SICILY: what you do see when you haven't got your binoculars

Just before we left for Sicily, I said, ‘I must pack my trusty binoculars’

However, I got distracted.

In the absence of binoculars, the Merlin birdsong-identification app was great in confirming the ID of noisy birds, such as Cetti’s warbler, the Sardinian warbler, the short-toed tree creeper and the serin.

However, with quieter birds, we were never entirely sure.

Were those five massive birds of prey circling together above the Madonie Mountains gryphon vultures? Probably.

Was that huge pale-coloured eagle a Bonelli’s eagle? Maybe.

Was that shy brown and grey mottled bird in the woods a wryneck? Plausibly.

Perhaps the only advantage of forgetting my binoculars is that I get to decide exactly what I saw. 

So yes then, I did see those particular species and I am delighted to have done so!