I decided to make my annual trip down to Dartmoor in mid June,a good time to be able to photograph the Whinchat,I had sometime off midweek and the weather forecast was looking really good,a quick text to a good friend Ian White who I usually make the trip with,but unfortunately Ian had work commitments,so this time I would be making the trip down to Dartmoor alone.

My alarm was set for 03:30 am so a nice early start was in hand,my photography gear was already sorted the night before,and I soon found myself heading off down the motorway,after a nice and steady drive down, I found myself pulling  into the car park at around 6am. I sat there for a few minutes watching and listening to the birds,the Stonechat ,Meadow pipit,and Skylark,just wonderful.I did hear the Whinchat singing whilst I was walking down the track heading to the more open lower area,but I would check the lower area first,I soon located a few male Whinchats in the bracken areas,but these birds were proving very difficult to approach,I approached them gradually and slowly and would get to within 15-20 meters,and the birds would fly off,I spent another few hours with minimal success,so I decided to head back up the track and locate the birds from earlier,I found a pair of Whinchat and set about photographing them,these birds were sightly more approachable as long as I stayed low to the ground and approached them very slowly,I spent the rest of the day recording some shot`s in a beautiful and peaceful location,there is nothing quite like being in and around wildlife in a wonderful location,great stuff,time passes by very quickly and I was soon heading back to the car around 6pm with a few keeper images on the CF card. Images below.

WhinchatLatin name Saxicola rubetra WhinchatLatin name saxicola rubetra http://www.paul-green.org/whinchat