Sunday 7 May 2017

All about the birds.

Yesterday afternoon I managed to grab a few hours away from the chaos of a house which is in turmoil with furniture & possessions everywhere.



I wasnt too hopeful as the river has dropped even further since my last few hours out last week and the pool which I took my trout from is now almost dry. The wind was blowing from the west and its was bitter, good job I had the fleece in the boot of the car.







One thing that hasn't changed is the fragrance that smacks your nostrils as soon as you go into the protection of the wood, it was nice just to sit in the wood for a few moments and take in the sights, sounds and smells.






There was a pool I knew that might still have a bit of moving water in it but it wouldn't be deep water so a bit of stealth would be required on the approach, so on hands and knees I approached the run only to almost crush some eggs that I seen at the last minute in my path as I crawled towards the pool.




I knew instantly that it was the oyster catchers nest as I had seen them take off from this area as I approached from further up the river, not wanting to keep them off the nest too long a quick photograph and I backed off and dropped well below the pool before approaching again and sure enough 5 minutes or so later I saw one of the oyster catchers return to the spot.

I could see a couple of small fish just breaking the surface in the pool and seeing as I hadn't seen anything else decided to have a go and see what I could get, I cast above the fish and from nowhere I saw a flash of silver head for my flies and next thing I knew I was hooked into a good Grayling. After a few moments I slipped the net below a nice Grayling for the river.






A quick picture and she was gone.









Out of nowhere it started to rain, not that I was complaining as we definitely need it, but it wouldn't make any difference to the level as the land is so dry it will easily soak any rain we have before it gets the chance to make a difference to the river.




Moving further downstream to see if I could find any more rising fish I stumbled across a couple more smaller Grayling in mint condition and providing an excellent account of themselves on the 3#












It was then I came across another oyster catcher but not on the terms I like to see them, this one was dead and by the look of things had been struck on the wing as one of the wings had excessive damage.






On inspecting the other wing I saw that it was intact so waste not want not, it will make some lovely black spider patterns from the feathers on the upper wing.


Now bagged and in the freezer to start to preserving process it will in the future be put to good use.





With no further fish seen I decided to head back home and came across these marsh marigolds on route.








I have to say the wild flowers are out in abundance at the moment as the following picture is one I took on my way from work during the week, a field full of marigolds, something a bit different as most fields are filled with rape seed or hay at the moment.


Arriving home when I was unloading the car I could hear noises coming from the drainpipe that runs down the front of the house and on closer inspection I could hear a few bird tweets coming from inside the pipe, I knew it was probably a couple of the fledgling house sparrows that nest in our roof and they had slipped down the pipe, so on removing the drain cover below the pipe sure enough 2 small house sparrows drop out and into the water in the drain, retrieving them both from the water and placing them on the gravel they soon took to the wing and flew to the nearby fence to dry off, I imagine quite relieved that they were out of the pipe.




2 comments:

  1. George your blog was read and I was told of it by the director of the Sudbury Valley Trustees. She told me about it yesterday...another reader in the U.S.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alan,
      Please pass on my kind regards to the lady is question & I hope she enjoys my blog as much as I enjoy reading yours. kind regards George

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