Sunday, 31 May 2015

Dreaming of waders...


A small, shallow field pool to the south of the village has, unusually, held water throughout the spring and I have had high hopes of flocks of Ruff and godwits and perhaps the odd Avocet dropping in. These have, as ever, remained unfulfilled fantasies and the sum total of wader sightings has been a pair of Little Ringed Plover and a single Redshank. Admittedly it has not been a classic spring for wader passage but I think the other reason may be these….

 
This pair of Shelduck have been resident on this pool since mid-April and I’ve recently witnessed how territorial they have become not only aggressively chasing off another pair of Shelduck but physically attacking a group of Mallard and even driving off Curlew and Lapwing. So I suspect any Blackwits foolish enough to try and land in the pool would have had a similar ‘warm’ welcome. Incidentally they seem to have adopted the Black-Headed gull in the picture and the three birds are inseparable!

Better views of Little Owl today, presumably at a nest site in this ruined building, although still quite distant in dull light (that's my excuse anyway...)

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