Drive up into the Lammermuir Hills at this time of the year and you can’t fail to see or hear the breeding curlews.With the chicks now scampering around with the adults you will often see one of the parents move away from the group,often towards you,in order to distract your attention away from the youngsters.A win/win situation,as the bird thinks it’s allowing the family to ‘escape’ and you get the opportunity to get some images.Once the family has moved far enough away,’your’ bird will rejoin the group.
Sometimes this distraction ploy will work so well that the photographer will not only be kept safely away from the chicks but may also miss other photo opportunities nearby and will drive on having missed,as happened to me,the short eared owl sat on the ground nearby watching the whole encounter.This can allow the ‘opportunistic chancer’ to follow up behind you and get some even better pictures.
Anyway here are a few of the curlew images.
