Thursday 2 May 2013

Spring is over ?

I always get a bit maudlin at the end of April, and I'm afraid this evening was not able to raise my spirits. It seems as though spring has ended, with only Swift and Reed Warbler to look forward to. The vegetation thinks its still late March, but the birds have already reached summer.

Reasons to be cheerful.
1. I have replaced the flash player on my camera and that seems to have done the trick. I was going to photograph something this evening, but only this Greylag Goose stood still long enough.

It's even in focus !
2. It was a beautiful evening, and the pool can look great even without any unusual birds swimming around on it.

Reasons to be glum.
1. The birding highlights were a Wheatear and two Little Ringed Plovers.
2. The furthest flash has been churned up either by an agricultural machine or by the adolescents on a scrambling bike who arrived as I was leaving. It hardly had any water in it anyway, but now looks like black waves of mud frozen in the act of crashing onto a seashore.

I'll snap out of it by the weekend.


1 comment:

  1. Hi Richard,

    The muddy areas you refer to on the furthest flash are the result of some small scale work that Steve Green has recently undertaken to try and keep water in that scrape. Over the years, the water has re-channelled itself, and now drains from that flash straight into the big one, so as you say, it has dried out. He has shifted soil to try and hold the water back, increasing the areas of open water. He has also let more water into that area from the sluice he built, though not too much because he is worried that any Lapwing nesting next to the scrapes may be flooded out. The whole reason the scrapes are usually able to hold water (even in a drought), is because Steve makes a huge effort with the water control.

    Matt

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