Month: April 2020

A pleasant walk today, in which my old friend the Kingfisher popped up very close to me while I was taking a brief rest from my daily walk. I was happy to see him, especially as he sat still long enough for this photo.

male kingfisher

I was puzzled for a while by what seemed to be patchy fog, in the middle of a hot and sunny afternoon. It turned out to be the downy seeds of the willow tree – the “pussy willow” –  drifting on the wind in their millions. Willow is one of the most resilient of trees, as I find out to myself once years ago when I planted a few sticks in the ground to mrk te edge of a lawn I was seeding – only to find each of the sticks growing into vigorous new willow trees.

Today I also saw my first banded demoiselles of the year – these beautiful small damselflies come in two striking metallic colours, blue for the boys and green for the girls. Watching them dance over the water made me feel that summer (hopefully a lockdown-free summer) is fast approaching.

Today’s walk was a joy. Partly because I’m now regularly seeing a kingfisher, one of two pairs that are local to me. I searched for kingfishers for many years before I realised that they are actually to be found near my home, on the same lake where the grebes hang out. I strongly suspect that they are nesting, which means that I have to be extremely careful not to inadvertently disturb them close to the nest – it’s an offence, and can harm their chances of breeding. So I’m being careful. But I did manage to see this beautiful male deep in the shade of a willow.

But there was better to come. As I returned home, there was a furious squabbling in a hedge to my right, and a small bird burst out. It landed on a nearby branch and started to sing furiously, powerfully. I’m not good at sorting out the many members of the warbler family (there are many of them, and they all look very similar) but I think this is a reed warbler. It is only when I got home that I realised that the warbler still had feathers clinging to its beak, plucked (I assume) from its rival.

Today also saw the first of the year’s damselflies for me – a large red, and a number of banded demoiselles. Hedgerows bursting with lead and song, warm sunshine on my back, and baby moorhen, looking like balls of black cotton-wool which some child has iced with coloured blobs to represent a face. Many blessings to count today.

For someone who loves the outdoors, Lockdown is a trial. But it’s a small price to pay to save the lives of others. As the situation has gone on, I am starting to learn from friends that their loved ones have died. It’s a tide, gradually getting closer to home, and inconvenience is a small price to pay.

But I am fortunate to have a number of really wonderful walks I can take. Today’s was around my local lake. The Great crested grebes are there, although they have not mated this year – storm Dennis came in and literally seemed to blow the grebes out of the water.  But two lone grebes returned, and I suspect that both are female, although it’s really hard to tell. But on today’s walk one of the grebes caught a perch and swallowed it.  How grebes don’t rip their throats open swallowing a fish with sharp, erect spines is one of the mysteries of life.

great crested grebe swallowing perchBut then, just as we were returning home, a furious burst of song caught my attention. I don’t know what had made the female blackcap so indignant, but she was clearly furious with something. I just hope it wasn’t me.

female blackcap

All in all, I’d call that a decent set of wildlife encounters for a local walk