I thought long and hard before I started today’s blog. How was I going to put it in to words and convey the magic, and the thrill? It’s going to be hard but, here goes!
Last July I had a lot of success by sitting camouflaged next to a small pool on Dartmoor. When the weather is dry, and at the moment it is, the pool is an attraction to the moorland birds who need to drink and bathe, so it’s a good place to get close to some nice birds. Linnets, Yellow Hammers and Whinchat for example. Iv’e been waiting for an opportunity to repeat last years success and today I returned, confident of success. My target species was Linnet, an attractive bird, especially the males and I find them very hard to get close to, they are usually very nervy and easily spooked, a real challenge. So there I was, tucked nicely in a little ditch right next to the pool with a combination of cam netting, gillie suite and natural vegetation completely covering me. The first thing that arrived, and literally within minutes, was a Grey Wagtail who arrived on the boulders at the end of the pool and hung around, totally oblivious to my presence…… now I knew that my cam was working.
Then, scarily one of the highland cows came for a drink and couldn’t see me either but it was close enough to be a bit worrying.

I lay for ages, but very comfortably without any other birds showing, then suddenly, I heard bird song that I hadn’t heard before, and before I had chance to think about it, there it was. Immediately I thought it was a Linnet especially when I caught sight of the red cap, but then almost as instantly, I realised it was a gorgeous Redpoll. I have seen Redpoll a few times, once even in the garden, but they are not a bird I see often and certainly not as close as this. It had come to bathe, I took loads of pictures and I was thrilled to see it before a very short time, off it flew.