildlife trust.

[93Birder]

Willow Warbler ?

[jacana]

Garden Warbler

[Jon Turner]

Originally Posted by jacana

Garden Warbler

I agree with Will. It's a poor man's Blackcap song. Try Googling it and see if it is?

[Swindon Addick]

Originally Posted by Jon Turner

I agree with Will. It's a poor man's Blackcap song. Try Googling it and see if it is?

I've looked up the song and yes, that sounds like it. As it happens, my first thought was "is that a blackcap?", before I decided it didn't sound right for that.

And playing with the colours on the very-dark photo produces a brown bird with no visible distinguishing features, which is how I've always heard garden warbler described. Then again, a sufficiently bad photo of anything will show no distinguishing features...

Thanks!

[Bob Philpott]

Originally Posted by Swindon Addick

I heard something singing which sounded vaguely thrush-like, but wasn't a song thrush or a blackbird.

If you are not certain the bird in the photo and the bird singing were one and the same then have you thought about nightingale. That would depend on the habitat you heard it in.

[Swindon Addick]

Originally Posted by Bob Philpott

If you are not certain the bird in the photo and the bird singing were one and the same then have you thought about nightingale. That would depend on the habitat you heard it in.

I did think about nightingale at the time, but was dissuaded by the assumption that if there were any about I'd probably have heard one singing. Subsequently I've looked at the lists that the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust gang keep for the site (which perhaps I should have done earlier!), and it seems they don't get nightingales but they do get garden warblers.

My psychic powers tell me that I may be re-visiting the wood in the near future, now that I know what a garden warbler sounds like!

[Tony Morris]

Having looked at Photo no4 in photoshop and lightened it enough to see the bird I can see that it certainly ISN'T a Garden Warbler, the bill shape is totally wrong. It is still not a good image but looks as if it has a suprercilium and a phyllosc type bill. I guess it is a Willow Warbler. Is it the same bird in photo 2 and then repeated in your reply? It looks different to me,
Tony

[Swindon Addick]

Originally Posted by Tony Morris

Having looked at Photo no4 in photoshop and lightened it enough to see the bird I can see that it certainly ISN'T a Garden Warbler, the bill shape is totally wrong. It is still not a good image but looks as if it has a suprercilium and a phyllosc type bill. I guess it is a Willow Warbler. Is it the same bird in photo 2 and then repeated in your reply? It looks different to me,
Tony

The four photos were taken over the space of a couple of minutes and are in chronological order. I didn't notice there being more than one bird, but it was moving around a lot and disappearing behind branches so I couldn't rule it out.

If there were willow warblers around, they weren't singing, but I did hear chiffchaffs earlier in the evening so I guess a chiffchaff that wasn't singing at that precise moment would be an option. Or indeed a willow warbler that didn't sing at all.

I thought it was probably too much to hope for that I'd get a positive ID out of these images, but the discussion has been very educational and I now know what a garden warbler's song sounds like - thanks everyone.