La Gazza Ladra*
(*Which, as we all know, is Roman for ‘You Cheeky Bugger!’)
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This heron was probably 50 to 70 metres from me - when he was about, no goslings were out on the water.
And those greylags have huge wingspans
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ahh come on - its quite soothing in a way, we have a nightingale near us that sings merrily away at 2 in the morning, it makes a change from the owls.
It was tongue in cheek. Love that they are around here and increasing each year. When we first heard them , it was one just outside the window and one faintly heard across the field. Now its two or three nearby and more further away. They started around 10 days ago and normally continue for a couple of weeks or so before going quiet presumably once eggs are laid.
The downside is that they start around 10-10:30 each evening and don’t stop calling each other until around day break. We have got used to them now though and can sleep through it.
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Tern’s Turn
A single Caspian Tern, the largest of all terns, scanning the pond’s surface before sundown. His abrupt changes of speed and direction left me with the impression that the sole purpose of these wild aerobatic moves was to escape the camera’s viewfinder and focus.
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Summers arrived ! ! !
Or should I say the swifts have arrived, I have been watching a pair screaming around the village this morning.
I suspect they’re passage migrants as the ‘locals’ don’t normally arrive until the 1st week of May, but this pair were checking out one of the traditional swift nest sites in the eves of the old pub barn, so wait and see.
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A Great Egret.
He/she is too. Although about 100 yds away, it was clearly enormous!
We do get a few of their Little cousins but this was the first GE I’ve seen round here and seems to be sussing the place out as it’s been here a few days now.
Not coming any closer though…
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It takes them some time to acclimate themselves to the new place and get used to human presence. My closest encounters with migrating birds always take place in the end of the summer when they are already bored with me.
So…Um, you come around here often then?
Apparently there is another not far away, that one has a black beak. So they could be moving in…
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At the water edge
A female Red-wing Blackbird with rare traces of red epaulettes which traditionally belong only to the male counterparts. Most females are just speckled with traces of orange around the beak.
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In fact, quite the variety this morning. Forgive the blur, it was a quick take as it passed through my peripheral vision…
All told, I saw:
Ring Necked Parakeet as above
M/F Pheasants
Mallards with children
Buzzard
Variety of garden birds; Robin, Great/Blue/Coal Tits, Goldfinches, Greenfinch, Chaffinch
Goldcrest
Crows
Jay
Magpies
Great Egret
Herons
Swans
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Cormorant
Canada Goose and babies
Greylag
Coot
Moorhens
Woodpigeons
Black Headed and Herring Gulls
Sandmartins
And Merlin tells me I also heard:
Cuckoo
Wren
Chiffchaff
Garden Warbler
Blackcap
Proper 57 varieties. I think I just need a Partridge in a pear tree and I’m about done.
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From very far
…a male Baltimore Oriole . Very restless, perhaps sensing the downpour which drenched everything fifteen minutes later. The bird had received its name from the resemblance of the male’s colors to those on the coat-of-arms of the 17th-century Lord Baltimore.
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