These are some photos from a visit to the RSPB Reserve at Burton Mere today.
The definite highlight of the visit was the Eurasian Spoonbill. A pair is nesting here. There was nowhere to get a clear view of the nest site and I could not see exactly what was going on. This action suggests it is still collecting nesting material. Note the yellow wash at the base of the neck and the extensive head (nuchal) plumes, both indicating breeding condition.
From this angle we clearly see the ‘spoon’ on the end of the bill.
Now we see it against a dark background and note the colour on the tip of the bill. I would have expected a full adult to show a brighter yellow tip. However note also the dark throat-patch – so it must be an adult.
More nesting material.
Not sure what it will do to the aerodynamics though.
Also breeding here are Avocets. Here one is typically sweeping its bill side-to-side in the water, sifting small food items.
This species really does define the term ‘elegant’.
Again sweeping that up-curved bill.
Oops: dropped that one!
Not everything is sweetness and light between these birds. A small territorial dispute.
The Avocet synchronised drowning team.
And the Avocet synchronised sleeping team.
This Avocet seems to be puzzled. Probably never seen an Eurasian Spoonbill on a very bad-hair day
Here an Avocet goes in for a closer look.
A crèche of Canada Geese with young from several broods walks among the Avocets
The highest number of waders were Black-tailed Godwits. This one is taking a bit of down-time but is not really asleep.
A quartet of Black-tailed Godwits. The closest bird shows the plumage acquired by breeding adults. One of the others has a few breeding-type feathers in its back. A few of these birds breed in East Anglia, but most nest across central Europe. There is a breeding population in Iceland, adult from there being a much richer red colour than shown by these birds. The wardens were unsure whether the birds here were still moving through or whether they were mainly first-year and non-breeding birds.
Here we see the long, straight and pink-based bill. This species seems able to ‘drown for England’ spending most of its feeding time with its head underwater.
Did I say there were a lot of Black-tailed Godwits. Not sure how air traffic works in big flocks like this. No-one seem to come to grief.
Looks even worse in close up. Note that many birds are showing signs of wing-moult with either the outer secondaries or inner primaries (or both) missing. This tends to support the theory these are non-breeding birds now starting to lose ‘summer’ plumage.
Full marks if you identified these as Black-headed Gull chicks. Must un-gull-like.
A few in the colony here. There is a very high predation rate in these close colonies as any chick that strays in to another bird’s territory will be pecked. As a result chicks are frequently injured or killed.
An adult flies back to its nest-site
A study in black and white with Avocets and loafing and non-breeding first-year Black-headed Gulls (a hint of brown in the folded wings). Just marred by the green and brown of the preening Shelduck.
And a study in (green and) white. I am old-enough to remember when birders went searching for the great rarity of Little Egret. Here are four off-duty birds from a colony with at least a dozen nesting pairs.
Who is the whitest of them all? This has to be the ‘other’ Eurasian Spoonbill of the pair as it lacks any pale on the spoon.
There was a full supporting cast of warblers. There were so many Reed Warblers that, unlike the scattered birds at Priorslee Lake, birds were rising to the top of the reeds to declaim their grumpy and hardly melodic territorial song.
It was not, generally, a sunny day and insects were rather few. This Blue-tailed Damselfly came to pose.
There were many wildflowers on the site including hundreds of these orchids – we were told they were Southern Marsh-orchids (
Dactylorhiza praetermissa) and who am I to argue. There were a few Bee Orchids (
Ophrys apifera) but none was camera-accessible.
(Ed Wilson)
