Tranquill at Park End Moss
Alone in the bird hide, we look out over the fresh-water pool, over the reed-beds and fringe of trees toward Whitbarrow. The morning is calm and still and a hazy sky has sunlight enough to reflect the warm glow of the reeds, a wash of colour in the water. A wigeon whistles in the silence and stillness. Hunkered-down and hidden, water-birds roost on islets of reed-stubble out in the pool. Interludes of tranquillity, and the beauty of this February day.
It's the breeding season and ducks swim in courtship pairs, a gloss of water trailing in their wake. Fine feathers, intricate patterns that blend and flow over their bodies, colours both bright and delicate. Marvellous plumage that is at once display and camouflage. This is the time to see birds in courtship display. The sun plays on the water, scattering light, dazzling. Today is impressionist mode, gift of the light. Images are evocative, imprecise, like water-colours.
Being attentive, being present, is our gift to each other, and to Nature. Let us be in deep, free from the hurly burly of the day.
Many of the birds out on the water are overwintering, not resident. Wigeon from Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia will overwinter here, breeding in northern England and central and northern Scotland. Winter numbers of gadwall swell with the arrival of birds from Continental Europe and Iceland. Teal has a massive winter population with smaller numbers breeding in the north of England and Scotland. Common snipe breed in northern and western upland areas, and in wet lowland grassland. I long to hear them drumming in courtship display as we have often done. Winter birds arrive from Europe. Breeding patterns change over time, and Climate Change will influence behaviour. There will be immature and non-breeding birds amongst those we see today.
Some fifteen snipe feed on strips of vegetation out in the pool. Snipe always seem to attract birders, including me. Their patterning is subtle and beautiful and their colouring blends in perfectly on the fringe of the reed-bed. Sometimes the long bill is the clearest feature. Even greyish gadwall have delicate patterning on their plumage. A teal shows with a beautiful blend of differing pattern. Colours on wigeon are rich and warm.
A redshank feeds beyond a group of snipe, showing how tiny snipe are. I think that's why folk love to find them. A small bird with perfect camouflage is always a challenge.
Being attentive, being present, is our gift to each other, and to Nature. Let us be in deep, free from the hurly burly of the day.
Many of the birds out on the water are overwintering, not resident. Wigeon from Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia will overwinter here, breeding in northern England and central and northern Scotland. Winter numbers of gadwall swell with the arrival of birds from Continental Europe and Iceland. Teal has a massive winter population with smaller numbers breeding in the north of England and Scotland. Common snipe breed in northern and western upland areas, and in wet lowland grassland. I long to hear them drumming in courtship display as we have often done. Winter birds arrive from Europe. Breeding patterns change over time, and Climate Change will influence behaviour. There will be immature and non-breeding birds amongst those we see today.
Some fifteen snipe feed on strips of vegetation out in the pool. Snipe always seem to attract birders, including me. Their patterning is subtle and beautiful and their colouring blends in perfectly on the fringe of the reed-bed. Sometimes the long bill is the clearest feature. Even greyish gadwall have delicate patterning on their plumage. A teal shows with a beautiful blend of differing pattern. Colours on wigeon are rich and warm.
A redshank feeds beyond a group of snipe, showing how tiny snipe are. I think that's why folk love to find them. A small bird with perfect camouflage is always a challenge.
Snipe are wading birds that probe their long straight bills into mud =and marshy ground for invertebrates. Gadwall, wigeon and teal are dabbling ducks and surface feeders and the shallow waters of this fresh-water pool with winter remnants of aquatic vegetation give good grazing. In the breeding season they will also take invertebrates; worms, insects, molluscs and crustaceans.
As we leave the hide we pass a hazel with a mass of yellow male catkins and a few dark red female flowers. Within the wood we find scarlet elf cup fungus on mossy logs, a splash of bright colour in a winter woodland .
We have lunch at Sunnyside on the Levens Causeway and catch the 1.00pm news. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor is arrested on a charge of misconduct in public office and taken into custody. It is his 66th birthday. It's shocking but unsurprising. Where were you when the former Prince Andrew was arrested?
A day of stark contrasts. Next comes 'Wuthering Heights' the latest version of Emily Bronte's novel by director Emerald Fennell. Film critic Mark Kermode is scathing but reckons it will be a big hit. Fennell says she channelled her fourteen year old self and her feelings as she read the book for the first time. I read Bronte's novel in my early teens but I didn't have quite Fennell's vision. Not a single character is likeable. Sally Wainwright's drama, To Walk Invisible, is a TV film showing how challenging it was for the Bronte sisters to write as their brother descended into alcoholism, how hard it was for women to be published and recognised. Wainwright's Yorkshire moors are infinitely more beautiful with banks of autumnal bilberry, plumes of cotton grass, and the call of the curlew.
A day of stark contrasts. Next comes 'Wuthering Heights' the latest version of Emily Bronte's novel by director Emerald Fennell. Film critic Mark Kermode is scathing but reckons it will be a big hit. Fennell says she channelled her fourteen year old self and her feelings as she read the book for the first time. I read Bronte's novel in my early teens but I didn't have quite Fennell's vision. Not a single character is likeable. Sally Wainwright's drama, To Walk Invisible, is a TV film showing how challenging it was for the Bronte sisters to write as their brother descended into alcoholism, how hard it was for women to be published and recognised. Wainwright's Yorkshire moors are infinitely more beautiful with banks of autumnal bilberry, plumes of cotton grass, and the call of the curlew.
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