Cleeve Common, Gloucs 18 Apr 19

With some helpful info from Jim Hutchins, it seemed worth giving Cleeve Common a try for Rouzels. This site is very different from Linkey Down in that there is unrestricted public access across the whole of the area. This provides more photo opportunities but at the expense of increased risk of disturbance.

There were at least 4 males and 1 female present today. Waiting for the birds to come to you is the only option here, but none of the other birders present seemed to understand this. At least twice all the birds were flushed by "birders" with cameras. Dog walkers are another hazard of course but in three hours I saw just one.

Only twice did my targets come within an interesting distance with the first being immediately on arrival when I wasn't set up properly, and they were flushed almost immediately by another birder in front of me. On the second occasion a couple of males briefly came reasonably close, and the shot below is probably my best to date of these difficult to photograph birds.

Somewhere to remember for the future though.

Ring Ouzel (c) Stephen Burch

Go to this page on my website for a larger photo