We only had a little while before it was time to head home on Monday, so opted to go back to the relatively close RSPB Marshside. This time we visited both hides, and got a more complete impression of this great reserve.
The extensive flat grazing marsh here, intersected with narrow waterways and interspersed with small muddy reed-edged pools, might not be that exciting to look at but forms a valuable habitat. It's great for breeding waders in spring and summer with the soggy pool and creek margins providing ideal feeding conditions for wader chicks.
An Avocet, shaking off the rain. (yet again we had a gloomy day, despite a promising sunny start). Of Marshside's breeding waders, this is the one that pulls in the punters, although from a conservation point of view it's the Redshanks and Lapwings that are more 'important' as they, unlike Avocet, are generally declining in Britain.
This Swallow was singing his heart out by Sandgrounders' hide. I felt slightly smug that those actually within the packed hide were missing out on his beauty and twitteryness.
A few weeks ago I posted a truly diabolical Sedge Warbler pic on this blog, just because I like the species so much. I'm very happy to provide a better one here. This Sedgie was singing from a laburnum (don't ask me what a laburnum was doing there) along the roadside trail. He and the tree would have looked much better with a bit of sun, but that was one thing that just wasn't on offer over this weekend. I'm still pleased with the pics we got though, and am determined not to let a bit of cloud keep us and our cameras indoors in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment