Earlier on in the season I spent a little bit of time up on some local heathland targeting Dartford Warblers just before they settle down during the nesting season. By nature they are a secretive species, but at one of my locations there is a number of territories that overlap over a small area. This means there can be a lot of activity, with group of two to five birds chasing each other around, males try to attract a mate as well as push out others within their territory.

There’s one or two Dartfords that are surprisingly showy and with a bit of patience they will slowly make their way up to the top of a gorse bush and sing prominently for a few seconds, before ducking back down into cover. This location is on a hill, so there’s a good vantage point to help pick out the singing birds and further down the hill the stands of birches make a nice background in contrast to the very dull colours of the surrounding heathland.