Rosbifs on holidays. Well if you can call it that - I somehow got the short straw and am visiting England to see parents - that isn't the short straw but the fact that I also have 4 children in tow, my own plus two others for travelling - they are visiting their grand parents. The short straw comes from the official form for taking children out of France, when you're not a parent ie the other two, wasn't filled in correctly so at the exact moment I was being told this by French customs I got a picture from the wife and the parents of the other children of them all drinking wine in a beautiful chateau around Bordeaux!! Wrongly the guy let me change the dates, rightly because we could travel, but it wasn't a nice experience.
What was a nice experience, however, was visiting Scarborough castle today in the hope of some migrants. Lots of Thrushes, Blackbirds, Wrens, Dunnocks, a couple of Chiffchaff one of which was very light so I was concentrating on him when another flitted past - 'wing bars', I immediately thought good I haven't seen any 'crests' yet where's the head, that's a super 'super'! Yellow Browed Warbler surely but what do I have to eliminate. I hadn't heard the call and only had a fleeting view.
I relocated to a lower path hoping for better views but got the news out. Typically, I couldn't refind the bird so this is when I started wondering whether I had enough to eliminate other warblers, no crown stripe or yellow rump was one of the candidates. I flicked through my phone for calls but couldn't find Humes, for another. I looked on xeno and could only find Yellow Browed so listened to that - I knew it was two tone but almost immediately, about 60 yards from original sighting, a bird replied. I turned the phone off and heard the call again and again and hang on. I thought perhaps someone is there/here already and taping the bird. No there were two calling birds one in the Sycamore trees about 15 metres in front of me and one about 10 metres above me - so I have two Yellow Browed Warblers but I couldn't see either!
Time was short and the birds wouldn't come together or give themselves out so I had to leave. Really chuffed with those great little fellows but tinged because I had no camera (didn't make the baggage cut) and also didn't get longer views.
I did try later in the day but to no avail although had a really good chat with a local birder...