Today I thought I'd take a look at the Restharrow Scrape, there would be no Waxwings, but I thought I'd taken enough pictures of them for a while. The scrape didn't have a lot, but I did learn that there was a Red-throated Diver in the small reservoir, next to the Chequers Pub, along the Ancient Highway.
It isn't easy to see into this small bit of water. The fence is high and so are the banks, but at the far end there are a couple of slabs of concrete next to a tree that are just about high enough to give a view through the bushes and vegetation. The Red-throated Diver was there, but the scope for pictures were very limited.
There is a small farm yard between the Pub and the reservoir and at the corner of the shed nearest the fence a large pallet stood against the wall. I felt sure they wouldn't mind if I used it as a ladder to looked over the fence and the bank. Sure enough the views were quite a lot better.
I balanced on the top for a couple of minutes, and, although there were various bits of vegetation that sometimes obscured the bird, I did get some better views.
As far as I could see the bird wasn't oiled and gave every impression of being healthy. But I think that looks may be deceptive. Most divers that end up on pits and reservoirs are probably either injured or sick. I addition, although this bird had found it's way onto the reservoir it would probably have some difficulty in taking off and avoiding the fence. I hope that I'm wrong and it does make a safe exit, it probably will have to do so quite quickly if it is to find food.
No comments:
Post a Comment