Cambridgeshire appears, to me at any rate, suffering from a drastic reduction in the overall avian population. Wood Pigeons, Corvids and Gulls seem to be the predominant species, but other species in steep decline. Well that is my personal observation that others may not agree with but an opinion arrived at over 20 years of bird photography.

Anyway, last Thursday, 30th March I spent in the county, beginning with a visit to a local site for Peregrine Falcon. The site is very sensitive as the pair have not successfully bred for the past two or three years and disturbance may be a contibuting factor so I am not disclosing it's location but a pair were present, unfortunately not doing anything but perch for the couple of hours or so that I was there.

So, moving on, I called in to Burwell Fen from the Swaffham Prior end. Result - zilch - but, surprisingly, on the way back, there was a small flock of Peacocks in a roadside field, obviously domesticated although they did not appear so as they proved to be very wary of my camera from the car. Interest in my attention rapidly turned into nervousness until they either disappeared into a hedge or flew over it.

So why are photos of a domesticated species appearing on this website? Well, my apologies for that but the opportunity of showing photos of a namesake in the avian world is unlikely to occur again so I am indulging myself!!!

It was then time to move to the Burwell end of Wicken Fen where a rather tatty looking Roe Deer gave me the once over

before moving on to Charlies Hide that I used to visit often a couple of years ago but the reeds had overgrown the water at my last visit so nothing to see. This time the reeds had been cut back and still showing a lovely backdrop to the water. as shown by this shot of a Coot.

Further out, a small group of Coot decided to do what Coot do best - fight.

A Mallard gave a flypast

and a Gadwall showed well against the colourful backdrop

and finally, a Little Grebe appeared from the reeds to feed just in front of the hide.

So, not a bad day overall although the evidence still confirms, in my opinion, that the local bird population has suffered a steep decline in recent years.