As you can imagine once you have entered the land of the leeches the number of people who want to revisit their domain is significantly reduced. I mean who really wants to spend their first hours of the day with dozens of leeches crawling over their boots and up their trousers with one thing in mind – to feast on your blood.

We set off down the lake with the boat full of hunting dogs as a small party was going out to try and catch dinner – their target was deer, pigs and cassowary. We were dropped of – the trio of BOP watchers – and set off along the forest track to the tree where we were told they would perform at 8 o clock precisely. If you think that insecticide sprayed on your boots and sock persuades the leeches to leave you alone then think again. In fact they seem to positively like it.

The first 10 minutes down the track was leech free then .... Long ones, thin ones, fat squelchy ones, green ones (there are the most tenacious), brown ones and black ones. Imagine looking down at your shoes and seeing a writhing, wriggling, squirming mass of leeches advancing to the top of your boots – that what happened to us this morning. But we had no time to try and unglue all of them – we had to make the dancing tree by 8 am and had a 50 minute walk to make our appointment. When you are focussed on watching Birds of Paradise it is amazing how you can block out of your mind your travelling companions on your boots and legs.

At 7.55 am we were nearing the dancing tree but had only heard one male BOP calling from deep in the jungle. Hmmm, I thought ... this was their plan to simply feed us to the leeches. The BOPS were somewhere else this morning! But at 7.59, whaddya know, the tree we were looking at exploded into a cacophony of noise and frenzied activity as the BOPS arrived – females and the absurdly stunning males with their fabulous plumage. Flashes of green, yellow, maroon brown and orange danced through the upper canopy. Fluttering wings and long tail feathers disappeared and then emerged only to disappear again from high in the tree. How many were there? It was hard to tell - maybe 10 or 12 in all.

Glancing down at my boots I noticed that the leeches were dancing as well – bending and waving themselves backwards and forwards as they contemplated their next move. I think even they were joining in the moment.

Tim