My first confession is that my primary interest does not lie within the field of birds. Confessions number two; my views on people who partake in early morning activities are very similar to a Mr. Wilde’s “anyone who is bright before breakfast is a very dull person indeed”. So whilst blindly swiping towards where I believed the alarm clock to be, the question “Why on Earth are you here?” arose.
Our destination was Cliffe and the spot we chose looked out onto the animated Black Barn Pools. Hundreds of spindly legs projected through the gossamer water. Through our heavy duty binoculars, we saw; redshank, multitudes of lapwings and black tailed godwits and by chance a little wood sandpiper. Ruff lurked amongst the crowd as well.
We pulled in by Rye Street on the way back only to be rewarded with the sight of corn buntings hopping up and down the telephone wires, zipping in and out of hedges. Corn buntings have come into serious decline over the past decade because of a large decline in habitat- coinciding with the rise of intensive agriculture. Projects like Simon’s Sunflower field have been created to show what little farmers can do to make such a big difference. Seeing these fantastic little birds this morning made my day, and to my surprise, it was well before 8.00am.
Dominique Townsend, (new Residential volunteer)