They rose up from field near the Tardoire, flew around me noisily for a while and then settled on nearby trees and a power cable, giving me good views for several minutes. I left them there and went on a short distance towards the river. There was no sign of them on the way back some forty minutes later. I've not heard of them occurring in such large numbers before but I assume this is a wintering flock prior to pairing up for breeding.
It was a bit ironic that this sighting of an unusual sedentary species happened when I was looking for Spring migrants., and of them there were not many yesterday. Six or seven green sandpipers were feeding in the muddy fields along with a few yellow wagtails and a solitary great white egret.
The half dozen mallards were all males as seems to be the case at this time of year. The seven mute swans were looking a little disconsolate as their 'lake' gradually shrinks and grey herons numbered fourteen.
Here's what the rock sparrows looked like, showing their crown stripe and white tipped tail well.
It's not my pic. I don't know who owns the copyright.
No comments:
Post a Comment