With an earlier start at 8am on a cold and rain threatening morning, 4 members set off to Moss Wood to look and listen for warblers. We were lucky enough to hear 2 or 3 Blackcaps, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff there, but with the trees all in full leaf, the best we saw were birds flitting between branches, but no good sightings. While there, we used Merlin to help identify all the birds singing, which included a very vocal Song Thrush, Chaffinch, Robin, Blue Tits and Great Tits. Whilst not warblers, it was still good practice in using Merlin.
From Moss Wood we headed to Ettrick Bay, south end, where we heard and saw Sedge Warblers, along with Blackbirds, Stonechats and Robins. Again, Merlin was useful in helping to pick out what was singing.
Our third stop was at Drumachloy burn where we were lucky enough to see and hear a Whitethroat briefly.
Considering the forecast, we felt we had achieved seeing the most likely Warblers, as well as gaining more practice in using Merlin to aid identification of these often hard to see birds.
Jackie Eddie