New migrants have dried up a bit in the Landshipping/Martletwy
area during the last week or so. A couple of garden warblers singing from some
willow scrub on the edge of the village in Martletwy were nice to hear though. There still seems to be a noticeable lack of whitethroats along our local hedgerows
where we normally expect to see several occupied territories. Hopefully, some are still
to arrive.
Opportunistic buzzards and red kites (on the look-out for disturbed rodents and various other food sources) have been drawn to various
fields being cut for silage near our house in recent days. Despite the early mowing, there are still a few pairs of skylarks breeding in fields not normally cut for silage which is pleasing. Today at least one of the pairs was actively collecting food to feed their young.
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| Both adults were busy collecting food |
It’s been generally quiet on the estuary as far as waders
are concerned. Small numbers of whimbrel passed through last week,
but we haven’t seen any for the last couple of days or so.
Three little
egrets continue to be seen occasionally near the Eastern/Western Cleddau confluence
and a fourth one was also present on the Daugleddau shore near Sam's Wood the other
day. We still wonder where they might be breeding.
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| A distant view of two of the birds (actively displaying their fine plumes) on the Eastern Cleddau shore |