Car park FULL, the sign announced. But someone is leaving so we secure the only space. What’s going on? Bearded tits are about, the Bearded Reedling is lured from the sheltering reeds to feed on seed-heads, down to the seed-trays where they feed and ingest grit.
The afternoon sun dazzles on the water and the light is tricky for photography, but here they are.
The afternoon sun dazzles on the water and the light is tricky for photography, but here they are.
As we watched in reverential silence there came a soft chirruping from the willow beside us. Coal tit and blue tit flited among the branches, as if they had come to see what we were about. The intimacy of the experience was delightful. I’ll remember the time those coal tits came calling, they were so confiding.
Find that reed mace bursting into fluffy white seed and splling out, then go down the stem into the reed stubble besie the water’s edge and there’s a snipe Snipe was called in Causeeway Hide and the search was on.. . Really!!! This exquisite bird is so well camouflaged. Sometimes the long bill gives it away but its plumage is the colours of the reed bed and pattern is broken-up, like reed stubble this way and that. A birder with a telescope invites us to take a look. It's a powerful scope and the plumage detail is beautiful and we look right into the bright eye of the snipe. Snipe are secretive and they often stay almost motionless for some while so they're hard to see.
Out there on the island thre’s a swan family, large adults and summer’s brood, cygnets of soft greys and white. They dwarf the black cormiorant beside them.
The great egret is does well here. From the sea-hides we hear widgeon whistle and the plaintive note of redshank, and great egets are abundant.
I’ve been here since 6.00 am, says a birder. Before dawn.
The social scene on this popular day is interesting. George’s eagerness to share the snipe in his scope and his patience if helping me find the bird to photograph it for myself. The loud birder who has to tell everyone in the hide about his annual trip to mull. And those who shuffle along the bench and invite me to find a gap and sit beside them.
Heartened to receive an email re The Light Dragoons who help with conservation work in RIggindale, restoring a peat bog.
The great egret is does well here. From the sea-hides we hear widgeon whistle and the plaintive note of redshank, and great egets are abundant.
I’ve been here since 6.00 am, says a birder. Before dawn.
The social scene on this popular day is interesting. George’s eagerness to share the snipe in his scope and his patience if helping me find the bird to photograph it for myself. The loud birder who has to tell everyone in the hide about his annual trip to mull. And those who shuffle along the bench and invite me to find a gap and sit beside them.
Heartened to receive an email re The Light Dragoons who help with conservation work in RIggindale, restoring a peat bog.
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