Site manager Dave gives us another great insight into the reserve.
Nature is difficult stuff sometimes.
Today I had a chat with Dean, one of our assistant wardens as I got out of the car and he was effusive about the Water Vole feeding station at the wildlife watchpoint. He`d put a fresh apple out and a vole was almost straight in! He`d also seen a Water Rail with chicks. So my choices were when I got to the desk, turn the computer on or get the bins out of the drawer and go vole hunting. No prizes for guessing that the voles had it and the computer could wait a little longer.
At the watchpoint, a vole was happily feeding on the apple so diligently put out by Dean earlier in the morning. Not a Water Vole this time but a lovely Bank Vole; smaller, more gingery (is that a word?), relatively bigger ears and a more pointy face than his cousin. Into my view, at nearly point blank range walked an adult Water Rail. With jerky rapid movements it picked a cranefly off a reed and to my delight and amazement, a sooty black ball of fluff ran out of cover on what looked like massive feet and took the cranefly so delicately presented to it by the parent. Water Rail chicks, as well as being covered in light-absorbing sooty black down have a short and stout ivory white bill in real contracts to the parents long, red curved bill. They also have a small reddish patch of down on their crown. Quite stunning, and after a lifetime of watching wildlife this was my very first encounter with a Water Rail chick and an insight into what is usually a very private and secretive existence. For 10 minutes I was mesmerised as the rail went about its parenting. The chicks, I saw at least two, would come out to be fed before darting back into the cover of the reed. At one point the adult caught a small stickleback, washed it and ran off into the reeds to find one of its hungry brood. It was a fabulous encounter that left me with a warm feeling about wildlife and being privileged to be so closely involved with it.
On the way back to the centre, feeling revitalised and ready for anything the computer might through up, a Black-headed Gull came into view carrying something in its bill. It landed on the lake and through my binoculars I watched it thrash a newly hatched Common Tern chick on the water before downing it, head first, in one ... a timely reminder not to get too `gooey` about the natural world!
Dave