A half decent day today at Fly Flatts with full cloud cover this morning on a light SW>3 at 15 degrees.
By late afternoon broken cloud let some sun through but the temperature kept to 16 degrees with a cool SW>3.
Only 1 Dunlin found today along with the usual waders whilst 5 Greylags were new in along with a single male Tufted.
Taking advantage of what seemed to be most of the Canadas out on the water I took a count and came up with 254 Canadas and 32 gosling. The adult count is around 100 short of last year whilst the resident pair of Greylag have kept their 4 gosling which are now very near to fledging.
A strange breeding cycle with the 2 Ringed Plover which I have been monitoring every day since they arrived on the last day of February, presumably the pair that raised 2 chicks here last year.
Early March they went through the pre breeding procedure including copulation but then tried several nest sites with non seeming suitable to them. After that they settled down to feeding and pruning but always together. They also got very confining in me, ignoring me as I walked past or photographed them quiet close.
This all changed a week ago when the birds started alert calling as I walked the area and both birds did the running in front of me procedure as if taking me away from a nest. Sometimes they would run in front of me the full length of the west bank and back again.
After this change of mood started I kept my distance and scoped them with no disturbance.
Two days ago , as soon as I arrived and left the compound they would fly around noisily and keep landing nearby. This made me suspect that they had chicks although they had given me no indication of a nest site and both birds were present every day, usually together.
The incubation period is 24 days so the female must leave the nest regular or they swop over at regular periods, unlike last year when the female disappeared for 3 weeks until returning with 2 chicks.
After a lot of scoping and scanning I found 1 chick which I estimate at 2 days old . This afternoon I pinpointed the single chick so it is either the only one hatched or they have lost one already.
All it has to do now is keep its head down for 25 days until its ready to fledge , although Ringed Plovers are pretty fierce parents and are very aggressive towards other birds.
Last year they reared 2 which fledged and moved on against all the odds of very little water and large open areas of mud where Peregrines, Merlins , Crows and gulls used to patrol daily. Watch this space.
Fly Flatts
2 Oyks
1 Redshank
2 Ringed Plover + 1 chick
5 Common Sand
1 Dunlin
1m Pied Wagtail
1 m Tufted
5 Greylag
1 pr Greylag + 4 gosling
254 Canada + 32 gosling
8 LBB....>SE
+ usual sp.
BS