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A classic bird of the high mountains is the Alpine Accentor, it’s not called that for nothing! These pretty little birds really like it up high, breeding amongst the rocks and vegetation on remote mountain slopes. These were a big target bird for us and as a result we were right up in the High Carpathian mountains in Romania looking for them. The snow had melted and the road was now passable - it's usually blocked until at least mid - June most years! We drove around hairpin after hairpin as we climbed right up to the top of the ridge.



We had located two birds flying around, high up in the rocks above us - but not giving good views. They frustratingly remained distant for most of the time we were there and i thought that the chance of a shot was remote at best. As the day progressed we had decided to walk lower down to look at the views across the valley.



As we approached an old derelict building on the side of the road two birds were flitting around the ruins. Unbelievably, when I looked through my bins I could see they were two Accentors - all that time spent waiting for them to come nearer up on the rocks and here they were down near the roadside – typical!!
They were feeding amongst the rocks and vegetation and were taking no notice of me whatsoever. Closer and closer they came – even attempting to mate at one stage, and I was able to get a few shots – at last!



Notice the white throat patch and yellow base to the beak.







They really are a very nice little bird and it was worth the effort to see them.

In the steppe – like country on the Bulgaria / Romania border there is a multitude of birdlife. The area is farmed in a very low key manner, mostly by hand – scything the crops and using horse and cart for transportation. Eagles and Harriers regularly hunt the area and typically Hoopoes and Shrikes can be seen throughout the farmland. We obtained the permission of the reed cutters (who live in small caravans near the reed beds while the harvesting is taking place), to drive onto the land where there was an area of water. As we approached we could see a colony of white Pelicans with a few Dalmatian Pelicans amongst them. We stopped and stood behind the vehicle to observe them because they can be quite spooky and they were lifting off the ground continuously, seemingly unable to settle.



We were enjoying watching them when I noticed a male Marsh Harrier quartering the ground nearby and slowly but surely it was coming closer. I thought it would turn away when it got too near us, but it continued on its course. I made Susan and Dimiter aware of this and they stood quite still so as not to spook it and on it came right past the vehicle and I managed to get some fairly close – up shots. They don’t usually come that close in the UK so it was a refreshing change.



Still keeping one eye on us!

The heat in Bulgaria and also Romania, while we were there in June really was quite debilitating and health precautions became necessary. Copious amounts of water had to be consumed and sun cream had to be applied every morning first thing. Both of these become tedious after a time – sun cream can get in your eyes when you sweat and we were sweating big time! And water becomes particularly unpalatable after you are drinking it by the litre! However, both were very necessary if you were staying out in temperatures of thirty degrees plus - every day. Although having taken these precautions I was still suffering from some heat exhaustion on one particular day. These symptoms manifested themselves in the form of a really upset stomach and I had to disappear into some bushes very quickly one morning (much to the amusement of Susan and Dimiter). This was bad enough but it was accompanied with feelings of extreme lethargy when I just wanted to curl up and fall asleep. Thankfully these horrible feelings had passed by the following day and afterwards I increased my water intake and found shade whenever I could.
Previously I had mentioned to Dimiter that it would be good to see a Purple Heron if possible, and in fairness everything we asked about he did his best to find. Unfortunately on the day mentioned above that I was below par we were out on an extremely hot and humid morning in a very arid area with hardly any shelter. We had parked the jeep under the only tree around to try and escape the heat and I was sat inside resting. Although the sky was overcast and quite grey in places, the weather was still hugely oppressive. There was a reed bed about two hundred yards away which was supposed to hold breeding Purple Herons and we were waiting to try and catch a bird in flight. Susan and Dimiter were looking at some dragonflies and I was sat there with my lens on my lap just in case. I was drifting off to sleep when suddenly a shout came - ‘Steve a Purple Heron’ I jumped out of the vehicle, half asleep and saw a bird flying overhead.



