Emerald Esctasy At Last?

Or;
The Quest For The Green Continues: 
Part Thirty Seven, The Flying Caterpillars Of Dooooooooom!


Sanity? I'm sorry, you wanted the second door on the left, this is the third.



So, after yet more failure at Yarner, and the crushing realisation that my most beloved patch of Tree-y Goodness was to be without the Ecstasy of Summer.. I went elsewhere.

There are other bits of Devon where Wood Warblers may be found, so I tried one.

Trees ahead!

Here be woods

[but Woods?]

On the way, I saw a few birds,

Rock and roll

It's in a tree..

Claw shot

For those of you sane enough to not be amused by my pipity humour, just keep scrolling [like usual]


So, some more nice Oaky woods, and this time, this time the trills ringing through the trees were.. Ok, they were Wrens and Nuthatches and even these guys

Oh yes

But also the true liquid bubbling trill of the Ecstasy Of the Green!

Wood Warblers! Yes!

Now to see, perchance to photo.

Easier said than done, as these woods are not made for viewing, being steeper and gribblier than Yarner. [You may have noticed in that pic up there]
And the Woodies were down there. Spotting a leaf-camo'd bird amongst leaves..? Oh dear.

Patience, persistence and so on applied. Sit and wait for them to come to you.

And I had some company while I waited.

Pied Flycatchers

Are quite unbothered by you

As long as you stay away from the nest

And happily keep foraging around you

[ok, above you] 

Patience, persistence, and fieldcraft are all you need. Persistence in this case, really, as Wood Warblers are as laid back as Pied Flys so little fieldcraft beyond being inconspicuous required, and.. well, patience went out the window after Yarner Failure 2.  Ahem.

Anyway, you're expecting a dodgy shot or three, and so it would be remiss of me to not oblige you;

Orange over yellow on right leg, metal over black on left.

Proper views

-craning the neck upwards!

Eventually, the two which had been singing at each other moved up to the track and there were some very nice views indeed!  :)  Also some half-decent photos, though much patient stalking and quietly frenzied caterpillar-fu needed to get them...

Nasty upcoverts shot

Messed with to show rings clearly

Orange over yellow [r] and metal over black [l]

EDIT:
Having been in contact with  the colour ring scheme, I am informed that there is only an Or-Ye here, the 'red' you may perceive - or indeed mentioned in v.1 of this post - being a photo artifact. Ho hum, 'the camera never lies' and all that tosh...
Still, it is good to know how imaging software processes reality*, so I can compensate for it in future.

Pity I didn't get eyes on the other male[s], though. It would be very useful to see if they're ringed, too.

A singing Wood Warbler 

really means it!

Joy

Now, as to that title up there...

It was tough birding, as the woods were infested with flying caterpillars! Not the dreaded PM, these were regular non-hairies, but flying about on silken strands, and attaching themselves to whatever they hit. Like you.

"We may be small, but we are legion"

Not everyone was horrified, though

"It's my birthday!"

I decided to not go back out the way I went in, and so climbed the back door path up to the Tor. After dodging 7 cyclists coming screaming down, that is.. [Never mind the law, eh chaps?]

Above the caterpillars, it was a nice day

Time for some more scenic wildlife, mobile and less so;

Small but pretty

"Mmh-mmph-mh-mmh-mmmmph!"

And so, our hero, battered and caterpillared but victorious, made his way home.

The end?

Oh no, merely the end of one Quest, for there is always Another..


Coming Soon;
Sun!
Spikes!
Ravening Tigers!

We present   Indiana Tom and the Golden Pearls


[Oh dear....]



Be Seeing You...

[[*You don't think your digital cameras just show you exactly what hits their sensors, do you? ]]