NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Northern France, last spring. A Bluethroat sings from the top reaches of a bush on the edge of a marsh. I forgot that I had taken this photograph until looking through a whole raft of images today. Regardless of the distance of the bird, and its lack of detail, I was at once warmed by the visual, so thought I would share it.

My late-May Dungeness break really took off on the birding front yesterday. Shortly after dawn a singing Icterine Warbler was located, and nearby up to seven Marsh Warblers competed for attention. The Serin that flew over calling barely got a look. A small area of reed/scrub was then checked, where three superb Bluethroats entertained us for half an hour, one of which stayed in view, singing away, for at least 10 minutes. After finding a small flock of Hawfinches, an area of wetland was scoped, yielding a Garganey, Ruff, a pair of Black-necked Grebes and 14 loafing Spoonbill, whilst the nearby beach, apart from breeding Little Terns, hosted up to 10 Kentish Plovers, including three chicks. And there were plenty of Turtle Doves on show.  It is rare indeed to have had such a fine day at Dungeness... ...oh, hold on... wrong notebook. All the above was in Northern France, all within a 20 minute drive of Calais. The French birder is spoilt for choice as our day trip yesterday showed. ...