As I headed out to take photos this evening I remembered that I wanted to get a photograph of the gorse. It's been extraordinary this year both in terms of abundance but also intensity of flower. It was in bloom at Christmas, but now it's really singing four months later.
As I wandered near Norley Wood my first surprise was two medium sized birds that flew towards me, and within about six to ten feet. I was blown away to recognise that they were both cuckoos, a perfect sighting, which only left a vague doubt as I'd not heard them calling up to that point. A minute or so later I was rewarded with the song, presumably as soon as they had landed somewhere. They looked exactly like the pictures you see in books.
My next sighting was even more exciting considering there is only about 300 pairs in the whole country. Buzzard size but much slenderer, and with feathers that fanned out very prominently, with bars across the tail and wings. Again miraculously it circled around me at about 150-200 feet so I had a great view and time to check the details. Fairly certain it was a goshawk...
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