I have been listening to Joe Harkness’ Bird Therapy (I say listening as one guilty pleasure I have is audio books - especially when driving). It is a a deep dive into the mental calm that bird watching brings Joe, and many others. So much of the book chimes with me, and the definitions of different bird watchers he provides also reassures me I’m not a ‘twitcher’ (I am ‘a photographer’ in his definitions). Something Joe places great emphasis for his greatest therapeutic bird watching is having a ‘patch’, an area where you feel at home, at one with nature, somewhere to belong.

I really relate to that. There is one area where I feel truly at home - Obidos lagoon, on the Silver Coast of Portugal.

My ‘happy place’. Obidos lagoon, Portugal. January 2020

The lagoon is a large area of mud flats, reed bed, copses of trees and open grasslands. Its varied landscape provides home to a vast array of birds and wildlife, and it is my heaven. To go there we always gravitate to an area by a wooden bridge, over a river, and right down on the lagoon shore. At dawn there is very often a sea fog shrouding the lagoon, and as this clears and the sun rises the lagoon comes to life. We have sat in our car and watched otters feeding, flamingoes squabbling, a red squirrel nervously scurry past, and in the longer periods between human users of the bridge a kingfisher using its rope handrail as a fishing perch. It is magical. In winter times osprey use the lagoon for breakfast and supper. Throughout the year the breadth of small birds is every changing and wonderful - though with the constant companions of Stonechats and Zitting Cisticola.

And in this abundance the lagoon, and most especially the spot by the bridge, has become my ‘happy place’.

There are other spots that would yield more birds, or more exotic options. Evoa, just south of Lisbon, is one; Setubal a little further south again is another. Neither are far to drive, and yet we choose to spend our time on ‘our patch’ over and above all other spots.

It has given me some of my most magical photographic moments, but it is the excitement of wondering what each visit might hold that is the real treat. It feels alive, and in turn that makes me feel alive too.

I know where to look for bluethroats in the late Autumn; where the water rails hide; which muddy pools might yield the sight of a snipe. But there are also constant surprises like red phalarope blown in by a storm; a loan avocet; or a passing great bittern. Sometimes of day it can be quiet with no obvious life - but on the same day at a different hour it can be overflowing with movement and chatter.

My wife, Carrie, has spent the last few years taking at least one bag of rubbish away from the area on each visit. It has paid off, and now it is only occasional oddments of plastic that catch the eye. I used to throw away shots of waders with a background of bottle tops and broken plastic - happily that is a rare problem now. That is a good feeling, having a sense that the birds have a better home.

So I do agree with Joe Harkness - having a patch is the very best way to connect to nature, to learn about and belong to a place.

My ‘happy place’

Setting some goals

Pantomime villain