Frose: Whinchat, Savi’s - listen to the ‘put, put’ - like a Trabant starting the east German’s used to say I’m told. And a Wryneck at Heimberg.

Went Hoopoe surveying this W/E in the Drömling. Dawn to dusk - literally. Nothing. Got in the car to drive home and one flew up and off in front of us. Have become a frequent occurrence here over the past few years. Plus some odds and sods.

The climate SE of the Harz has attracted be eaters for the past few decades & their numbers move ever N fueled by climate change. 40 - 50 birds at this site. Any sand workings will do, though I am amazed they find enough to eat in an area dominated by intensive agriculture.

Barn Owl in southern Dorset this evening.

Was taken to a former quarry today near Aschersleben that now hosts breeding Eagle Owls. 3 healthy eaglets and a snoozing mother. Awesome birds.

I love June. The world is brimming with life. #Frose and #Heimburg this morning.

#Drömling Red-backed Shrike, Black Kite and Ortolan.

#Drömling. 5 Hoopoes in 24 hours. Astonishing? Perhaps not. The Bee-eater march north is well-documented, the Hoopoe’s less so, perhaps because they’re more discrete and easy to overlook. But they’re coming.

#Drömling And the ‘odds and sods’ fm my overnight stay in the fabulous Drömling. Hartley Hare, a Linnet, Icterine Warbler singing his heart out, and a ‘spot the Hoopoe’.

Salzwedel#. As if just to prove they’re around, a male Montagu‘s Harrier this evening south of Salzwedel. Gosh they’re hard to pin down! Plus a displaying Honey Bz.

Salzwedel, Saschen-Anhalt. I’d missed this iPhone photo taken at 05:18 this morning, but it’s so beautiful I think it deserves a post. Have to say, that this rural and slightly unkempt region of eastern Germany is stunning . It’s what W Europe must have looked like 50 years ago.

Sorpesee, Ge. Attacked by RAF as part of Op Chastise 16/17 May 1943. The approach on this earthen dam differed from the others in that the ‘bouncing’ bomb was not spun, and the approach was made along the length of the dam. It failed.

Sachsen- Anhalt. Montagu’s Harrier. C 30 pairs breed in this region. 3 nests at this site. Vole numbers low, so males & females out hunting.

Sachsen-Anhalt. Montagu’s Harrier. 3 nests seem to have produced 5 young birds seen longing about on their protective fences, waiting for their parents to bring them food! Off to the Sahel in a few weeks.

Sachsen-Anhalt. Saw this hunting sign in a village south of Salzwedel. Hoopoes presumably sufficiently present by 2015 to have entered local consciousness. They seem to be everywhere now!

The cutest Red-backed Shrike ever.

Arne, Dorset. Dartford Warbler - emblematic species of this region, and a beautiful Meadow Pipit.

Geoße Bruch. Every autumn in these parts of northern Central Europe, we are graced by Redfooted Falcons. Up to 20 birds were at the site, which amazingly (at least for me) is exactly the same location as last year & the year before. There must be something deliberate about this!