Male and female wheatear I'm here, where are you?
or
I'm here, clear off.
That's the message birds transmit from their display posts, and in song. Males seek a mate and they claim exclusive rights to their territory. Today, a female wheatear joins her mate.
or
I'm here, clear off.
That's the message birds transmit from their display posts, and in song. Males seek a mate and they claim exclusive rights to their territory. Today, a female wheatear joins her mate.
Keeping a respectful distance, so as not to disturb the male wheatear I've been watching, I take photographs. Sight-lines are tricky and it's only when I'm editing images that I realise his female has now arrived. She has warmer colouring than the male and they're a handsome pair.
I'm here, where are you? It's a fair question since wheatear arrive singly, having over-wintered in Africa, to resume a pair-bond. Their reunion poses a host of questions. I've found male wheatear breeding in this territory for some years. Probably different birds, since their life--span is some five years, but the same lineage. Is that true of male and female birds? I'm delighted to see them together. And I realise it's the merest glimpse into their lives.
I'm here, where are you? It's a fair question since wheatear arrive singly, having over-wintered in Africa, to resume a pair-bond. Their reunion poses a host of questions. I've found male wheatear breeding in this territory for some years. Probably different birds, since their life--span is some five years, but the same lineage. Is that true of male and female birds? I'm delighted to see them together. And I realise it's the merest glimpse into their lives.
Blue moor grass is, I think, the earliest grass to flower. It's robust and is often found by limestone outcrops and scattered over limestone clitter. Today, there's golden sedge in the grass, freshly coming into flower. In a week or so the escarpment edge will be a mass of yellow flowers. Now, the earliest horseshoe vetch appears.
I seek cowslips and find one with budding flowers and last summer's seed-heads showing well.
'In a cowslip's bell I lie' goes Shakespeare's song. The seed-head looks more bell-like, looking bronze and sturdy.
Wood sorrel is a delicate flower and I come upon a scatter of flowers in dead bracken.
I seek cowslips and find one with budding flowers and last summer's seed-heads showing well.
'In a cowslip's bell I lie' goes Shakespeare's song. The seed-head looks more bell-like, looking bronze and sturdy.
Wood sorrel is a delicate flower and I come upon a scatter of flowers in dead bracken.
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