Confused of Blofield Heath

Having spent most of my 60-odd years on the planet looking at wildlife, I reckon I'm pretty good at identifying the majority of the birds, butterflies and dragonflies that I come across. I'm happy to admit that I still find it difficult to give a name to some of the birds that pop up , but am always ready to take advice from people with more experience and knowledge than I possess.

Just occasionally, however, I receive conflicting suggestions that render me even more confused than usual! Here's a case in point: two people I really admire and whose I/d skills I'm in awe of have identified both these birds in recent posts as Garden Warblers, an identification I was more than happy to accept. But side by side the birds seem to be totally different: the colour and extent of their caps, bill shape, position and size of eye, overall colouration: these are obviously different.

This is a great example of the 'two-edged sword' I wrote about recently. With no photographs for others to scrutinise, I could have blogged that I'd seen Subalpine and Barred Warblers: who could've contradicted me? I note with interest recent uncollaborated single observer reports of Red-throated Pipit, Long-tailed Skua and Corncrake....