Tired , Wet and Hungry
The torrential rain and thunderstorms had kept me house -bound for almost a week.
At last there was a break in the weather and the welcome sunshine peered through the still dark clouds.
Surely the storms would have brought some migrants down onto my patch.I decided to get all my gear together and pop down for a "look-see"
I pulled up onto the bridge entering the marsh area,focussed my bins on the far bank,skimming the water were at least 350 Barn swallows mixed in with a lot of Red-rumped swallows;that was a good start.
In the margins on the far bank I could see some Spotted redshank,Greenshank and the odd Marsh sandpiper,it was a little difficult identifying these lovely birds as they were all absolutely soaking wet,the rain had made their feathers look dark,nearly black .
I think that was only the second time I had ever seen swallows land on terra -firma,as they are usually seen perching on the over-head wires .
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Barn swallow
These birds did'nt seem to be worried at all by my presence,all they were thinking of was food and warmth from the sunshine,some preening themselves; getting their feathers back in proper working order.
In amongst the waders I caught sight of a bedraggled looking Little gull,whose feathers seemed to be covered in oil.
The oil making it very difficult for the poor thing to fly and feed as it skimmed over the water catching insects,every so often it would rest up and just swim around trying the clean its feathers.
Goodness knows how it had made it this far.
The Little ringed plover and Kentish plover seemed to be having a big disagreement on feeding territory .
That is probably because for the the remainder of the the year the Kentish plover rules the roost on the foreshore,chasing off anything that ventures near, especially in breeding season when they have juveniles to look after.
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Little ringed plover Kentish plover
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Little gull covered in oil
Good news :~
Twenty four hours later and the little gull looks a lot "cleaner" and can now fly and feed normally.
New birds are arriving daily,this morning it was the turn of the Purple heron and Squacco heron to grace us with their presence.
Both very secretive birds,usually seen sculking around in the reed-beds feeding.
 Purple heron |  Squacco heron |
The weather today seems to be back to normal, at last ,for this time of year.
I know we need all this water,but for goodness sake it could have had the decency to wait until the end of the migration .
I don't know you just can't please some people can you !!!!!