I took a few shots and retreated back to my seat - I felt as rough as a Badgers bum to be honest! After a couple of minutes had passed I was drifting back to sleep – when the call came again - ‘Steve it’s coming back’ - I was back out again trying to take a few shots.



I had to try because I really wanted to see this bird.
The sky had by now become totally clear and it was now even more hot. As the Heron drifted away back to the reed bed I resumed my position and I thought that was it because Susan and Dimiter were coming back to the jeep. Then like an alarm clock – ‘Steve, Spoonbill coming over’ it was like something from a nightmare – out again and took more shots.



Although it was great to see these lovely birds, especially the Heron because we don't see many of those anywhere, I was thinking to myself, ‘please don’t find anything else’! I felt so ungrateful but it was really tough going, then at last we drove off with the air-conditioning on. I was glad to escape the oppressive heat and head for our much needed lunch stop.

Today, unbelievably we were on the trail of the Paddyfield Warbler. This little Warbler breeds in temperate central Asia. It is migratory, wintering in Pakistan and India. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe although there are small breeding populations along the western shores of the Black Sea around the border between Bulgaria and Romania. Dimiter knew where to find these little birds - I won't say it again about local knowledge, we found ourselves on a track which bordered a small reed bed and as we walked along we could hear their song - somewhat weaker than Reed Warbler and with less mimicry than Marsh Warbler. (I add that we only recognized this after Dimiter pointing these songs out). These birds nest low down in the reeds but on a sunny day like like today they were showing from time to time.



Notice the pale lower mandible with a black tip and also the distinct supercillium.

If there’s one bird that’s been an absolute nightmare to see on our travels it’s the Olive Tree Warbler. It is another biggish warbler but if anything is even more frustrating than the Barred Warbler (See previous blog). I’ve lost count of the times we’ve tried just to get a glimpse of one, particularly in Lesvos. They have a distinctive scratchy and quite discordant song, so you know where they are, but they are extremely reluctant to show. Again Dimiter knew where there were birds - with the risk of repeating myself - you will never find typically difficult birds like these without local knowledge! We were parked up alongside some bushes, again using the jeep as a hide, but this time the birds started to show fairly well. I could hardly believe that we were seeing these birds that are so difficult to see on e.g. Lesvos, where their sites, (exclusively olive groves there), are so well documented. I have been asked numerous times by other birders on Lesvos if I have seen any and I have indeed asked others the same question - It’s always the same answer – heard them singing but no views! It was therefore, after literally years of frustration, a huge pleasure to get superb views, and an even greater sense of satisfaction to unbelievably photograph what really are very awkward birds indeed.

Barred Warbler is a very difficult bird to see, although it is a large warbler it is frequently skulking and shy and can be very frustrating to pin down. We had tried using Dimiter’s expert local knowledge to see one and we had a few brief glimpses of birds from a few sites that he knew, but because their breeding had finished they weren’t showing very much. We were in the last site that he knew birds had been seen and we could see two birds just flitting around the bushes but it didn’t look like there was any chance of a decent sighting. It was again blisteringly hot as we sat in the jeep using it as a hide and we were seriously thinking of giving it up as a bad job, but Dimiter, who was very dogged in his approach to seeing birds just wanted to give it a bit more time. We could see a bird low down in some dense bushes and then surprisingly it popped out briefly into view and I had about ten seconds to take a few shots, it wasn’t much time but at least we had a half decent view of a bird. Goodness only knows if we will ever see another so it was good to get at least a record shot.



A very distinctive bright golden yellow eye!

