As I left the village along Station Road this morning I stopped briefly to look at the gulls following this tractor.
The usual mixture was there, with quite a few Mediterranean Gulls, but what struck me in this crowd was the solitary Crow in all these Gulls.
I had a few minutes watching from the
Restharrow Scrape hide at Sandwich Bay. The young
Dabchicks were performing noisily in front of the hide, chasing each other and also chasing young Moorhens.
There were four Snipe along the edge of the water. They mostly sat still, but at one point three wandered along the edge poking into the mud for worms.
My attention was caught by a commotion among the birds to my left. I saw something scampering along the edge of the water and reeds. This handsome Stoat ran quickly towards the hide, mostly hidden in the longish grass. When it was level with the hide I made a squeaking noise and it momentarily stopped to look, but unfortunately it moved on into the reeds, not to reappear while I was there.
Another scare amongst the birds was caused by this Sparrowhawk flying across the scrape. I hoped it would drop in for a drink but it continued its way over the bank and disappeared.
Other than the Snipe this Common Sandpiper was the only wader I saw, the tide was quite low and I suppose there was more chance of other shorebirds appearing there when the tide came in.
Corvids were in and out all the time using the pool for drinking and bathing. These three Carrion Crows dropped in just in front of the hide, but stayed just long enough to drink.
The usual mixture was there, with quite a few Mediterranean Gulls, but what struck me in this crowd was the solitary Crow in all these Gulls.
I had a few minutes watching from the Restharrow Scrape hide at Sandwich Bay. The young Dabchicks were performing noisily in front of the hide, chasing each other and also chasing young Moorhens.
There were four Snipe along the edge of the water. They mostly sat still, but at one point three wandered along the edge poking into the mud for worms.
My attention was caught by a commotion among the birds to my left. I saw something scampering along the edge of the water and reeds. This handsome Stoat ran quickly towards the hide, mostly hidden in the longish grass. When it was level with the hide I made a squeaking noise and it momentarily stopped to look, but unfortunately it moved on into the reeds, not to reappear while I was there.
Another scare amongst the birds was caused by this Sparrowhawk flying across the scrape. I hoped it would drop in for a drink but it continued its way over the bank and disappeared.
Other than the Snipe this Common Sandpiper was the only wader I saw, the tide was quite low and I suppose there was more chance of other shorebirds appearing there when the tide came in.
Corvids were in and out all the time using the pool for drinking and bathing. These three Carrion Crows dropped in just in front of the hide, but stayed just long enough to drink.
3 comments:
Wow- amazing stoat photo! I always seem to miss the snipe at close range at Restharrow; they're usually on the other side of the scrape when I go there.
Tony,
Terrific stoat photo. I don't know how you manage to get such a range of terrific photos time after time......
Ian W
Hi Ian,
Pam would say it's because I spend to much time doing nothing but sitting behind the camera. Of course a lot of the credit goes to photoshop. I helps disguise a lot of average pictures and makes them look quite good when small!
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