As I was counting the
Lapwing (124) on Tuesday, two
Golden Plovers flew into my field of view low over the marsh and circled around a couple of times, gaining height, before heading off to the east. These are the first of this species that I've seen since being here, and looking back at records for the reserve, it seems like they are only ever seen in small numbers during the winter. The
Great White Egret was also present on this morning, showing close in front of the hide.
The other highlight of the week was a
Black Redstart that flew in and landed on a wall right in front of my front door as I was waiting to set off to work in the morning sun. Risking looking a bit weird to the neighbours, I pointed my camera to the roof tops and managed to get a few shots. The white wing patch means this bird is a first winter male.
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| Black Redstart |
Later in the morning I saw a high flying flock of
Black-headed Gulls. I've never seen BHGs flying in such an obvious V-formation before.
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| Black-headed Gulls |
The week's work was mainly made up of odd jobs, but on Friday we did some coppicing and pollarding either side of a stretch of path that's used for bird ringing in the spring and summer as part of the Constant Effort Scheme. This will hopefully create a lower denser area of branches no higher than the nets, so that we'll catch more birds. I can't wait to start doing some ringing!
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