I was greeted this morning when I arrived at work by a very familiar friend, a very pleasant pheasant! In fact I struggled to get out of the car door he was so close. He stared at me with his beady little eyes and refused to move. It was with this unrelenting determination that I decided to wind down my window to take a photograph of him and make him the subject of my blog today. He continued to stalk me into the office following closely at my heels.
Photograph by Amy Lever (using my phone out of my car window!)
He obviously liked the photographic attention he received because when I came out of the office at lunchtime to walk down to the visitor centre he decided to join me for a walk, a very persistent pheasant! I always like seeing pheasants at this time of year after the end of the shooting season and although introduced to England and very common I can’t help but admire their beautiful plumage.
Photograph by Amy Lever - My walk at lunchtime with my new friend!
Today has been another great day on the reserve and there has been many fantastic sightings and impressive numbers reported on the Scrape. 20 avocets were spotted which is the most we have seen this winter and 114 black-tailed godwits were also seen on the scrape. Several red-throated divers, 5 great crested grebe and 10 common scoter were seen offshore and the Lucky Pool was very lucky for the people who sighted the five spoonbill there. The ever popular otter was spotted again this morning swimming in front of Bittern Hide.
The theme of my blog today is persistence and on Monday my persistence paid off when I went for a walk with Ian to the Rhododendron Tunnel and spotted my first ever firecrest. This was truly a magical experience and I feel very privileged to have seen it. I don’t think I was as deserving of this sighting as some because many of our visitors have tried of several occasions to catch sight of this fiery beauty and have yet to have the chance. If you still haven’t seen the firecrest then keep trying and I am sure persistence will eventually pay off and if not you can be sure to see a very pleasant pheasant at Minsmere!
Love it, Amy! Whatever have you been feeding him?
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.