Experiencing quail from the Old Coach Road

Sometimes in amongst all of the regular mundane birding, I experience something which I just know will stick with me forever and today I had one of those moments!

A quail was heard in a field adjacent to Dairy Farm Road on Saturday, but there was no sign on Sunday or Monday. Yesterday morning I arrived at Dairy Farm Road early morning and walked the full length of the road to the junction with the Old Coach Road but heard nothing. However, I hadn't gone more than 200m along the Old Coach Road when suddenly I was stopped in my tracks by the familiar "wet my lips" call. It sounded a bit distant but as usual with quail I was happy enough to just hear it, because you can count the number of quail I've seen in the UK on the fingers of one........ finger! Yep, in over 50 years birding I've only ever actually seen one quail in the UK, at Burton Marsh way back on 11th May 1986. I have heard plenty though, including one at Dairy Farm Road in 2009, and my excuse for not seeing them is that I don't expect to see them so I don't even bother trying, I just listen and then move on. 

This morning I had the opportunity to call in again and today instead of walking south along the Old Coach Road, I stood near the metal gate at the start of the track that continues straight on from the end of Dairy Farm Road. Almost immediately I heard a quail calling from the field to my right, on the north side of the track, and it seemed a lot closer than yesterday when it had been to the left, on the south side of the track. I just assumed that it had moved, but apparently not, because a minute later a second bird called from the left and then the bird on the right responded, but now it seemed even closer, so close as to be almost next to where I was standing, almost as if it were in the hedge. 

Suddenly a quail flew up from the left and circled round and landed back in the crop. Amazingly the other bird then flew up from almost under my feet and flew over the hedge and followed the first bird dropping into the crop to the south! In flight they were surprisingly small and long winged, being not  much larger than a skylark. In particular on the second bird I noticed the pale stripes on it's back, very reminiscent of snipe. A really tremendous experience!

The photo at the top of this post is not mine, it's taken from WikiMedia (opens in a new window), but it captures the view I had of one of the birds in flight, with its long wings and lines down it's back.