BITTERNS and BROLGAS.      -    Terry and Sheila Lockett (Nov. 2005)
These last few months we have been away from Mildura for a lengthy period, and despite a good deal of travelling, and a great deal of "catching up" with friends and relatives in Britain, we managed to fit in some birding.

Shortly after we arrived in England we were off again. this time on a "working cruise". Amongst the birding highlights was coming across a large roost of Ibis in the roadside trees in the main thoroughfare of the town of Arrecife on the Canary Island of Lanzarote. The only other notable birds we saw were scores of Little Swifts nesting in the town walls of Little Marrakech.

Our next excursion was a week's holiday in St. Aubin on the Channel island of Jersey. Here we had plenty of birding - as well as watching the England v. Australia, one-day cricket matches on the large screen at the "Trafalgar" pub! Jersey is one place where it is possible to see the once almost extinct Dartford Warbler. Careful nurturing at several sites in southern Britain has re-established this attractive little bird. It has a long wren-like tail, a slight crest and a powerful voice. There are said to be forty pairs on Jersey now. We were fortunate to find and closely observe a singing male, on a couple of occasions. The other 'first' on the island was a family of Stonechats. Fifty species in a week doesn't sound much, but it is quite a respectable total for the island.

A rather whirlwind visit to Scotland with Terry's elder son had its high spots as well as its disappointments. We saw Black Guillemot and Manx Shearwater - new to us in the U.K. From the island of Mull we had an overnight visit to the tiny island of Iona This is allegedly, a magic place - well a might have been if we could have seen anything through the persistent rain and Scotch mist! We could barely discern the famous monastery where the ancient Scottish king Macbeth is supposed to have been buried. We had hoped to see a Corncrake. a bird once common on farmland throughout the U.K. but thanks to modem farming practices. now confined to a few remote areas of Northern Scotland. In a fight drizzle we set off to find the elusive bird, and miraculously with in ten minutes we heard its unmistakable call. Unmistakable, because the sound is such as anyone can make by running their finger nail over the teeth of a comb. The corncrake is a shy bird and despite my answering the call with comb and finger not a sign of the bird. But even unseen it was a great thrill to be so close to a special rarity.

From Scotland we moved down to the English Lake District. This is a favourite place for us both - we spent a very happy holiday there together in 1950! Here we saw Redpoll (previously spotted in New Zealand) and one day when Terry and his son went Fell walking they had the good fortune to see a Merlin, the smallest of the British birds of prey and another "lifer".

Moving south into Lancashire we stopped at an important RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) wetland site at Leighton Moss. The special rarities here are the Bearded Tit and the Bittern. The latter is an extremely shy bird which spends most of its time hiding deep in the reeds. Disappointingly we "dipped out" on both the tit and the bittern Another time perhaps!

A boat trip on the Thames produced fewer species than in previous years, though we did see the single Black Swan in its normal territory near Henley. There were the usual vast numbers of Coots, many with chicks and, one of our favourites, plenty of Great Crested Grebes also with young.

In our own area of Marple in Cheshire, we felt there were fewer birds around than in previous years. We did hear the increasingly rare Cuckoo, and the Skylark was in evidence in the upland area known as Kinder Scout. This was especially satisfying as these birds too have suffered greatly from intensive tanning methods. Moreover, it was a reminder of the significant numbers we had seen and heard on King Island last December. Of all the "introduced species", surely the Skylark is the most inoffensive and acceptable. Its wonderful son& produced as it rises ever higher into the air, must be a joy to all bird lovers.

After a few weeks back home in Mildura, we joined the Victorian Field Naturalists at a Camp-out in Mallacoota. On the journey down we called at the This Rookery at Kerang where literally hundreds of Sacred and Straw-necked This are nesting. And just 40 kilometres south, one of the outstanding moments of the whole week - three Brolgas appeared in a paddock right by the road, and a couple of K's further on another two. Not new birds for us, but we had never seen them before in Victoria. During the whole trip we notched up over a hundred species. The highlights included, Eastern Curlew; Bar-tailed Godwit; Red-Browed Firetail; White-Breasted Sea Eagle (many); Brown Goshawk; Satin Bowerbird (and an occupied bower); Lewin's Honeyeater; Gang-Gang Cockatoo; and a few species new to us, Shining Bronze Cuckoo; Bell Miner (scores of them); Scrub Wren; Wonga Pigeon and best of all - at long last - a definite sighting (as opposed to many tantalizing hearings) of the Eastern Whipbird.

What will lie in store for us on our next trip away from home?