One morning we travelled with Dimiter our Bulgarian bird guide to a location he knew where Marsh Warblers were sometimes seen. These birds are very difficult to see in the UK, they do not breed here anymore and are confined to a few small locations around the country. Using id only they can be very difficult to separate from Reed Warblers. In non - worn plumage they have a pale eye ring and in addition are slightly more olive above, a little whiter below and have paler legs than the Reed Warbler. However, the best way to separate these two species is by song. The Marsh Warbler’s song is almost totally based on mimicry and it is a world away from the song of the Reed Warbler. It is estimated that their song mimics around seventy five other bird songs.
Below is a recording of a Marsh Warblers song from Xeno Canto - please press play after clicking the link.
https://www.xeno-canto.org/486919

Another way to separate them from Reed Warblers is that they avoid reed beds.
When we arrived at the location the plant growth was up to six feet high with a few breaks in between which were around five feet. We were, therefore, stood up to our chests in vegetation, thankfully none of which was irritating or stinging. The Marsh Warblers were in full song and you could immediately tell the difference from a Reed Warbler’s song. We waited for some time, getting only quick flashes of the birds as they zipped around the foliage. Then I picked out a bird low down on a bare plant stem and slowly it inched its way up to the top giving great and prolonged views as it delivered its song. Well worth the wait to see and photograph this difficult to see little bird.

Early the following morning we paid a brief return visit to the same woodland stream, (previous blog,) such was its attraction. We couldn't stay long because we were travelling the countryside. Usually, the old saying goes, ‘You should have been here yesterday’ meaning that someone has missed out because two days are never the same – well it doesn’t apply to this location because it was like the film ‘Groundhog Day’. All the birds seen previously were still bathing and drinking, but in addition the Hawfinches were also out on the forest track feeding youngsters in front of our vehicle.







I’m confident that there are good things to see every day at this site.
I’m really envious about the birding there and I do so wish we had locations like this back home. They are so unaffected by people - it's quite remarkable but nevertheless a true statement when I say that we didn't, throughout our whole time in Bulgaria and Romania, see a single birder at any of these bird - filled locations.
Can you imagine that in the UK?

It was the changeover day for our bird guides and Susan and I were watching a few birds in a quiet woodland with a small stream running through it. We were waiting for Dimiter our second guide and the owner of Neophron Tours. He was to be our guide for a couple of days in Bulgaria and then on to Romania for the rest of the trip. We reluctantly said goodbye to Vlado who we had become quite friendly with, this was difficult because he is a very engaging and nice young man. Before Dimiter’s arrival Vlado told us that Dimiter was probably the most experienced birder in the Balkan Peninsula with a huge knowledge of the area’s geography and top notch id skills – both of which proved to be correct.
Prior to Dimiter’s arrival we had been watching a good number of birds coming down to drink and bathe from this little stream and not being one to miss a photographic opportunity I asked him to park his jeep up close to the stream to see if the birds would continue to show. He wasn’t sure that being so close would work but I said it was worth a try and we all sat quietly waiting. After a few minutes, just as I thought, the birds started to appear and what followed next was a very productive photo session.
Around this little stream we saw Jay, Ortolan Bunting, Sombre Tit, Black Caps, Corn Bunting, Semi Collared Flycatcher and Nightingale most of which came down to bathe and drink and all the while we were being serenaded by the gorgeous sound of Turtle Doves and Nightingales singing - what more could you want?

Jay.


Ortolan Bunting.


Semi Collared Flycatcher. (Sought after bird).


Sombre Tit.


Nightingale.


But best of all a family of Hawfinches bathing and drinking.





The first time for us to see young Hawfinches - and up close too!!







This was a delightful setting and if I had access to a place like this back home I would arrange the stones in the stream to make small natural bathing pools and also put some nice wood and stones around for perches. Then wait for some cloud cover to eliminate the highlights and shadows that were caused by the strong sunshine. If this place was local to me I would be spending large amounts of time there, because anything could drop in, and it was also very quiet, the only person we saw was a shepherd leading a flock of sheep down the track.
Dimiter was clearly impressed by this location and he tells us he has been back to visit again after our trip had finished and I’m sure this location will pay a part in his future photo tours.


