Garden Birding - in Italy

Our next door neighbours very kindly invited us to spend a few days with them at their house in Emilia-Romagna, in the lower Apennines west of Bologna. While we saw a few birds tramping around the hills, the most exciting action was in their garden!  

View from the house.

There's not much more pleasant in life than sitting in the shade sipping a large Rentini*, binoculars and camera at the ready. Unfortunately I only took the 300mm lens, not the big one. This was a shame as the birds were very wary on the whole and all the pics are heavily cropped. 

The real stars of the garden were a family of Red-backed Shrikes, the adults and two constantly importuning youngsters. They must have begged for food for at least eight hours a day.

For sheer elegance, it's always hard to beat a Hoopoe, or two. A pair often patrolled the very bottom of the garden.

The garden had its own sparrow flock, at least 50 Tree Sparrows! It's been a few years since I saw any in the UK, so I was very happy. :-)

There were a few other birds around, Serins, Italian Sparrows, Spotted Flycatchers, White Wagtails and Black Redstarts.

Now, if you've read "My Family and Other Animals" you may remember the "Rose Beetle Man". I got ridiculously excited to find these beetles where you might expect them...

These weren't the only showy insects.

* Rentini - the recipe (named after Frank Renton, our host).

• Add a lot of ice to a big, preferably bowl-shaped glass.
• Put in one large measure of Cinzano (the red one)
• Add two measures of orange juice (blood-orange gives a better colour)
• Add a dash of soda water for a few bubbles
• Finally, add a good dash of white wine

(experiment with the proportions, but not too liberally or you'll fall over)

The Rentini.