Q.!

Thought I was running out of time for this one and what a rubbish year it is for Quails too.  But my bike to work period started on Wednesday and hit the jackpot with a quailfest at Tempsford.  Great bird and carbon free too.  Excellent!

Non-singing Quail

Went up to 'Potton Heights'  (Hatley Road) this morning with no specific targets in mind, although when I arrived, I said to myself ''I'll have to come back this evening and listen for Quail.'' This is a site that I was getting fed up with visiting at dusk in the vague hope of Grasshopper Warbler and/ or Nightingale last month.

Bugger me if twenty minutes later, I didn't flush a Quail from a grassy farm track - the first I have actually seen in the County. I must have been no further than five yards from it before it flew into the crop. I wouldn't exactly say I am a loud person, but neither do I possess the stealth of a ninja. What struck me about the bird's behaviour upon being flushed was how Jack Snipe-like it was - completely silent and a low flight over only a short distance and into cover.

ATB,

DOM