Lesvos Spotted Crake

Just been post-processing a few more Lesvos holiday snaps, and tackling the rather large Porzana folder. The similarly large dent in my hard drive is almost entirely the fault of one particularly showy bird at Faneromeni ford... but some of the photos make it worthwhile. At one point I was actually sat on a dry bit of concrete right in the middle of the ford with the bird bathing and preening no more than 15 feet away - who said crakes are timid and skulking?!

Common Rosefinch, Bradwell-on-sea

While certain other East London birders had gone back to bed to nurse their hangover, I reacted to the news that the 1st-summer male Common Rosefinch was singing again on the Dengie at Bradwell. Arriving at about 12.30, a couple of us quickly identified the bird's wolf-whistle like song from some dense bushes along a ditch... but couldn't see it at all! A few minutes later, a finch flew out of the same general area and headed off very high into the distance, and the singing stopped. Oh dear.

Fortunately, about 45 minutes later, it started up again from exactly the same place - presumably never having moved far. Initially it remained invisible (though singing pretty constantly), but eventually appeared low down in the bushes, and showed pretty well from 1.45 until 2.30, when I headed back for home.

I'd transcribe the song as 'tee suweee teehuuu'.... with the second note slurred sharply upward, and the third sharply downward. Here's some pictures - just a bit of a shame it wasn't a red one!

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Went out to Cornmill Meadows with the camera this evening after getting thoroughly hacked off with work. Came back with just one decent photo, but the opportunity to concentrate on something different put me in a better mood...

Click to enlarge - this lens really has got some potential!