“My birding mate and I went to the Becej Fishponds and found masses of ducks and plovers, saw Peregrine overhead, and then suddenly we had the king of the skies himself, the huge vulture-like White-tailed Eagle soaring just above us.

However the real treat was saved for an area of salt lakes amongst sheep grazed steppes with their shepherds and dogs. There were thousands of geese coming and going, running Hares, a couple of Roe Deer bounded splashing across a shallow lake and into the reeds, and then we heard this wonderful trumpeting call: Cranes!

Towards dusk the air was filled with great flocks of these wonderful birds congregating from the far north. They came in their hundreds and hundreds circling and landing and flying in formations. We guessed that we had seen over 7000 by the end. And just to give us a totally over the top stage backdrop, a huge full moon came up in the dusk with the Cranes flying over it trumpeting and calling. And finally, when things were settling down and we were turning for home, the brightest meteorite I have ever seen streaked down, an incandescent ball. A sign! Certainly a token of the Creator's love.”

Robert MacCurrach, UK