Born to Fly

Four years ago this month I was in Poland with three of my birding friends. We spent a few days in the forests surrounding Bialowieza in the north and three days further south in the marshes where we stayed at a place called Rajki Staw. While we here we met a film crew staying at the same lodge and they were making a film about Common Cranes. They would disappear secretly early in the morning to where their hide was located and film a breeding pair of Cranes and their young.
Well last night I went to the RSPB meeting at Seavington St Mary to watch the resulting film called 'Born to Fly'.
It's a fascinating account of these highly social and fantastic birds from their breeding grounds in the north and their subsequent migration south to amongst other places ,Spain. It brought back some great memories of our trip with images of Whiskered and White-Winged Black Terns,Ruff and Wood Sandpipers and made me wish I was going back soon.
In the past I used to be a regular at the RSPB group meetings and was for a time a committee member so it was good to see some old faces again.

Entrance to the primeval forest

Sunset at a Great Snipe lek

Four Birders go to Poland

As I was in Seavington it seem a good opportunity to visit the Volunteer and get another passport sticker. The Voulnteer as a brew-pub is the location of the Windy Brewery and brews three ales at the moment, Flurry,Tornado and a new ale Wind-sor brewed for the Jubilee. I went for an old favourite, Flurry.