I didn't really go anywhere this weekend, the idea being to thrash the patch and snaffle a few ticks from Nick as he wasn't around. The patch, unfortunately, had different ideas and was obstinately quiet. No doubt it will liven up when I'm not here next weekend and he is. Instead I devoted time to teaching small apprentices what Lesser Whitethroats and other common birds sound like, and to taking photos of a Heron on the Alex. This makes for a really dull post, so that's exactly what you're getting.
However, there is good news on the horizon. I am, as mentioned in passing recently, off to Bulgaria. I've never been anywhere where I don't even know the alphabet, let alone read a menu. It could be quite entertaining as I point at stuff. Hopefully the stuff is all going to be brightly coloured, have feathers, and be extremely close to me. I've heard that it's how many places in Europe used to be before intensive farming took over, and that there are birds everywhere. And not just any birds either. Things like Red-backed Shrike should be common, and I've just seen a link which shows Bee-eaters and Rollers. I could cope with those I think. I'm only going for four full days of birding, but a report I found on the web of a similar trip at a similar time of year netted something like 160 species. The general premise of the trip is a lot of quality birding coupled with extremely cheap beer. I think someone also mentioned a stack of Western Pal ticks, that's fine, whatever. It's probably true; some of the birds on offer will undoubtedly be ones I've never seen before. But if someone tries to pull me away from a photogenic Shrike (of any kind) in order to go and see a Pygmy Cormorant, it might be the last thing they ever do. Fellow travellers, take note!!
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