I was out before the sun broke the horizon and the day promised sparkle. I was keen to drink in the Shrike again and the bird showed reasonably well in fantastic light, a Red Kite drifted over mocking how difficult it seemed to see my first in the Ely10. I fancied I heard a Crane a couple of times in the distance but couldn't do anything but strain my ears to no conclusive ends. I decided that a day of fantastic weather could not be wasted, wrapped up the youngster and headed, a bit off Fen, to the woodland edge. The I-Pad has become a fantastic birding enabler for me, the ability for a Disney movie to be watched by a 4 year old at any given location, say for instance a nice spot overlooking prime Goshawk territory, has brought a new flexibility to Daddy Daycare and I was able to spend a peaceful half hour skywatching.
It was never going to be a difficult proposition picking up a mighty
Accipter on a perfect day like today and in due course a male powered it's way up and across the sky, soaring, partial display flight and tussling with Buzzards and corvids alike. Woodlarks were evident tunefully toodle-looing and spiralling jerkily upwards, bouncing on invisible elastic. A couple of Larks flew right towards me and pitched in pretty close, enough to get a grabbed shot and then they were gone.
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