Here is a very short video clip of some of the Hawfinches bathing.

https://youtu.be/894Euva1CKg

If there’s two birds that epitomise the warm sunny days in southern Europe it’s the Bee Eater and Roller. They both have a tendency to perch out in the open – Bee Eaters are quite easy to approach but Rollers are much more difficult. In the spring in Bulgaria and Romania both these birds often use the same nest sites – excavating holes in sandy bankings. However, when the nesting period is over Bee Eaters tend to stay relatively close to their nest sites, where they hunt flying insects and often perch on the side of the road as you drive by. This can make it relatively easy, if you are careful, to approach them and get a photo. Rollers will never do this, they too will perch besides roads and tracks but as soon as they see you coming, as far away as a hundred yards, they will always fly off. We were driving along a remote dirt track out in steppe – like country when we could see Bee eaters perching on some sticks right by the side of the track, we drove up near to them very slowly, cut the engine and free – wheeled up close. I was able to take one or two shots before they flew off.



As soon as we had passed they landed again – typical behaviour.

Later that day we had stopped on an old disused bridge over a tributary of the main river where we knew there was a Levant Sparrowhawk’s nest. As we were watching these birds flying around, a pair of Kingfishers flew up the river underneath the bridge and in the distance out on the main river a Caspian Tern fished. This was a good area for birds but it was blisteringly hot in the midday sun and typically in the heat, a pair of Rollers were perched in the river – side trees just too far away for a photo – frustrating!
We reluctantly left the site and drove on to have our lunch and something cool to drink and also to escape the heat. After a couple of hours just chilling out we drove to a roadside reed - bed to see if there were any birds on view, typically birds like Great Reed and Savi’s Warbler. Just as we were approaching the area I looked to the side and unbelievably I could see a Roller on a stick just off the road. I asked our guide Dimiter to stop quickly and reverse back slowly and quietly. The Roller was unaware of us and I took a few shots as it was just perched there, after a few seconds it saw us and flew off but it didn’t matter I had it – or so I thought. When I looked at the images on the back of the camera to my horror I could see they were grossly over – exposed.

Below is the RAW image just converted to Tiff with no processing.



On examination of my camera I could see that the exposure compensation dial had obviously turned clockwise, probably with the movement as we drove along, and this had over – exposed the image by three stops – the maximum. I was really upset, you can see Rollers up high on telegraph wires etc. but rarely low down in better light and with no silhouetting. However, I had to move on and be positive and see if I could get a Roller image at some other point on the trip, but deep down I knew this wasn’t going to happen.
After arriving home I was processing the bird images from the trip and I had a look at the Roller shots and they looked really bad, totally washed out. However, I had shot them in RAW and as I moved the exposure sliders I was amazed, the details that looked washed out now began to appear. I was staggered at the amount of detail that was still retained in the image - now I really know why I shoot in RAW!!

If this image had been shot in jpeg it really would have been lost, because those details that allowed me to recover this image would have been deleted automatically by the camera's processor.



I cropped the image in a bit and cloned out the light sky in the top left corner of the image and the straggly twig on the bottom of the main branch.

It was really pleasing to see that all was not lost, it’s not the greatest image – but what a relief!!

Later in the day that we saw the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Bulgaria, (previous blog), we walked further along the track while Vlado went back to get the vehicle. As we walked along we were being followed by a very cute little puppy who seemed to take an interest in us, probably because it didn't see many people there.



When Vlado returned Susan and I were watching Bee Eaters flying around the river about a hundred yards away. Just out of curiosity I said ‘Do you get many Wrynecks here Vlado?’ ‘Of course’ was his casual reply, ‘Would you like to see one’? He really was, without realising it, a master of the rhetorical question. In anticipation we drove to another location about a mile away and parked - up. ‘We may see some here’ Vlado indicated to a few bushes – (It was the plurality of his comment that intrigued us)! Then suddenly we saw movement and unbelievably we could now see four Wrynecks in a single small bush, an adult and three juveniles and above them, in the same bush, a Cirl Bunting and by the side of that a Red Backed Shrike!! If you saw that in the UK you would be dining out on that encounter for many years. I decided to concentrate on the Wrynecks, which were a bit obscured by branches, but one obligingly moved into the open and I gratefully took a shot.



