Help needed with bird identification please

Serendipitous Sid

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Dan
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Can any kind soul please help us out with the identification of a bird? We've been through most of the "UK bird song" identifiers online and got nowhere, but maybe that's not surprising as we're fairly sure this one's a migrant.

This fella's song is very distinctive, being a constant sort of garbled "chatter" in the sense that it's several distinct notes in no discernible pattern, and he's often first off with the dawn chorus - possible because he's usually to be found very high up in the trees opposite us.

He's difficult to spot with the naked eye, but he seems to be bigger than a wren, a bit smaller than an adult sparrow, and he's a fairly uniform grey (actually very close to 18% grey!). He's fairly "sleek" as opposed to sparrow-shaped, he seems to have no markings, a small head with a small very sharp-pointed beak, and his legs are perhaps the same length as a robin's. His tail is perhaps half his body length, and whenever I've seen him at rest that tail has been to some extent vee'd at the end and always pointing down. He flits about a lot.

We're about halfway between Eastbourne and London, and this chap turns up in May every year. He's not uncommon - there are perhaps 2 or 3 "residents" opposite us, maybe half a dozen in the trees down a lane half a mile away, and at least two half a mile the other way, in town.

Any ideas please?
 
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What took you so long?

:D

Seriously, I do believe that's the chap. Thank you!
 
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