Back to a cold morning.....and so misty there wasn't much point in trying for anything on the pits themselves....
Cuckoo....
Yes....it is a Cuckoo....really....hung around West Pit for about 20 minutes before heading east and I could hear it further east for some time....must be a Reed Warbler Cuckoo hanging round the pits all the time....
A quick moan....the farmer...this is North Field....the rakings from his cutting the other week....this bank in the photo below is usually quite good for orchids....but all these rakings of grass will increase the nutrient content on the bank and encourage the stronger species to outpace them....
Meanwhile over on the eastern footpath.....first photo below is north of the fallen tree....nice isn't it...a couple of years ago a fallen tree was quickly removed by the farmer and he mowed the footpath all the way up to the northern scrub field....
....and this is south of the fallen tree....mowed....species poor....
....and slightly further east he has mowed from hedge to copse....this is where the Orange-tip Butterflies hang out....till he comes along and mows it....then there aren't any....
...grrrrrrrrrrrrr!..........guardian of the countryside my arse...! This is 'old style' farming practice and shows why times have moved on and how much 'townies' actually know whilst the farmers refuse to change.....
Birds....calming.....so...a few Nightingales were sounding off though very intermittent....I need to be there earlier....as soon as the other birds get the idea of chiming in with their own dawn chorus the Nightingales tend to stop for a while....
Garden Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler....
This is up on North Field....where I relocated the Barn Owl today which was nice to see after such a long break....there was also a Tawny Owl calling near by....
North Field
The Lapwing are still out on West Field....I wandered over a little way....and was wondering if this is what attracted them to attempt to breed there...they seem to be pretty keen and hopefully they will...or have.....succeeded...
West Field
On West Pit there were two proud parents....Greylag Geese and five little ones...always nice to see...
Greylag Geese and family, West Pit
A Mandarin Duck was standing.....standing....on the island in Island Pit....yes, the water level has now dropped enough for there almost to be an island back in the pit...and the west footpath by Middle Pit is now just muddy rather than covered by water....
No comments:
Post a Comment