The Reed bunting is a handsome species, beautifully marked in various shades of brown, a bird that I hear more often than I see, except at this time of year, the start of the breeding season, when the males in particular are more evident and more vocal as they search for mates – not that I’ve managed to get any good photos of males lately.

Of course, even when birds do show themselves a little more, they can still be difficult to photograph, obscured by twigs and branches and burgeoning leaves, as happened with the Reed bunting above. I was more lucky with the bird shown below that was feeding on the tiny seeds in the flower heads of a reed species. Now to find a co-operative male!