In search of something more?

Every day this week I have been searching for one thing. After last weekend in Norfolk I was determined to find a yellow-browed jewel in my home patch. Two have turned up this week in the county, so why not a third, and why not along the droves and commons of the Ely parish. All the ingredients are there, hawthorns laden with clusters of ruby red berries, sheltered greenways for birds to forage along; quiet spaces of mixed woodland and scrub.

Find the flocks I thought, and one must hold something precious. At first, the flocks were not apparently there - the path down the road from my house was quiet save for the ticking of Robins, and the more insistent chucking of Blackbirds feeding on the sloes.

A Chiffchaff called, and soon a trail of Long-tailed Tits enveloped the hedgerow, and Blue Tits, and Great Tits, and soon the bushes were alive with chatter and a flurry of wings. With movement everywhere it was hard to see everything, but everything I did see lacked the sleek shape I was looking for.

Searching further afield, there were clear signs that migration was happening. More Chiffchaffs, often singing in the warm sunshine, and the first Redwings of the autumn blew past. A Redpoll called as it bounced overhead.

Almost every clump of bushes held Goldcrests, the result of a good Summer. Each one was studied- find the one without the crest- find the one with the yellow streak . It was not to be. The promise of something special was not fulfilled- at least not in the way I had hoped. As a Buzzard mewed in the bright blue, I mused on the weeks' birding and realised that by searching for one thing, I had seen so much more. 

 Come off it - who am I kidding!! I can see Long-tailed Tits anytime- I want a Yellow-Browed Warbler.