What a gloomy day!I had a couple of hours to spare, so just after lunch I headed down to Shotton Pools NR.
A group of fourteen Goldeneye – including a mint Drake - was a good start, but any attempt to observe the birds closely was thwarted by my poor fieldcraft and the continued obliteration of much of the vegetation around the pools that made staying out of view a tad tricky.
I know you can’t make a nice aioli with capers without breaking eggs etc, but hopefully the scythes and the napalm will remain in the potting shed from now on.
Nothing much else of note on the larger lagoons aside from the normal Gadwall and Coot consorts, but the smaller and shallower pool held a couple of jewels in the form of a Kingfisher and a cracking Green Sandpiper.
For an encore I mooched over towards the bottom of the marsh near Flint Bridge to run the rule over the large numbers of Swan that have congregated on the many flashes made up of residual water from the high tides.
Good numbers of all three species were present with perhaps Bewick’s nosing in front as the most numerous. I quickly picked out the poor bugger wearing a shocking yellow collar around its neck: number 961A for the scientists out there, but to me it seems such a betrayal of trust to place such a hideous ornament around the neck of a beautiful, enigmatic and wild bird.
Most of the swans were fairly distant with the exception of the family party above, whom for some mysterious reason were not keen on being identified…
Until later.
I also had Bewick's No. 961A on Shotwick fields last month - the WWT says the birds have also been fitted with GPS data loggers so the info can be given to "those responsible for offshore windfarm locations" although I seriously doubt the results will have the slightest impact on whereabouts the windfarms are located.
ReplyDeleteBut I do sleep soundly at night knowing that our drive for 20% renewable energy by 2020 will put an end to global warming...won't it?
Mark M