It's still looking really positive on the lapwing front at Beckingham this week, with large chicks wandering around feeding on the muddy edges of the wet scrapes. The oldest young are nearing fledging now and I was delighted to see one on Wednesday exercising it's wings with about 2/3 grown primary feathers. Last week's newly hatched chicks are still doing well and there is even still a bird sitting on eggs! We hope that 10+ young will fledge from Beckingham this year, making it by far the most successful year to date for this target species on site.
Tree sparrows too are doing well, with first broods fledging at the moment and some pairs already starting on their second broods for the year. A later start due to bad spring weather will probably restrict most pairs to 2 broods this year, instead of 3 (or even 4 in some cases!), but we are hopeful for good numbers of young fledging by the end of the season.
A male yellow wagtail was busily collecting food around one of the wet scrapes on Wednesday - stunning looking bird, mallard young are now on site and a group of starlings feeding on field 9 (the one with the viewing platform) had several newly fledged young with them.
Aquatic ditch flora and fauna is looking good too, with a fabulous display of celery-leaved buttercup in the ditch behind the viewing platform recently and common blue, azure and large red damselflies on the wing.
Male yellow wagtail - lovely! Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)