heron stalking ....

heron stalking .......metal duck?

careful what you touch

21.05.2010
It's warming up at the Mere

after sitting here for a while, squirrel number one hopped across the bridge using the handrail as it's own little highway.
Their agility has to be admired.

later, squirrel number two turned up and had a good old sniff about.
It then scurried across the bridge, in the wake of number one, sniffing everywhere it went, .
I know it's not exactly news, but we are surrounded by animal scents -we may well be mistaken for a squirrel by another as we probably have their scent on us . . . if we use the handrail.
I may well wear latex gloves next time I cross the bridge!

a snatch of yet another furious fight between a coot and anything else that happens to be passing.
Here it's the moorhen couple (see previous blog entry) who eventually saw off the intruder.
If there was a passing rhino, I think the coot would have a go. . .

one of the ubiquitous collared doves leaving the feeder.
I include this as a fleeting moment, normally the wing display would be lost in a flurry of feathers.

still four in number and doing well, the mallard chicks.
And elder brother in the background.

yes, the slime is back.
Looking at last year's blog, it was present 01.07.09.
The delightful, fragrant, blue green algal bloom.
It'll cover the Mere in a weekend I bet.
It's warming up at the Mere

noise

15.05.2010
A few unexpected noises and interruptions today.

there was a huge amount of noise upon my arrival, it turned out to be a great spotted woodpecker pecking an owl box.
A poor shot, but it shows the guilty party.
The box served to amplify his hammering -in a big way, if he wanted to make an impression, he succeeded.

here's a bit of a close up of the damaged box.

these mallard chicks now number four, there were ten.
Also with them is a presumed elder brother/ mongrel from an earlier brood. He is mentioned in Sam's previous blog entry,
also, he's the duckling featured in my post of 22.04.2010
I later saw the proper father return, so our mongrel must be the same hanger-on.

I think we may be parents soon!
There is already another successful pair of moorhens on the reserve.

to illustrate the interruption problems the reserve faces from careless people outside the site, this image does the job.
Here is a snap of a hound galloping along the Ver, it ran all the way past the inlet right up to the railway bridge.
There was nothing to stop him getting into the reserve and doing untold damage.
I find it incredibly irresponsible for owners to let their dogs loose like this.

Heron

A lovely picture sent in by one of our members.

Mongrel Mallard

The title is Sheila's description of the odd looking duck masquerading as the father of a brood of ten ducklings on the mere. It's probably a juvenile from a previous brood that's sticking with its mother still, so it's not the father (which is what I first assumed) though the father is almost definitely an odd looking duck itself, that has passed on its genes to this one.

It's interesting to note that one of the ten ducklings is similarly coloured and stands out from the rest - it is all dark bar a white breast.