Drama at the Exe
Summer has definitely arrived; the days are long, full of sunshine and hot! As Stephen mentioned on last weeks blog, currently many of the day-to-day tasks here at the Exe are controlling the ever increasing grass growth and wandering weeds to allow for easier visitor access. The new viewing platform at Powderham is coming along with the old structure now removed and the new framework installed. Surveys continue to be undertaken across the reserve, which includes breeding birds, damselfly/ dragonfly, butterfly and of course monitoring the progress of our resident breeding lapwings.
The lapwing have been a huge source of drama and interest, I have been lucky enough to have regularly watched their progress since I arrived here as a volunteer at the Exe in April. They have done well and many of the chicks have now fledged and moved over the railway lines into the new predator fenced area, with just a couple of juveniles remaining at Powderham. It has not all been plain sailing though. The predator fences do a fantastic job at protecting the lapwing from threats on the ground but unfortunately (for them) cannot do the same for aerial attacks...
...It was midway through May and I was sat at the viewing platform at Powderham monitoring the lapwing, at this point some had chicks and others were still sitting on nests. I had my scope focused on a sitting bird trying to determine if it was brooding or possibly sat on a new nest site. About ten minutes past when, without warning, a peregrine falcon dived into view from above and now stood where a second before the lapwing had been sitting. I could not believe how fast it happened, it was definitely a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moment. I continued to watch with bated breathe, at least ten adult lapwing in the vicinity were now dive bombing the peregrine in an attempt to drive it away, but it stood its ground and shrugged off any attacks. It didn’t take long for the lapwing to realise their actions were in vain and they gave up and moved away leaving the peregrine alone. Once it was happy the aerial threats had ceased, it began plucking the feathers of the ill-fated lapwing and proceeded to devour its kill.
The above goes down as not just one of the most exciting wildlife moments I have witnessed since volunteering at the Exe but definitely in my life. It was a privilege to have seen and something I will always remember. It goes to show that these moments can be experienced by anyone and isn’t just for those on the TV - just by getting outside and spending time in nature, you just don’t know what you may see.