Sunday 23 March 2014

Swallows and Garganey

The hot spell is over, at least for now, and today was wet and chilly,  yet bizarrely the swallows chose to start arriving and a couple of dozen of them were harvesting the insects that were still around the flooded Bandiat.
There was also considerable activity on the water; at least four little grebes were engaged in noisy and aggressive courtship as were the same number of moorhens, but the stars of the show were a pair of beautiful garganey. These summer visitors used to be regular in some numbers at this location but I have not seen them for a while. Let's hope more are to follow.
As for the waders, the redshank count had increased to four birds and a pair of little ringed plovers were feeding at the edge of a muddy field.
There was no bird activity at the Tardoire where the flood waters have now almost receded.
Stella reports about fifty cranes flying north yesterday afternoon.

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