One of the Wrynecks then flew out of the bush into the open and I carefully followed it until I could see it clinging to an old wooden post. I approached it very carefully - keeping hidden behind a dense thicket until I could get a few shots. It stayed there and was surprisingly quite confiding - I gratefully spent some time admiring this fascinating bird because you never know when the next one will come along.





There was great birding in this area and how I wished things could be like it back home!

After being back home from our trip to the Balkans we are now back on an even keel, because it takes a week or so to get back to normal. I’m in the middle of processing many images and there are some great moments to look back on. However, I needed a break so I spent a couple of hours in the bird hide in the garden overlooking my little nature reserve with its newly constructed elevated pool, (see previous blog). I’m pleased to say it seems to be working well and there are many birds coming to drink and giving photographic opportunities. It’s mostly common birds but there are some nice reflections and that is what I hoped to achieve.


Blue Tit.


Nuthatch.


Jay.


G S Woodpecker.

If there is one bird that has eluded us on our travels it is the Spotted Nutcracker, we frustratingly missed one in Poland and since then it has been a bird we have wanted to see. We outlined this to our guide Vlado, (short for Vladimir), and he took us to a site in the Vitosha mountains above Sofia to try and locate these enigmatic birds. Enigmatic because in winter when there are irruptions, albeit infrequently, of the Macrorhynchos - (Siberian race) into Europe, they can be very tame, but in summer the resident Caryocatactes race are not so confiding - therein laid the problem, it was mid – June!!
However, after some searching we could hear their rasping calls, similar but exaggerated and much louder than our Jay. We waited patiently until we could see a pair low down in a Norway spruce and at last a Spotted Nutcracker in front of my lens, what a great feeling!!

Susan and I have just arrived home after a road/birding trip through Bulgaria and Romania. We visited a diverse selection of habitats ranging from deeply forested valleys to expansive steppes and high alpine-like meadows and mountains. We sampled many different local cuisines, which in the main were very good indeed. We were in the company of our own private guides who knew the countries and their terrain in minute detail, enabling us to see many species that otherwise would have been impossible to locate. Both our guides Vlado and Dimiter were expert birders, and a great many thanks must go to them for their hard work, both in terms of navigation and finding a variety of difficult species. The company we booked with was Neophron Tours based in Bulgaria who have been providing wildlife tours in the Balkans since 1996 and we can highly recommend them. Everything was taken care of, from a seamless pick-up at Sofia airport in Bulgaria, accommodation, transport to all locations, all food - (and plenty of it), and drop off at Bucharest airport in Romania. In short anything we requested was provided without hesitation, so if you want to see the Balkans from a cultural point, or Birds, Dragonflies and Butterflies then they have an expert to guide you.
A series of blogs will follow and as usual a full trip report will be available in due course.
In order to lighten our equipment load while travelling, all images within these blogs and the subsequent birding trip report were taken hand - held with a Sigma 150-600 f5 -6.3 contemporary lens. I left my Canon ef600 f4 is ii lens at home purely because of ergonomics.

In the UK and especially the Brecon Beacons where we live, the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is in steep decline. It is now a very difficult bird to hear let alone see and a birder can go years without seeing one. Unfortunately because there is no real explanation for this decline things are not going to improve anytime soon. It is also ironic, because if you do have the luck to see one they are not particularly shy and of our three resident Woodpeckers they are the least wary!
We were hoping to see one of these little Woodpeckers in Bulgaria or Romania because they do not have the problems that we have in the UK regarding crashing bird numbers.
We drove to an isolated area very early one morning, we were up and about just after first light every day to maximise the comfortable temperatures, because throughout this trip it was in excess of thirty degrees every day and getting up early when you are seeing nice wildlife has never been a problem for us.
As we wandered along a tree lined track adjacent to a river, Hoopoes, Golden Orioles and Nightingales were singing and we could hear Bee Eaters flying overhead giving their fluty trills. It was a real pleasure just to walk along and listen. I was watching a Red Backed Shrike, (as you do), in a bush.



