Sunday, 26 March 2017

26th March

Heavy rain this week has led to the first extensive flooding of the winter…


The water receded exceptionally quickly though and by the afternoon had changed from this extensive lake to isolated pools.

Pick of the birds for me (which shows how low inland birders set their sights!) were two Coot on the open water. Doubling the number of records in the parish!


A single Redshank was my first of the year…


The floods also held seven Shelduck, as usual very aggressive toward each other…


Plus seven Grey Herons, ten Snipe, a handful of Lapwing, a pair of Oystercatchers and two Green Sandpipers..

Good numbers of gulls too with a couple of hundred Black-headed and a few dozen Lesser Black-backed, Herring and Common Gulls. Almost 100 Black-headed gulls were also circling high over our garden yesterday - presumably catching flying insects.

Signs of spring are everywhere now with a loud chorus of amphibians and masses of Frog spawn…


But underwater toads too…


And their more delicate spawn you can just see in the centre of the picture…



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