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| Kestrel (c) Oz |
When I said a couple of weeks ago that we needed rain I did
say that we didn’t want it at the weekends! The weather gods were not
listening. The welcome rain came in with an Atlantic weather system that also
brought fiercely strong winds. I went down to the moor on Friday evening to
look for owls and was battered and buffeted by gales. Over the Closes a mixed
flock of Jackdaws and Rooks were being tossed across the sky like wind-blown
leaves. With the wind coming in from the south the bridle way was in the lee of
the hedge and the force of the wind slowed up any birds flying towards us. Needless
to say, we saw no owls.
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| Starlings including Marsh Harrier (c) Bark |
What was interesting were the early signs of the Starling
roost developing. There were approximately four or five thousand birds coming
in, so nothing like the spectacular numbers that we might expect later in the
winter. However, the power of the wind shredded and coalesced the flocks in
turn, sometimes drawing them out like smoke and at other times pushing them
together in tight clouds. The stormy conditions meant that the roosting process
was drawn out and at times the birds were low and right over head, and then the
thrumming of their wings was louder than the gusting wind. Three different
Marsh Harriers were drifting through the Starlings but seemingly not looking to
seize any of them. It would appear that they look to spot injured or ailing
victims. There were two Sparrowhawks present a large female and a smaller male.
They were hunting much more proactively, and we were fairly sure that we saw
the female snatch one from the flock. As we were leaving it was very gratifying
to see a long trail of children straggling out along the bridleway and heading
towards the screen accompanied by parents and carers. They were members of a
cub pack and from the “oohs and aahs” that we heard from them as they
approached the screen they had not seen anything like the display before. It is
vital to enthuse the upcoming generations if we wish them to value wildness and
wild places in the future, and they will only do that if they are exposed to and
enthused by the real thing.
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| Starlings leaving at dawn.(c) Matthew O'Byrne |
Saturday morning was also wet but had given way to sunshine
by late morning. We saw very little other than a Common Sand on the reedy island
out from the first screen and a party of roughly thirty Golden Plovers. As it
dried up on Saturday there were a couple of Kestrels hunting over Greenaways.
Although we stood and watched as we slowly dried out in the sunshine we were
not lucky enough to spot either the Merlin that had been reported on Thursday
or the Hobby seen on Friday.
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| Common Sand from the first screen (c) Luke O'Byrne |
Sunday morning was another washout with the heaviest rain of
the weekend. On Sunday afternoon when the rain finally stopped a late Swallow
passed overhead and two Green Sands were seen at the second screen on the muddy
margin that has appeared out on the right-hand side. There are Stonechats out
on Greenaways, but no Owls were noted.
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| Bittern (c) Dave Stroud |
The conditions were not conducive to
birds that should stay dry and hunt by stealth. Occasional sightings were had
of the Bitterns as they relocated both within the reedbed and across the wider
reserve. Surveys of fish populations undertaken by the reserve staff indicates
that there is a much larger fish population in the ring ditches than out in the
main lagoons. More Redwings were seen both on Saturday morning and late on
Sunday, but we have yet to record our first Fieldfare of this winter season.
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| Kestrel at the Cattle Pens (c) JR |
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