Susan and Vlado were talking about twenty yards away and casually Vlado said ‘Steve, do you want a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker’? If ever there was a rhetorical question!!
I hurried along and there in front of us was a male, I couldn’t wait to take a few shots.



I told Vlado that it didn’t matter what else I saw, my day was made just by seeing this lovely little bird.


The day, however, was not over, but that's for another blog........

We have seen Wallcreepers previously in the Pyrenees but they are always a nice bird to see anywhere. They live a precarious life nesting high up on very remote cliff faces in inhospitable areas.



They are a colourful bird when they open their wings to reveal the blood – red markings, but until then they can often go undetected.





They flutter around, high up on these cliff faces like a giant butterfly or even a Hoopoe and they have been named by some as the Hoopoe of the cliff face. We drove to remote areas in the mountains of Bulgaria and Romania to try and see these birds and in a few locations we could see them flying high above us and then perching on the cliff faces.





These birds spend their life clinging to vertiginous rocks ‘Winkling’ out small grubs, spiders and other insects.







We spent time in locations watching them go back and fore nest sites high up on the cliffs and it was a very pleasant way to spend early mornings.

When people hear a Cuckoo calling, usually in the distance, they just hear that sound of spring, but most never realise what’s going on in the Cuckoo’s life. The constant daily harassment from not only the birds whose nests they parasitize , principally Meadow Pipits in this area,





but other birds who join in, like Chaffinch.



Some may say it serves the Cuckoo right for laying eggs in other birds’ nests, but I will defend the Cuckoo because it is only doing what nature intended for it and I can’t help feeling admiration for this characterful and intelligent bird. When a Cuckoo is calling, usually from a perched position, although I have seen them calling in flight, there will be numerous small birds just sitting beside it.



and when it is not looking they will typically peck its tail or jump onto its back, purely to annoy it. If these small birds just perch next to a Cuckoo it will stay there but it doesn’t like being touched and if it is it will open its beak showing that blood red gape to the perpetrators.



Cuckoos can get really shaken up during these altercations some of which are quite vicious.







When these small birds’ antics become intolerable the Cuckoo will take flight, but unfortunately so do the same small birds and you can then see the classic flight image of a Cuckoo with a string of birds behind it, bearing similarities to a child’s kite with streamers attached. Then when the Cuckoo alights on a new perch the whole tedious scenario is repeated.



In between this constant provocation a male Cuckoo has to find a female, then hopefully mate successfully and then that female, who is also harassed,



has to show extreme cunning to get her egg into a host’s nest in just a few seconds. This whole performance must take place over a relatively short period of time. Cuckoos arrive here in the Brecon Beacons at the end of April and by late June it’s all over, so it has to be a well drilled procedure. I have to admire these birds if only for the scenarios depicted above.
I also love to hear their call when they arrive and miss it when they leave. We all love to hear a Cuckoo calling, it conjures up images in our minds of warm sunny spring days, and I for one hope it continues undiminished!!

