Despite working in mostly harsh weather and freezing temperatures, the warden team have completed the ridge & furrow habitat improvements to enable more successful breeding. The predator fence around the wet grassland is now complete, but had to be checked for foxes trapped inside. On Friday 23rd March, a small army of volunteers, mostly from the Swillington Ings Bird Group, walked across to herd any foxes out of the gates, and warden John Ingham was able to report “150 snipe, 5 jack snipe, 2 grey partridge, 1 bittern, 2 grey partridge, at least 10 hares but no foxes!” Many thanks to all who braved the cutting east wind and the not always easy terrain to confirm no predators within.
Also, spring is everywhere including signs of the annual bird migration, which has brought in newcomers to the site. So we can expect more wooing and aggressive behaviour in the coming weeks, as the breeding season getting fully underway.
One of the hares seen on the ridge and furrow.
Those “masters of disguise”, the very secretive common and jack snipe, whose brown, cream and white streaked feathers make them invisible against any natural background (or so it seems) can also be differentiated by their behaviour. The common snipe is about the size of a redshank with a bill at least twice the length of its head. It usually flies up zig-zagging and loudly calls “chip-per, chip-per, chip-per”. Meanwhile, the jack snipe is about the size of a dunlin with a bill slightly shorter and is usually silent as it flies low and shorter distances. On the ground, the jack bobs up and down like a toy designed for the back shelf of a car. Neither form flocks but will feed close to each other so may be seen taking flight in loose flocks called wisps.
A common snipe has a central cream stripe on its head, where the jack has a brown stripe
(taken at RSPB Blacktoft 2017)
When performing display flights, the jack snipe’s calls sound like a distant cantering horse “collar-rop, collar-rop, collar-rop.” The common snipe’s display sound is called drumming and is made by vibrating air through its outer tail feathers as it descends to produce a bleating, wavering “whurrrr, whurrrr, whurrrr”; sort of like what we do when we impersonate a generic ghost. This was only proved in 1912 at a meeting of the British Ornithologists Club when Philip Manson Bahr attached two tail feathers at the correct angle to a cork tied to a string, which he then whirled around - in an Italian restaurant. Hope, he took into account the proximity of breakables.
Recent Sightings:
The ridge and furrow is a hive of activity with large numbers of wigeon gnawing on the grass, curlew roosting and golden plover (20+) wheeling. Red kite, sparrowhawk, marsh harrier and buzzard are scanning the newly cut grass areas and possibly the cause of the brief but unusual daytime 1000+ starling murmurations seen on Monday 19th March.
A few of the anxious starlings taking flight.
Also seen; redshank, sand martin, lapwing, oystercatcher, water pipit, dozens of skylark and meadow pipit. Lapwing display ‘cirque de soleil’ style by acrobatically tumbling up, down and around, all the while energetically calling “peewit, wit, wit-eaze-wit”. To establish territories, oystercatcher run side by side calling “kip, kip, kip” as if drawing an invisible boundary. Their flight display is a wide circle with slow, deep wingbeats timed to match their “pleeah” call.
A skylark ascending (somewhat against the sun)
Composer Vaughan Williams’s ‘A Lark Ascending’ was inspired by a poem by George Meredith and includes
“He drops the silver chain of sound …
Like water dimples down a tide,
Where ripple, ripple overcurls,
And eddy into eddy whirls.”
The singing skylark soars straight upwards, stays up high and towards the end of the song, descends sharply before folding his wings to plummet down. The height gets higher and higher until he is a small black dot against the sky or just invisible. The meadow pipit’s song flight is more of an arc at a much lower level for a shorter and simpler song that ends with wings half open for a parachute descent.Other pipits are available to perform similar arcing-parachute loops.
On the lakes are goldeneye, a pintail pair, shelduck, shoveler, gadwall, pochard, dunlin and newly arrived pale-blue-legged avocet (4) and a black-tailed godwit. 2 goosander pairs continue to hang around at the back of Lemonroyd lake. They must eat a big breakfast because they are very sedentary most of the day, waking late afternoon to preen and feed before bedtime.
Main lake; a male goldeneye preens.
In the reedbeds are wittering little grebe, great-crested grebe, stonechat, reed bunting, booming bittern with occasional sightings and more recently a black-necked grebe, kittiwake and a mediterranean gull.
A mobbing black-headed gull and a nonchalant bittern.
As the reedbeds are approached the squawk of the squabbling black-headed gulls will start to fill the air as they challenge and dispute their breeding territories. Whoever named them must have been stood along way off or squinting into the sun as their head is obviously chocolate brown when breeding
You looking at me?
Unlike the med. gull whose jet black head looks like a medieval executioner’s cap.
At the dragline are a little owl, the kestrel pair who are hunting, wooing and saw off a buzzard from the adjacent hill last week and on Friday 23rd March a peregrine called incessantly for about 15 minutes, probably calling a mate to see the nice real estate it had discovered – a penthouse platform.
Along the hillside/pastures and the ridge & furrow are the geese; greylag, canada and a few pink-foot and white-fronted. They too have been displaying aggression towards one another and small groups will kick off with head lowered and braying.
A pink-footed goose lifting its, err, pink foot.
Around Lowther lake is a bugling cetti’s warbler, singing willow tits and a little egret.
On Bower’s lake, a pair of great-crested grebes have been displaying while surrounded by quarrelsome coot who fall out and fight at the drop of a hat or will avoid conflict by dashing across the water’s surface leaving a sploosh trail of their footsteps.
Around the causeway area and up to Shan House bridge has also been busy with 2 firecrests hyperactively bobbling about in the foliage around the bridge and roosting together.
Partial firecrest with orange, black and white head stripes.
In addition to the usual suspects; tits - blue, great, coal, long-tailed, willow and marsh, robin, dunnock, reed bunting, wren - are, chiffchaff, greenfinch, green woodpecker, jay, a woodcock and 30+ siskin with a few redpoll Of no fixed abode (i.e. can crop up anywhere) are a goldfinch flock who make a lovely babbling-brook noise but will throw in the odd raspberry.
And finally:
Spring catkins with matching siskin.
Yours, K Sp-8 (18/03/26)