Wednesday 1 April 2009

Still no summer visitors (2)

I've still not seen any summer visitors at Druridge, chiffchaffs are singing all over the place and people are reporting sand martins and swallows, but they've all alluded me at druridge.

I did get a year tick during my post-work visit this evening, sparrowhawk, flying over the budge fields, scattering the snipe. There's a still a good number of teal about, a good scan through them for garganey was unproductive. There were a few tufties and gadwall on the big pool, whilst I was scanning I spotted an otter swimming across the pool, when it reached the fallen willow on the east bank, there was scerfuffle as it greeted another two otters laid up in the tree.
The three of them then played in and around the tree for 30 minutes or so.

All three of them were about the same size, so I reckon that they are three siblings by the way they were playing together, certainly none of them were the big dog that I have seen lately.

Other highlights tonight included six whoopers swans and 89 pink-footed geese flying south and a pair of stonechat in the dunes.

64 sparrowhawk

1 comment:

Warren Baker said...

Hang on in there Ipin, the migrants are coming!!

Great to hear about the Otters.