Ah Grasshopper!
You have to be of a certain age to get the excruciating pun. Today was a visit to an area of wetlands somewhere in Sussex, mainly to find the reported Grasshopper Warbler and secondly, to get a sighting of a Cuckoo. As I parked in the car park at a bridge the Cuckoo was giving his all in the tall trees on the east side of the river. By the time I got to the wooden footbridge I had him visually, just where he was last year. In the distance, close to the railway crossing I could see three birders staring intently at a bramble bush - very promising. As I closed the distance I heard the unmistakable reeling of the Grasshopper Warbler. On arrival at the scene, the bird promptly vanished, but I was assured that it would soon return and so it did. Nice to meet Sandra, another familiar name now has a face.
During the vigil we were treated to flybys of Red Kite, Peregrine, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Hobby. Somewhat later a pair of Kestrels made an appearance
Finally, in the garden the new "feeder" is getting lots of visits, the irony is that none of the birds taking the wool are nesting in my garden.
Lovely to meet you, Dave! I see you got some fantastic shots of the gropper. :) Haven't had a chance to look at mine yet so it's great to see your fab photos! Kind regards, Sandra
ReplyDeleteHi Sandra
ReplyDeletethanks for the kind comment, great to meet you too. Not sure I will do any twitches in the near future as there is a certain amount of flak aimed at people with cameras.
Dave
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteYes, same here...all I can say is that the bird was perfectly happy to show himself and, at one point, landed in the grass right in front of my feet and stayed there for 10 minutes before returning to his song post. He was neither scared nor affected by our presence in any way. If he had been, we would have walked away - I might be a 'photographer' but I'm a birder first and care very much about our feathered friends so certain comments have made me feel sad and a bit deflated. Shame! Kind regards, Sandra