Blackpool Mill and Landshipping areas

We spent a bit more time down at Blackpool Mill yesterday afternoon. A male kingfisher spent almost an hour resting under the cover of river-side willows. He occasionally dived into the shallows to catch small fish but, although playing hide and seek, didn't seem to leave the area and so presumably wasn't feeding any young anywhere nearby. 

A safe resting and feeding place - mostly hidden from view under the shade of the willows

Browsing the river bed in the shallows 

As usual, larger fish were evident feeding on the silty-river bed in clear water as the tide ebbed - presumably a mullet species? 

A male goshawk circled around for a short period over the forest before flying off, presumably to hunt along the Eastern Cleddau. 

Grey wagtails were around the mill but still showing no real evidence that they have bred or are breeding there this spring. We assume that the pied wagtail family fledged ok. Many of the blue tit broods there certainly have. 

Judging by the number of juvenile bird calls we are hearing, many passerine species have fledged young now. There are lots of young blackcaps around and bullfinches appear to have had a pretty good season too so far. Siskins are moving around quite a bit, appearing around Landshipping recently - not too far from breeding locations along Eastern Cleddau woodlands.

We've been noting shelduck families along those parts of the estuary we can observe from our routine walks. Views have been quite distant but so far, we have noted at least 29-31 ducklings. These included three families on the lower Eastern Cleddau shore and one on the Western Cleddau shore near East Hook, which we could just about count from the Landshipping-side. Hopefully shelducks generally are also having a good breeding season. 

A distant view of one of the Eastern Cleddau duckling broods. All of the adults were keeping a sharp eye on the large numbers of carrion crows various large gulls in the area

Several migrant whimbrels were still being seen at the end of May, plus the start of a build-up in curlew numbers again. This is quite typical along the Cleddau system from late spring/early summer onwards.