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Bittern (c) JR |
Here is the
second of my “virtual” reports from the moor, based on conversations, texts and
e-mails from a brilliant set of mobile roving correspondents.
Winter has
finally arrived with harder frosts, some ice and a light dusting of snow. The
cold, clear weather has also meant that the sun has appeared, relieving us of
the unending grey gloom of the last couple of months. As is usual at this time
of year the bird numbers have risen sharply with Lapwings and Golden Plovers
present in their highest numbers this winter. Both species separately topped
over three thousand in the latest WeBS count on Monday morning.
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Lapwings and Goldies (c) Tom Nicholson-Lailey |
Interestingly
the cold conditions have not yet initiated the abandonment of the reed bed
roost by the Starlings, but should the lagoons freeze experience from other
years would suggest that the birds will go elsewhere. On Saturday and Monday evenings
it was reported to be just as spectacular as normal and I have been sent some
great pictures to prove it.
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Starlings on Monday (c) Francis Josephs |
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Swans oblivious to the throng. Both above pics (c) Tom Nicholson -Lailey |
As the cold
bites and conditions out in the fields become more difficult we will certainly
draw more birds down to the grain feeding along the track to beside and to the
south of the hide. Correspondents all remarked that these numbers were still
rising. As well as the Reed Buntings and Linnets that make up the bulk of the
flock there are also Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Yellowhammers and still at
least two Bramblings. As has become normal, this concentration of feeding
passerines is attracting regular visits from one or other of the Sparrowhawks
that scatters everything to the four winds.
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Reed Bunting (c) JR |
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Flood on the MOD (c) Pete Roby |
Water levels
have continued to rise over the last week and now the moor is looking much more
like a proper wetland. Saunders Field and the Hundred Acre fields out on the
MOD land are now flooded. Most exciting of all is the rise in the water level
on the Flood Field. Years ago it always attracted huge numbers of wildfowl, I
remember one year when we counted over six hundred Pintail out there and
another year when it drew in a flock of seventy four White-fronted Geese. It
has not been possible to allow it to flood up properly since the re-profiling
work was done on it, as the root and soil structure needed to become properly
established, so as to withstand regular flooding. This year will be the first
when it holds water again properly and I will be fascinated to see if it can
still pull down substantial numbers of birds. It provides a quiet, undisturbed
area for wildfowl that are flushed off the main part of the reserve to loaf,
feed and rest. There will be considerable amounts of grass seed and
invertebrate food available there this year.
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The Flood Field as we like to see it (c) David Wilding |
The issue of
wildfowl and indeed wildfowling is a vexed issue. Landowners have a legal right
to shoot ducks and geese over their land even when that land adjoins a nature
reserve. This is the case for instance at Titchwell where a shooting syndicate
owns the next door saltmarsh. But I am a little disappointed to find that a
landowner can receive a substantial grant in order to make his land more
wildlife friendly and then use the subsequent improvement to lure down more
birds to indulge his interest in shooting them. So we now have a scatter of
duck decoys out on the fields to the west of the path to the main screen. It
all seems a little cynical to me, but perhaps I’m just being naïve.
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Unconvincing Decoys Noke Sides (c) Tezzer |
Raptors are
all being seen regularly and we have now had a Merlin record from this half of
the winter. With the vast biomass of over a hundred thousand Starlings and over
ten and a half thousands of ducks and waders it is not surprising. Often they
are cleaning up the sick and the injured birds that are an inevitable part of
such a concentration. Short Eared Owls are being seen regularly but have not
yet taken to hunting in the late afternoon.
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Kestrel lunching on Blackbird (c) Paul Greenaway |
Bittern or
Bitterns are being seen every day and in just four weeks or so we can start to
listen out for booming. It happened last year but the consensus of opinion was
that they didn’t boom long enough to suggest breeding. Nationwide one hundred
and fifty six boomers were recorded last year and sixty four nests were
recorded. Let’s hope that this year we can join that number.
Thanks to
all my roving reporters and photographers and thanks too for kind enquiries as
to my recovery. I may even get down to the moor this weekend if it’s not too
icy and dangerous for a wobbly birder on crutches!
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Siskin from elsewhere but needed for the 2016 Yearlist! (c) Derek Lane |
Reports
from: PG, PR, SR, JU, TN-L, TS, FJ and RSPB staff.
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