A NEW MEMBER
I had been looking forward to this day for some time as I was to meet Leons’ brother, Terry, for the first time. Leon had arranged to meet Terry at about ten o’clock, which meant that we had time for a short lie-in! We arrived at the site in good time to meet Terry and even had time for a quick chat with some of the staff before the first of the school groups arrived.
The first place that we checked was the Observatory. I had see the Avocets, perhaps, preparing a nest site last Saturday. The female was definitely sitting and so we have our fingers crossed.
Having checked the Observatory we moved on taking Terry along the same sort of route that we would normally follow. The weather was rather inclement with lots of showers and quite a strong wind, although the latter varied in strength and duration by quite some degree.
At the ‘Wildside’ hide we were not surprised to see that there was not much about, most birds seemed to be concentrating on staying out of the wind and rain. Once again the Martins and Swifts seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves!
As Terry had to go to work in the afternoon, we made a quick sortie to the restaurant before moving on to the ‘Waterlife’ area. Again there was not much on show but I did get the impression that Terry was enjoying himself, in fact, most things that he saw would bring back old memories or facts, long stored away, which made for quite a stimulating conversation! As we made our way around the site it became quite apparent that this was not a day for many sightings. Most birds had more sense than us and were tucked up somewhere away from the main effects of the elements. The water level at the ‘Wader Scrape’ would normally, in my opinion, have guaranteed that there would be some large numbers of birds on show. There were a few Redshank, Lapwing and Little Ringed Plovers but little else.
Wendy and one of her colleagues from the WWT were at the tower counting birds and it was nice to see the methodical way in which they went about their business.
As Terry had to go to work later in the afternoon, Leon and I walked him back to the Centre via the ‘Dulverton’ and ‘WWT’ hides. Although there was not much on show at least Terry was beginning to grasp the layout of the site he also seemed to be enjoying himself and this was confirmed back at the Centre where he signed up as a full member before heading off!
After Terry had gone we made our way, via the Observatory to look for Lapwing chicks, back to the ‘Wildside’ hide. This was because both Leon and I wanted to see if the Hobby was to put in an appearance. It had been logged in a little earlier as we had seen in the book in the shop area.
It had grown even windier, surely much too windy for any of the larger birds to be flying around trying to hunt. After almost an hour we gave up and started to make our way back to the centre, where Leon bought some bits and pieces for his feeder before we left.
We popped into ‘the office’ for a few beers and a chat. We had now been on all of the various ‘walks’ apart from this coming Thursdays’ ‘Big Batty Walk’ and so needed to discuss booking any others that we might want to book up for. As we were leaving we bumped into Rupert who had been down to Selsey to see some Storm Petrels, uncommon this far west by all accounts. He seemed jolly pleased to have seen them. We spent a few minutes with him, chatting about this and that, before making our way home.
BIRDS SEEN: House Martin, House Sparrow, Swift, Starling, Blackbird, Coot, Moorhen, Little Ringed Plover, Avocet, Tufted Duck, Redshank, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Wood Pigeon, Mallard, Herring Gull, Great Tit, Greylag Goose, Greenfinch, Little Grebe, Heron, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Gadwall, Blue Tit, Robin, Coal Tit, Pied wagtail, Stock Dove, Black Headed Gull, Cormorant, Ruddy duck, Dunnock, Sedge Warbler, Shoveller, Pochard, Green Woodpecker, Ring Necked Parakeet, Magpie, Sand Martin, Swallow, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Common Tern,
I had been looking forward to this day for some time as I was to meet Leons’ brother, Terry, for the first time. Leon had arranged to meet Terry at about ten o’clock, which meant that we had time for a short lie-in! We arrived at the site in good time to meet Terry and even had time for a quick chat with some of the staff before the first of the school groups arrived.
The first place that we checked was the Observatory. I had see the Avocets, perhaps, preparing a nest site last Saturday. The female was definitely sitting and so we have our fingers crossed.
Having checked the Observatory we moved on taking Terry along the same sort of route that we would normally follow. The weather was rather inclement with lots of showers and quite a strong wind, although the latter varied in strength and duration by quite some degree.
At the ‘Wildside’ hide we were not surprised to see that there was not much about, most birds seemed to be concentrating on staying out of the wind and rain. Once again the Martins and Swifts seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves!
As Terry had to go to work in the afternoon, we made a quick sortie to the restaurant before moving on to the ‘Waterlife’ area. Again there was not much on show but I did get the impression that Terry was enjoying himself, in fact, most things that he saw would bring back old memories or facts, long stored away, which made for quite a stimulating conversation! As we made our way around the site it became quite apparent that this was not a day for many sightings. Most birds had more sense than us and were tucked up somewhere away from the main effects of the elements. The water level at the ‘Wader Scrape’ would normally, in my opinion, have guaranteed that there would be some large numbers of birds on show. There were a few Redshank, Lapwing and Little Ringed Plovers but little else.
Wendy and one of her colleagues from the WWT were at the tower counting birds and it was nice to see the methodical way in which they went about their business.
As Terry had to go to work later in the afternoon, Leon and I walked him back to the Centre via the ‘Dulverton’ and ‘WWT’ hides. Although there was not much on show at least Terry was beginning to grasp the layout of the site he also seemed to be enjoying himself and this was confirmed back at the Centre where he signed up as a full member before heading off!
After Terry had gone we made our way, via the Observatory to look for Lapwing chicks, back to the ‘Wildside’ hide. This was because both Leon and I wanted to see if the Hobby was to put in an appearance. It had been logged in a little earlier as we had seen in the book in the shop area.
It had grown even windier, surely much too windy for any of the larger birds to be flying around trying to hunt. After almost an hour we gave up and started to make our way back to the centre, where Leon bought some bits and pieces for his feeder before we left.
We popped into ‘the office’ for a few beers and a chat. We had now been on all of the various ‘walks’ apart from this coming Thursdays’ ‘Big Batty Walk’ and so needed to discuss booking any others that we might want to book up for. As we were leaving we bumped into Rupert who had been down to Selsey to see some Storm Petrels, uncommon this far west by all accounts. He seemed jolly pleased to have seen them. We spent a few minutes with him, chatting about this and that, before making our way home.
BIRDS SEEN: House Martin, House Sparrow, Swift, Starling, Blackbird, Coot, Moorhen, Little Ringed Plover, Avocet, Tufted Duck, Redshank, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Wood Pigeon, Mallard, Herring Gull, Great Tit, Greylag Goose, Greenfinch, Little Grebe, Heron, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Gadwall, Blue Tit, Robin, Coal Tit, Pied wagtail, Stock Dove, Black Headed Gull, Cormorant, Ruddy duck, Dunnock, Sedge Warbler, Shoveller, Pochard, Green Woodpecker, Ring Necked Parakeet, Magpie, Sand Martin, Swallow, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Common Tern,
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