Thanks to volunteer Phil for his wildlife sightings report and photos.
On Friday 24 February a necessary clearance of scrub by the working party on North Brooks forced me to pay an unusual second visit in the afternoon to West Mead hide
A good morning session there revealed that the snipe had been bumped of their usual island by 2 pairs of teal but had relocated to the near bank and were still quite visible. Lapwings were all around the pool looping the loop in display flights. All the usual wintering duck species were there (wigeon, teal, shoveler, pintail) but this time augmented by a pair of shelduck and 2 pairs of gadwall which are not so often seen. A pair of shovelers were circling around each other with beaks in the water in what I think must be a pair bonding ritual. A dancing meadow pipit flock, a serene pair of mute swans on the water, a pied wagtail flitting between the islands, a pair of stonechats on the anti-predator fence, a busy starling flock feeding in the grassy areas, and a marsh harrier patrolling the edge of the woods to the left completed the scene.
After lunch during my second visit things were even more animated…several Egyptian geese were putting up quite a performance. It was clear that there were at least 2 couples involved in very noisy courtship rituals with lots of upright wing flapping and honking, chasing, and on one occasion a weird neck contortion.
What appeared to be a lone goose looked on as if trying to work out if it could get in on the act but not daring to try. This might be the goose being chased off in this photo.
Some visitors think of Egyptian geese as unwanted interlopers, but they are here to stay and certainly provide some colour, so I think we may as well enjoy them. They were considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians and brought back from Africa for bird collections in the 18th century. Subsequently enough escaped to establish feral populations in the UK and other western European countries. They are one of the earliest species to breed here.
While taking photographs, an enormous cacophony announced the arrival of a large flock of Canada Geese which didn’t seem to bother the Egyptian geese, so I carried on observing and taking photos. Then just before 3pm with my eye still to the viewfinder another enormous cacophony started and the Canada goose flock sprang in the air in a panic. I just managed to take two photos of the pandemonium before the cause of this became evident.
One of the white tailed eagles had flown quite low across the pool barely 30 yards from the hide. Too late to react I could only take this photo of it flying off right towards Winpenny Hide.
However this more interesting photo taken last summer of one of the eagles approaching from the left shows what it might have looked like if I’d realised what was going on more quickly.
With hindsight I was rather pleased that the working party had been busy on the North Brooks!