I was out on Wicken Fen this morning:
Spring was definitely in the air. This is a willow bud:
And I loved this regrowth from recently pollarded willow (essential to keep the trees in shape, and which does them no harm as they always regenerate):
There were birds. I tried photos of march harriers, but failed, as I did of little grebes, excepting this one:
They are called dabchicks for a reason: they always look as if they have just hatched.
I liked this of a goldfinch pretending it was a reed bunting (which were around, but were not photographed):
And the dinosaur of the fen, as I think of herons, was out, fishing diligently, and clearly successfully:
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Not nitpicking but in the interests of accuracy…. strictly speaking the willows have been coppiced. Pollarding involves cutting back much higher up resulting in a ’standard’ effect.
That aside Happy Easter to all.
You are absolutely right
My mistake
We had been looking at a pollarded apple tree earlier and it stuck in my mind
Good to see you featuring a Heron, Richard. A large but much underrated bird – perhaps because it’s relatively common. I remember when I first took up bird watching (age 11), watching stalking the muddy shoreline at Galmton Creek, on the River Dart, which wasn’t far to cycle from where we lived (we’d recently moved to South Devon for my father’s work). Patience, but lighting speed when they strike. And then I learnt that such a large bird nests in trees!! My walking friend an I always stop to watch them going about their business when walking the Trent and the pleasure’s all ours.
They nest in a heronry by the river in Ely.
I grew up on the Exe and my nearby Exminster Marshes, but as a boy my grandfather lived in Dartmouth and had a sailing dinghy, and would gonup the Dart past Gampton to Totnes. He liked to count herons, as do I. I live nearby now at St. Marychurch, Torquay. Still plenty of herons, and now egrets too.
Many more egrets than herons yesterday
Oh, I so envy you seeing a heron! There used to be one round here that occasionally I’d see sitting on the top of a neighbour’s house. I haven’t seen it for years now (we’ve been in this house for over 10 years) and I’m sad about that. But husband often walks in Sefton Park, which is close to us, and has seen one there sometimes.
They’re a link to dinosaurs, I think.
Thanks, Richard, for sharing the photos of your walk out today. What a green and pleasant land it is 🙂
A welcome reminder that we live surrounded by beauty, if we take the time to look. (Or if we make the time, perhaps). There was a little egret above my sister’s house the other day – in the middle of Loughborough.
I saw something today I’ve never seen before. A hen blackbird was fossicking about under the bird feeders; it suddenly flew up onto a low perch, then actually fed from the feeder itself, by dint of rapidly flapping its wings and resting its claws on the base. That was a first for me.
When I was small and learning about birds, I said to my father: “That’s a very handsome sparrow”. He replied that the reason it was a very handsome sparrow was because it was a reed bunting.
I’ve never misidentified either since.
Reed buntings were out yesterday – male and female
I have hoopoes this year! As I watched this morning, the gentleman hoopoe approached the lady hoopoe and gave her a worm, for Easter. It was a wonderful way to start the day – theirs and mine 🙂
Wow
That is quite something
‘Dinosaur of the Fens’ your description of the heron is apt. Thanks.
I feel the same about cormorants on the Thames .