The thought of Peregrine Falcons predating Avocet chicks is a bit of a double irony in that both were scarce species in the 1940s and 50s and have made remarkable recoveries since. So to state the obvious any apex predator (the falcon) will catch any species around to feed it's chicks and if they happen to be a common youngster like a Redshank or Oystercatcher or rarer (and more valued) like the Avocet, then so be it.
They all have hungry mouths to feed, hedgehogs, stoats and weasels eating ground nesting bird eggs, (lapwings etc), birds eating butterflies and their caterpillars and eggs etc. It is all the balance of nature that has managed to survive for thousands, millions of years. Imagine a set of scales with 2 pounds either side. Every now and then due to a harsh winter or wet summer a few ounces are lost from one side and a scale dips. The following year the balance is redressed, good summer, dry mild winter.
Man has come along over the last century and plonked a pound weight in one of the pans, that balance is decimated, to the point without drastic action the balance can never be redressed. And so the weighted pan gets lower and lower until it touches the scale base
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Walking around the reserve today with Lygia Shubert, one of the long-standing volunteers, even though the weather was not at its best for time of year, our mission was to identify some of the birdsong around. So into the wooded area near the office we heard the fantastic song of the blackcap male followed by a wren, chiffchaff and robin. Tortoiseshell, Common blue and Speckled Wood butterflies fluttered and flitted around us
A cuckoo called from inside the foliage curtain of a silver birch.
Up on Sweeney Viewpoint we listened to the scritchy-scratchy call of the Common Whitethroate and further down in 'the dip' the explosive and never to be forgotten song of the Cetti's warbler, the distinctive see-seeing of a party of long-tailed tits were next, even under the cloudy skies insects were abuzzing, some parasitic wasps and hoverflies
Visit Northward Hill and Cliffe Pools this weekend and see how many species you can spot or hear.
My thanks to Rob Budgen, Helen Harris and David Saunders for the photographs.
The North Kent Marshes are a very special area and worth preserving at all cost.