Friday 2nd October
It's been a while since my last update and this mainly reflects that not much has changed on the bird front on the Meadow. Numbers of GOLDEN PLOVER have been building up steadily with a count of over 150 birds this morning. There are still good numbers of meadow pipits dotted around the Meadow, particularly in the "hinterland" to the north of the former flood area and roughly opposite the poplar trees and the north end of Burgess Field. This morning an estimate of at least 60 birds was made. There was a noticable passage of skylarks this morning, most of whom seemed to be travelling in a westerly direction for some reason. Plenty of linnets are feeding on the Meadow with counts varying between 20 and 30. Still plenty of pied wagtails about though the yellows all seemed to have moved on now. A couple of kestrels were seen hunting earlier in the week. Recently a LITTLE EGRET and a cormorant have been reported (OOS MBG).
Some of the golden plover. They tend to congregate in what was the north channel of the floods where the ground is rather pitted and they can hunker down out of the wind. This photo demonstrates their rather good camouflage on this terrain and they can often be rather hard to spot.
Some of the golden plover. They tend to congregate in what was the north channel of the floods where the ground is rather pitted and they can hunker down out of the wind. This photo demonstrates their rather good camouflage on this terrain and they can often be rather hard to spot.