Early in the morning, three days ago, I went out into my garden to get something from my car. The morning was still with little bird song but suddenly an uncommon bird’s call stopped me in my tracks. I thought ‘What on earth is that’? And then it dawned on me that it was a Common Quail singing from the winter barley field below my garden.
Common by name but not by nature, these highly elusive migrants from the continent usually arrive in June in small numbers and around here they are rarely heard and even less rarely seen! The last bird heard was about eight years ago, so an unusual event for this area. I telephoned the county bird recorder who lives locally and on his arrival we both heard the bird singing clearly. However, we both realised with a dose of reality that although it was very nice to hear this rare bird, a sighting was totally unrealistic because Quail are notoriously difficult to see, spending all of their time hidden in typically, a barley crop.
The following day Susan and I were out in the garden and it was obvious to us that this Quail was singing outside the barley field where I first heard it. It was very close to our house and with the chance of a probable once in a lifetime sighting on the cards I again telephoned the county recorder and another of our birding friends and asked them to come over and walk in the field where the obvious singing was coming from. Frustratingly, while we were waiting for them to arrive the singing was getting progressively quieter and the bird was moving away. When they arrived we all went cautiously into the field where the singing was coming from but there was no sign of the bird and as we approached the barley field perimeter we could all hear the singing coming from just the other side of the fence - the bird had once again retreated back into its favoured habitat – ARRRRGH!!
The following morning I arranged with our good neighbour, the farmer who owns the barley field, for Susan and me to walk the perimeter, in the unlikely event that we would see the Quail. On entering the field we could immediately hear its loud song, and as we got nearer and nearer the song was getting louder. We estimated that we were about ten feet away when everything went quiet. We sat down and just listened, and then from about fifty feet away the singing stated again. As we stood up the Quail flew about thirty yards into the crop, but we were elated, it was a UK life tick for us both and we were contented at just seeing such an elusive bird. We left the field happy with this very rare sighting.
However, it wasn’t over, not by a long shot!
The next day we had been out for a nice walk on a local hillside and we had seen Cuckoo, Yellow Hammer, Redstart and some young Chiffchaffs, so a nice morning out. After unloading my car and going into the house we were having some tea and I said I’d left my binocular case in my car, so I went outside and thirty yards away at the edge of the barley field there is an animal’s drinking trough, and as I looked a bird flew off the edge of the trough and into the field. To my utter astonishment I could see it was the Quail. I realised the bird was looking for water and as I am always on the lookout for photographic opportunities I got a planting tray from the garden shed and I took it down the field and placed it in the long grass near the drinking trough. I filled it with water from a watering can and then returned to my garden to see if it was in a favourable position. When I was happy I then set up my Canon 600 f4 prime lens with a 1.4 converter for maximum reach below the fence line of the field that borders our garden, thereby looking through the wires, and I then placed some camo netting in front for a bit more of a disguise. Susan sat on a garden chair just to the side also looking through the fence and we settled down and just waited – we were about twenty five yards away. This was more in hope than expectation realising how shy these birds are – but if you don’t try you’ll never know!!
About an hour later we could hear the Quail singing loudly again, near to the water trough and I couldn’t believe it as I saw it fly over the barley field fence and land in a tangle of old branches and nettles. It was still singing but we couldn’t see it, this is typical unfortunately. Then I looked on the left of this tangle of wood and grass and I could see the bird looking up the field. I had the camera on silent shooting just in chase, and I took a number of frames of the bird in various poses.









We both had good views of a very elusive subject. Everything then went silent and it disappeared back into the foliage and after about ten minutes had passed we both thought the bird had again retreated back to the barley field. What happened next though was one of the biggest shocks of my birding life, I looked over the top of my lens and I could now see the Quail in the long grass about fifteen feet from my lens - I literally could not believe it!! It had sneaked through the long grass and then made its way up the fence line out of our sight. A horrible feeling swept over me – would it be too close for my lens to focus? - the stuff of nightmares. I pressed the focus button and to my relief it snapped into focus and I shot it at what must have been very close to minimum focussing distance – fifteen feet. Most of the bird was hidden in long grass but I had a great portrait shot of one of the shyest birds around.





Susan also had great views through the fence wire. Then it just disappeared again and later we could hear it taking off and flying back into the barley field - What an experience!!

Please see Latest Images, Common Quail for a few more images.

Also footage of this male bird singing can be seen on the 'video clips' page of this site.

