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| Drake Garganey (c) Bark |
I noticed that last Sunday was “National Dawn Chorus Day” a
fellow birder remarked that every day is dawn chorus day! Looking at my
calendar I notice amongst the dozens of crossed out events, that I was due to take
out my annual Dawn Chorus Walk last weekend.
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| The very first House Sparrow picture that I have used in the last ten years of blogging. |
At least I was spared the 4.30 am start
but was sad not to be able to do it, as we have been doing for the past ten or
so years. There are a number of people who have become regular attenders and I
have missed enjoying their company and their enthusiasm this year.
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| Whitethroat (c) Bark |
Despite not being down on the moor as early as I might have
been for the guided walk, I was there once again to take my exercise this weekend.
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| Blackcap (c) NT |
The dawn chorus was superb and as prolific as ever. By the time I was out of
the carpark field I had heard all the warblers bar Reed and Garden, and within
two hundred metres along the bridleway I had heard them as well.
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| Cuckoo (c) NT |
Cuckoos are
calling and pairing up and I could hear both males and females. Curlews are calling
from the MOD land and Snipe are drumming and “chipping” from The Closes,
Greenaway’s and Ashgrave. Bitterns are still booming but not as regularly or
quite as loudly as they were just a few weeks ago, it’s as if they are winding
down now.
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| Sedgie on a post (c) Bark |
As I walked along the bridleway it seemed that every lone
bush was occupied by its own Sedge Warbler, several of them prepared to shout
out their wild demented song at point blank range. Reed Warblers are much
harder to pick out, as they deliver their more measured rhythmic song from the
depths of last years reeds, their progress can be followed by the twitching stems.
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| Marsh Harrier (c) Tom N-L |
By mid-morning Hobbies are taking to the wing over Greenaway’s.
At this time of the year there are often more than ten individuals feeding on the
earliest dragonflies and the very abundant Hawthorn Flies also known as St Marks
Flies, (St Marks Day- 25th April, being about the time they first appear).
Yesterday at least twenty Hobbies were seen. They will stay around the moor for
a couple of weeks before dispersing more widely across the country to breed.
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| Oystercatcher (c) NT |
Big Otmoor is looking very good for passage waders but I was
unable to find anything other than the regular Redshanks, Lapwings, Oystercatchers
and Snipe. The Wood Sandpiper of a week ago is long gone. There is a loose
colony of breeding Black-headed Gulls but much noisier and more obvious still
is the mixed flock of juvenile and non-breeding adult Lesser Black-backed and
Herring Gulls. Their clamour prompted someone to say that it was just like
being at the seaside. It is difficult to know without careful monitoring how
much impact their presence will have on breeding Lapwings and Redshanks.
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| Lapwing and Chicks (c) Tom N-L |
I have
twice noticed them eating what look like goose eggs, there are very large
numbers of breeding Canada, Grey Lag and various hybrid Geese, that take
advantage of the security the anti-predator fence offers.
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| Garganey flying in(c) Bark |
There have been a pair of Garganey on the central pools and
this weekend there was a lone drake, it was very mobile and once or twice flew
in and landed on the scrape beside the bridleway. It was lovely to get such close
views of what must be one of the smartest ducks in the UK, not as colourful as
a Mandarin duck, but somehow classier!
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| Wheatears and Whinchat (c) Bark |
Near the farm at Noke there were five
Wheatears, three females and two males perched in a heap of dead bushes, there
was also a fine male Whinchat on the fence around Ashgrave.
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| Cootlings (c) Bark |
