Ortolan Photoshoot!

Visiting Corton Old Sewage works track (early morning before work it wasn't initially on show, 20 House Martins flew south though) after work, I couldn't see the bird along the track, a pleasant diversion was a Grey wagtail calling and flying over in a westerly direction and I walked round to the south- east corner where I saw another birder. Apparently the Bunting had been sitting in the bush mid afternoon, but it hadn't been seen for several hours. Walking back along the path, another birder accidently flushed a bird which flew to the Sewage works fence, it was the Ortolan. It perched on the fence for 10 minutes before eventually flying down to the track 100 yards east of the old sewage bed and it fed intently from the side of the path. I and another birder slowly using our well honed fieldcraft techniques; we crouched and crawled like Army Commandos (!) and got within 12 feet of the bird via a roundabout route from the field to the North side. The Ortolan Bunting was very confiding and perfectly intent to carry on feeding and I fired shot after shot after shot (a perfect distance but a slight pity the bird was in the shade though) until I slowly crawled back. The bird still contently feeding and I was even able to show a newly arrived Dave W (who'd driven all the way up from Ipswich) exactly where it was. I'm very glad that I did so because literally a minute later (so Dave W recounted when he kindly phoned later to thank me), an inconsiderate car driver (not a birder or well known bird photographer!!) drove down the track and flushed the bird into the field.