00:07Good morning. The intention today had been to go down again to the little harbour at Livadia
00:22and try to photograph flamingos and wildfowl at dawn with the rising sun and it was the perfect
00:29morning to do it. Clear skies, beautiful sunrise and setting out just before 6 this morning
00:40my car had a problem. So I've just left it now at the repair shop and I'm walking back
00:48to about 7-8km to the hotel across fields. I'm going to cross these fields down to the
00:56lake and then go along the embankment back to the hotel. So I'm without a car for a day
01:02or two and a change of plans. So anyway, these things happen I guess so I'll be on foot and
01:17see what I might discover that way.
01:36So I'm almost down to the lake and I'm passing this line of trees and I just spotted a lesser
01:51spotted woodpecker. I only managed to get a couple of quick shots and then he flitted off
01:58to another tree somewhere down here. So I'll see if I can re-find him and get some more shots.
02:34I just found the lesson.
02:36I just found the lesson.
02:38I'm looking for a little bit of woodpecker. She's busy with a she, this one. The other
02:44one was a male. This is a female making a nest. Drilling a nest. It's a stunning little bird.
03:09You can tell that she's making a nest rather than looking for food because of the depth
03:15of the hole and the fact that she's going in and clearing around it inside as well.
03:21And it's that time of year, I guess, where they're getting set for mating season.
03:43Let's see if I can get some more pictures.
03:48I have to wait until she's got her back to me.
03:53So I wait until she turns around every now and again as she finishes.
03:59She drills and then she turns around, has a look around, makes sure she's safe.
04:12We have to wait until the beach to the beach.
04:16See if we can go to the beach.
04:17There it is.
04:24There's so much fun.
04:36Ok, I think I shall let her get on with that and carry on down to the lake and see
04:44what
04:44else we might find.
04:48Beautiful little bird.
04:50So I've got down to the lake and the sun is super bright and the birds are hugely spread
04:59out over the lake.
05:00The flamingos and the massive flocks of ducks, pochard, mylard, teal, what else, widgeon.
05:13I'll show you one of the flocks that is just resting out on the lake at the minute, far
05:22out.
05:32It's a huge flock, thousands of birds.
05:46They're all out there at the minute just resting.
05:52And they spread out really far.
05:56So the way things are on the lake I'm not going to really concentrate much on photographing
06:01the lake I'll be spending my time looking to the right as I'm walking up here where we
06:09have the trees and the canal down below.
06:18In this tree line along here and down the embankment there's lots of small birds and also we get
06:28different kinds of falcons and hawks roosting up in the trees so anyway so I'm going to
06:35carry on walking.
06:36I've got another few kilometers to go before I get back to the hotel and hopefully we'll
06:41see a few things along the way so I'll catch up with you then.
06:55Here are the trees.
06:56The trees have the trees.
06:56And then there are prints like this yung on them.
07:07Pretty much of a canvas from here close to the similar place, but the achei very hot.
07:39Lovely Hawthorne, just that new retriever, I'm going to get a couple of shots in, I'm just trying to get
07:45some video of them off.
07:54This is partly concealed by branches, I'm not sure how clear the shot is going to be.
08:06This is such a stunning bird.
08:34I'm just going.
08:38I'm just going.
08:38I don't know if he'll come back or not.
08:42The bushes here, they have, they are Chris the Spinney bushes, trees.
08:52And they have the seeds which the Hawfinch really like.
09:03OK, so he didn't come back, so I'm going to head further down again and hope I come across some
09:13more along the route.
09:16There should be more.
09:18With any luck, we'll see.
09:20We can find a friendly one that wants his portrait taken.
09:25Just got the briefest of glimpses of a wildcat.
09:29And I got a couple of shots off and about three seconds of video before he slinked off into the
09:36brush there.
09:37So I'm going to go around the other side.
09:40And as you can see the brush here is really really thick and brambles.
09:44And they just so easily slip through all of that.
09:52So I'm going to try and go around the other side and see if it comes out from the other
09:57end.
09:57I can find him now.
09:59I'm super lucky.
10:03I can hear the birds alarming as well.
10:05They've obviously noticed them.
10:15We'll hide over here in the shade.
10:20And hang out here for a few minutes.
10:22See if he comes out of the sight.
10:30It's a real long shot.
10:36I'll give it a few minutes and see.
10:39And if not, I'll just carry on walking down.
10:42And see if we can find any more of those hoarfinch.
10:47I haven't managed to spot any more of the hoarfinch.
10:51And I'm almost to the end of the embankment.
10:56But if I should spot something, I will be showing it to you in just a second as well.
11:03But in the meantime, thanks again for watching.
11:06And I'll see you next time.
11:08Bye for now.
11:25Yeah...
11:32I'll see you soon.
11:38Bye for now.
