I decided to change venues for my early morning wildlife search. I have been incredibly happy up in the copse of olive trees, at the top of our valley, and it has been very productive with the mice and birds I have seen, but it has been 5 weeks and I fancied a change. I plumped for a spot at the other end of our valley, near a stand of Cypress trees. I think it used to be another olive grove, as there are a few terraces amongst the scrub, but this is much older as there are only a couple of olives left.
The first day in my new spot was uneventful, but on the second day a buzzard flew through the cypress trees I was standing in. It was extremely close and made me jump, which startled the buzzard, and it flew quickly away. I have not got any close shots of the buzzards here, so this was an exciting development, (I am easily pleased). I hoped this was a regular route for the buzzard and positioned myself behind a large holly bush to ambush the bird with my camera.
That was a week ago, and there have been no more fly throughs by buzzards. I did spot a short-toed eagle, hovering over the woods in the distance. They are fairly big eagles, but they can hover like a kestrel, flapping their wings to stay in one position. There are a lot of jays about, flying in pairs and one small flock of 5 individuals fly through screeching each morning. There are also a lot of twittering’s, coming from the bushes all around me. I only recognised a few, so it was back to the phone app, the one that thought Simone was a long-eared owl!
There are 2 birds repeatedly calling each morning, but they are always hiding. The app told me that they were both warblers, Cetti’s warbler and the subalpine warbler, not knowing what they look like, my brain translates warbler into small brown bird. There calls from the bushes struck me as a challenge, so all week I have been trying to capture them with my camera, but to no avail. Cetti’s warbler moves about a lot, but I never see it fly, and the subalpine likes to sing behind the holly bush which I can not see through. They are playing with me.
The past few days, another small brown bird has joined the game. It gives a single clear note which is immediately echoed by others all around me, and then one of them will go into its song. It might be a small brown bird, but the nightingale has such a beautiful song, you can not believe such a variety of notes can be sung so splendidly.
I have decided to up my game and am moving to a spot where I can see most of the bushes, which I hope will be more successful. I checked the 2 warblers out in the bible, and I was half right. Cetti’s warbler is a small brown bird, but the subalpine is a cracking grey and red bird with a white moustache. I am looking forward to photographing it.
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