really pleased to get good views of this Radde's warbler at Donna Nook on Tuesday -- in almost exactly the same spot as a bird there in October 1990 during the mega fall - feeding in a small patch of phragmites and always hard to get good images of this was a real treat -- I was inspired into rare bird searching as a teenage beginner through the acquisition of the Popular Handbook of Rarer British Birds -- leafing through that volume I came across the page on which Radde's Bush warbler was detailed -- the text described the species but more critically it detailed the only British record obtained at North Cotes Lincolnshire on October 1st 1898 -- this was my county and clearly a place where really rare birds could be found!
Excuse the image overload -- I have a soft spot for Radde's -- my first was a beautiful bird at Wells Woods in October 1975 -- after a frustrating series of flight views Dunc B and I sat under a birch tree and we had the bird feeding within 5 feet -- no bins needed just an unforgettable experience and a chance to put Ian Wallace's ID article in british Birds to the test -- those were heady days accomplished after a Friday evening hitch from Tring to Norwich, night in a UNi room and whiz on the back of Duncan's motorbike to Wells -- check those undertail coverts always a good ID pointer as a bird flies away
