Grey Warblers

Grey Warbler

Grey Warblers are quite common around the village and on Ulva, but for me at least very hard to find. They are enthusiastic songsters, but visually drab secretive little birds who never seem to sit still and also prefer the higher canopy. So enormously difficult to photograph. Around the village where we don’t have a high canopy they are easier to find, their colouration and secretiveness still frustrate me. I have been working around our garage and back lawn area the last couple of weeks and have been chasing one which frequents the tress above our back lawn…. unsuccessfully I might add. A few days ago I was entertained by a major punch up between two birds, one chasing for several minutes what I realised was an interloper. Now I hadn’t known that warblers were aggressively territorial, and the penny dropped.

Grey Warbler in song

So this morning I went out with my phone playing a warbler song I had recorded yonks ago…….. instant success. Within about 20 seconds I had an extremely agitated warbler dashing from branch to branch looking for whoever was on his (I presume his) patch.

Burst photography mode and 60 or 70 photos later I now have around 5 shots I can use.

Garden Prep.

Garden partially covered and shedding light rain

Today is overcast and a bit raw, with a light easterly. But we have had a few really lovely days, and so Iris & I took the opportunity to prep part of our vegetable garden. This involved digging out one of the compost bins and spreading over the winter pea straw garden cover, and then a couple of days later rotary hoeing it all and then covering it all with a black plastic cover. This keeps any rain off, and being black absorbs heat, warming the soil. We take it off in fine weather to encourage drying. Sails temps are quite high, at around 9.3 dec C, so hope to get the early potatoes planted soon.

Spring Daffodils

Spring Blooms

Although it is still winter, spring bulbs are starting to flower, giving us a taste of the spring just around the corner, and a couple of late winter Rhododendrons are adding to the garden colour.

Rhododendron cornubia

…. Peter & Iris, Sails Ashore
11 View St,
Stewart Island,
[email protected]
www.sailsashore.co.nz

64 3 219 1151
0800 783 9278