Friday 17 June 2016

A Walland Wander

Walland Marsh - 0730 - 1200hrs - humid, dry, cloudy, light airs - We spent the morning in company with CP on Walland in near perfect weather conditions for checking out breeding birds at several locations across the Marsh. The main site was alive with Skylarks, Reed Warblers and Reed Buntings feeding recently fledged young, alongside a good sprinkling of Bearded Tits, Corn Buntings, Whitethroats, Tree Sparrows, Sedge Warblers and Yellow Wagtails. Along the back lanes and by-ways we also encountered a few Yellowhammers, Linnets, Greenfinches, Cuckoo, Buzzards, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Kingfisher and a Turtle Dove.
  But it was Marsh Harriers we`d particularly come to check on and over the course of the morning confirmed three nesting females at separate widespread locations, all of which received food from male birds via overhead food passes, often with much communicative whistling. Some interesting interaction was noted at one site where an adult female repeatedly dive-bombed a Buzzard that had strayed into its territory, while one of the items of prey being brought in to feed the young harriers was clearly an enormous Marsh Frog.
  As ever a superb morning in the field with Chris, made even more enjoyable by his extensive local knowledge and native instinct as to where to go next and what to expect.

6 comments:

  1. Just to let you know cattle egret in hayfield 3 today Sunday 5pm

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    1. Thanks Ken, will try to have a look today, if it ever stops raining...

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  2. While ringing Marsh Harrier chicks here on Sheppey on Friday, friends of mine found a considerable variation in chick ages. Some nests had already seen the chicks fledged and gone, some had chicks about to fledge and some had chicks with still 30+ days left in the nest. Clearly in respect of the latter it is possible that some earlier nests had failed.

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  3. That would probably explain it Derek, but fledged young by mid-June, that's incredible, must be very experienced adults. Good news though; it`s rare to see fledged harriers down here before the end of June. Do you happen to know roughly how many breeding females you`ve got on Sheppey this year? Down here, including the Rye area, I reckon we`ve got at least eight nesting females.

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    1. I doubt that I'll get to hear of the full extent of breeding females until the end of the season but I imagine that it'll be considerably more than your total.

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