I decided to visit another of my Cuckoo sites two days ago, the weather was showery but that doesn’t bother Cuckoos. People associate them with warm sunny climates and rightly so, but they do ‘tough it out’ when they have to. I have had a lot to do with Cuckoos over the years, watching and photographing them for a long time now. Most people are content to just hear their call in the distance but never get to see the vocalist. That was never enough for me and I have always had a fascination for these enigmatic yet iconic birds that visit us each year for such a brief time. Sometime in late April or early May people realise that they have just heard a Cuckoo, usually in the distance, and a few weeks later they realise they haven’t heard a Cuckoo for a while. By the middle of June the Cuckoos call tends to fall away and all too quickly before we realise it they are gone again, hopefully having successfully laid an egg in an unwitting Meadow Pipit, Dunnock or Reed Warbler’s nest. I hear people saying all the time that they have never seen a Cuckoo, and that’s sad, they should make the effort because they are missing out on seeing a really characterful and often comical bird. The variety of noises they make will surprise anybody that hears it and they are also a very attractive bird to see.
I always make an effort to see Cuckoos every spring because I don’t know how long that privilege will last, because their numbers are dropping and also I won’t be around for ever, so I intend to make the most of it. I make no apology for my fascination with these wonderful birds!
This particular site is one of about six regular sites that I visit every spring and at least half of those sites always have Cuckoos in residence. I could hear a male bird calling on my arrival at this site and I picked him out on a quite prominent dead tree stump. This was a very positive start because Cuckoos are very much creatures of habit and there was a good chance that he would come back to that tree stump at times throughout the day. I waited for him to fly and then I quickly got to a position about fifty feet away under a dense hawthorn bush that was just about level with the tree stump – there’s nothing worse than looking up to take a photograph, apart from the potential silhouetting there’s the poor perspective to take into account. I did a little judicious pruning of the hawthorn to make it more comfortable for me and then settled down and waited.
I knew it would happen sooner or later and all it takes is small birds, usually Meadow Pipits or Chaffinch to mob the Cuckoo and make it fly and hopefully land on its favoured perches. I waited for some time, there’s no alternative, but at last the Cuckoo came flying towards the tree stump, you always know when a Cuckoo is going to perch by the way it flies, it starts to flutter its wings on approach. It landed on the stump and began to ‘Cuckoo’ straight away and I was able to take many shots.








This particular Cuckoo seemed OK with me being sat there, I was subdued colour-wise and very quiet and this is a fundamental - no sudden movements and no noise!! However, the sky was rapidly darkening.







Before too long it started to rain and the rain intensified until there was a huge hailstone storm. The Cuckoo had gone for cover after it got too heavy and I thought that was it for the day. Sometime later when I had emerged from the dense cover of the hawthorn, remarkably he came back to his obviously favourite perch and the photography resumed, now in a rather delightful pale light.





I was in total able to take a multitude of shots of this Cuckoo in various poses and lighting situations, from inky blue, steel grey to a light beige. It was quite a remarkable session with a very confiding bird, and has only served to increase my affection for these wonderful birds.

It was a glorious spring morning yesterday and Susan and I were out walking on a local mountain. We had only seen a few Northern Wheatears, which was nice, but not a lot for this time of year. As we dropped down there were numbers of Orange Tip butterflies on the wing which was lovely to see. Then suddenly something caught Susan’s eye and she said ‘Look a Green Hairstreak’, these gorgeous little butterflies are hardly seen by us in the local area. I was busy getting a lens out of my bag and I said ‘Keep your eye on it’, we needn’t have worried because we then saw another one and then more and more until we estimated there to be between two and three hundred on the wing along a forestry edge. They were even trying to land in Susan’s hair as we stood there just watching a veritable spectacle of nature, never have we seen so many butterflies of one species in such a small area. It really made our day and more than made up for the lack of birds up on the mountain.