Got up pre-dawn as usual and got to the Coombe Bottom Quarry (home of yesterday's yellow-browed warbler) just after dawn. By 7.30am goldcrests were calling and soon the first long-tailed tits appeared. A smart FIRECREST came into the sycamore and proceeded to feed at my eye level - stunning! Then a second FIRECREST among the 15 goldcrests and 7 chiffchaffs. The tit flock passed through twice in the 45 minutes I stood there but no sight nor sound of the yellow-browed. Bound to be here somewhere.
I then went to the west side of the quarry; a few chiffs and crests feeding (presumably the same birds) but again no sign of the ybw. 14 blackbirds, 2 coal tits, a grey wagtail and 10 siskins east were the only other birds of note.
This whole area looks fantastic. A comparatively small sycamore wood with spurs along the quarry edge and excellent banks of ivy hanging over the quarry faces, as well as thickets of dog wood, wild rose, bramble, traveller's joy etc, and opening southward to the sea, with corridors of sycamores no doubt bringing birds up after their arrival on the coast below. It'll repay regular scrutiny.
At 8.43am I went just west to Old Shute Copse, another small sycamore clump on Ocean View Road. A long-tailed tit flock here was probably the same as that down at the quarry, but again no sign of the ybw. 3 chiffs, 2 goldcrests, 5 blackbirds and a song thrush were the highlights. Trawling the birds was curtailed by a sudden downpour.....
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