Wild Wanderings

Diary Entry 8th April 2018

Floods

The last week has been dominated with the floods in our local area. The Trent as well and truly burst its banks flooding the low-lying fields and the Quarry is also very high. The two have touched in the lower field area where I usually view from. My last visit a few days ago to the area was very scant on bird sighting and indeed any wildlife. The river was flowing fast and debri and old bits of wood was all that was floating down stream.

Today I decided to sit a while in the paddock and just watch and muse on things a little. All the little guys showed up Blue Tits , Chaffinch, Reed Bunting, Great Tits, Yellowhammers etc.

What I noticed most of all was they were now visiting in pairs. Mostly I have usually seen the males much more frequently than the females but today both were appearing together. This is particularly pleasing with the Reed Bunting and Yellowhammers as both are species of concern to the RSPB.

They are both Bunting family with the beak being of most note. The top of the beak fits into the lower beak which makes it easy for them to crack seeds and corn etc. The Yellowhammer nests in a small tree, bush or even an old clump of grass, something which is typically found around farm environments. They have even been known to nest in a haystack, but I think that was probably when haystacks were of looser construction than they are today.

A female Blackbird showed up and seemed to be oblivious to my presence. She moved around in a darting fashion eye to the ground then suddenly stabbing with her beak wrestled an earthworm to the surface stabbed at it a couple of times before grabbing it mid-section twirling it a little and then down it went. When you consider the size of some worms this is quite a feat. She was successful four times and then darted into the hedge and through to the field next door.

Before returning home I thought I would take a gentle stroll to the river just to check on the state of things. The fields were a little less heavy but still clinging mud and very water logged. On my way down, I sighted a Brown Hare sitting bolt upright ears alert listening carefully to everything. I stopped advancing as I knew he would bolt if I closed any further. He was a good fit adult with beautiful golden-brown fur and his ears were boldly marked in black and he was quite large. I walked forward very slowly but he dropped his ears back down behind his head and I knew he had spotted me. Sometimes if you are lucky you can recover the situation and get a little close at this point , but it all depends on how much trust the Hare has in humans. On occasion I have gotten to within a few meters before their trust beaks down. But today I was unlucky. He lifted his ears and was off like a bullet across the meadow. What a great sight a Hare at full speed.

The photo at the top of the group page is from a time I got lucky and got a little closer. That’s a photo I treasure, and I can still recall the excitement the day I took it..

This hobby of mine can be so rewarding.

Till tomorrow