Although I'd seen both Great and Little Bustard in Portugal as far back as April 2003 I had never seen either species in the UK so a visit to Wiltshire to see the introduced but now self sustaining and breeding population of Great Bustard was way overdue.
This I accomplished on Thursday 15th August in company with good friend and fellow 'togger' Dave Gilbert and his grandson Jenson Gilbert-Jones, both are great photographers but Jenson shows real promise and at the tender age of 13 has plenty of time on his hands to hone his already significant skills.
We met early at Longwood Drive, Cardiff and with myself at the wheel rocked up at our meeting point of Enford Village Hall after a fairly clear journey.
We were a little early which gave us time to stretch our legs before being greeted by our guide for the morning Phillip Tryner in his Land Rover.
We were the only guests on this early morning visit which meant that there was ample space in the Land Rover as we trundled along the country lane to the elevated viewing hide adjacent a local farm.
The hide was very comfortable and we were afforded excellent if a little distant views of as many as 24 mixed male and female birds.
There was already a 'scope set up in the hide and with Phil also sharing his 'scope fabulous views of these iconic birds were achieved.
Whilst watching, eagle-eyed Jenson spotted a couple of Grey Partridge just moving into cover, they were a little too quick for me though and I missed the shot.
I did though get on to an 'English' Red Kite and also a very strikingly marked juvenile pale Common Buzzard both of which were hunting the field in front of us.
It was all too soon that we were leaving the hide and then we were treated to a tour of the 'reserve' and the Visitor Centre as we made our way back to our meeting point.
What a fabulous morning, the cost of £25 each for the visit was a bargain and Phil was an excellent host providing us with lots of informative and interesting information.
It is an amazing project that has been developed by a group of very hard working and keen members and I wish them every success for the future.
This was my first visit but will certainly not be my last with another visit in the Spring of 2025 to watch and photograph the birds 'lekking' is already being discussed.
Leaving Enford we headed for Avebury in search of Tree Sparrows but were unsuccessful, it is many years since I have been there and I struggled to find a location where I had seen them previously, that said they have probably reduced in numbers quite significantly.
We did though manage to photograph a Yellow Wagtail on the roof of a barn.
By mid-afternoon the wind strength had really increased and as photography was proving difficult we decided to head for home making good time to Cardiff and just beating the rush hour traffic.
