Decent conditions up at the res today with a grey cloudy morning and rain throughout on a W>3 at 12 degrees. Late afternoon brought cloudy sunshine and a couple of light showers.
Luckily the breeders up there are keeping me occupied with very little else happening. A pair of Common Sandpipers have 2 chicks which are very lively dashing around the shore but can only be watched through the scope as any nearer and one of the adult birds call and they dive for cover.
The juv Dunlin proved fledging as it flew in from the nest site on the moor landing on the shore to feed. The adults have now left the area leaving the juv to fend for itself. This is usual with Dunlin due to the juv being independent as soon as it is fledged.
The family of 2 adult Greylag and 4 gosling I have been watching since they were born have finally started to fly today doing circuits of the water. The parent geese never let them out of their sight throughout, always keeping them between the adults and today their protection paid off.
The 2 Ringed Plovers have me baffled , having been present since the last day of February until now and just having the one brood which was lost. Some days they act like they are nesting, other days like they are protecting young, yet on other occasions they just feed nearby in the boatyard and ignore me.
This to me is the beauty of having your own patch and making regular visits . You get to know every bird and every area that produces and areas that don,t. You get to know roughly what should appear in different seasons and its always an added pleasure to see something not expected.
A sign of Swifts starting to move over the last few days whilst 3 Curlews flew over very high and >W. All the Curlew have now gone along with the Redshanks and the breeding Oystercatchers and Raven. The Raven will re appear later in the year but the young usually disperse.
I am now starting to put reports of definite movers on Trektellen, see link on right.
Fly Flatts
2 Ringed Plover
5 Common Sandpiper + 2 chicks
1 juv Dunlin, fledged and flying
4 Greylag goslings flew for first time today
1 Oyk
3 Curlew >W
c 50 Swifts >SW....+ a steady flow over the last few days.
4 LBB gull
+ usual sp.
BS