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We've never yet even attempted to go on one of the guided dawn chorus walks at Slimbridge. But Wellinghall spotted a wildlife photography course that he wanted to go on, and they had a "lazy dawn chorus" walk (starting at 7, not the usual 4:30 am), so we thought we'd book the two and spend the night in a b&b a stone's throw from the wetland centre in between. While he was doing that, I went for a really good mooch around the reserve, didn't see any rarities but did get a good look at some pretty good bird behaviour, including a moorhen attacking a goose with extreme prejudice - the goose had come too close to the moorhen chicks, and one of the adult moorhens jumped right out of the water, landed on the goose's back, and started pecking.

After dinner, since we were not that far from Gloucester, we also went up to Highnam Woods bird reserve (the one that's on the way to Mitcheldean, for those of my readers who go to Mitcheldean) in the evening to listen to nightingales. Success! It's years since I've heard a nightingale. Extraordinary range of sound - sort of a cover version of every other songbird's Greatest Hits.

The dawn chorus walk this morning managed an impressive variety of warblers, and a very good look at four common cranes, which had been hatched at Slimbridge as part of an attempt to re-establish them in Somerset. These four seem to have decided that Slimbridge is a better place than the Somerset levels (better habitat! More food! And my public need me!) and came back yesterday. The guide kept saying things like "and that's a sedge warbler doing a very good impression of a yellow wagtail, it sounds just like, and now it's immitating a great-tit". I clearly have an Awful Lot Left to Learn about birdsong. But the chorus finished with a blackbird in the carpark, proving conclusively that the commonest ones sometimes really are the best.