Had an early morning walk around Radipole today along with Anne and our ensemble of survey volunteers - the purpose of which being our monthly bearded tit monitoring of the two reserves. As with earlier surveys and general records and observations, the indication is that the population on Radipole has markedly dropped after the long cold winter. More positively the numbers on Lodmoor appear to have held up well.
As always there was plenty to see in the early light in the virtual absence of our target species – most visible and numerous by far were the swifts which were happily feasting on a fresh hatch of midges. They were happily cavorting, screaming to one another and pairing up on the wing. On two (necessarily brief) occasions I saw pairs actually mate on the wing, which is a tricky undertaking as anyone who has attempted this would no doubt attest. Who said that men can’t multitask eh?
just thought of another title for you post, 'Love is in the Air'. Sorry Nick, couldn't resist.