Garganeys and Little Ringed Plover

   
A very welcome visit to Murton NR of three Garganey, two drakes and a duck, found by Lyall in the back ponds. It appeared that a pair were trying to get rid of the other drake and the duck was leading them from pool to pool. I walked around to the Gladstone Hide and found the pair feeding in the weed around the pond edge. They eventually worked their way around until I couldn't see them under the banks slope in front of the hide.

Also some photos and video from my Webs count at East Haven at the weekend.


Garganey pair at Murton      Garganeys feeding, Gladstone Hide      Little Ringed Plover, "Angus site"    

5 Wader species      Bar-tailed Godwit      Purple Sandpipers      Sanderlings      Grey Plovers, Purple Sandpipers

Garganey drake at Murton NR, seen in various pools, here it was from the Gladstone Hide

Two Garganey drakes in the un-named pool to the north of the Stewart Hide, they were in the shade at the far end of the pool for only a minute before the duck flew off followed by both

Garganey duck, at this stage her and one drake had settled and were feeding, I couldn't see the other drake

A very distant photo of my first Little Ringed Plover this year

One of six Grey Plovers I recorded on my Webs count at the weekend between East Haven and Westhaven

A Bar-tailed Godwit between two Oystercatchers roosting on the beach at high tide

Most of the Curlews were in the cattle field where they feed and roost when the tide's in

The worst of two myxomatosis Rabbits I saw in the fields behind the dunes

This was a big surprise given that they're still rare in Scotland, a Tree Bumblebee Queen. They first colonised the UK in 2001 and have spread relentlessly north, they will nest in bird boxes as a colony did in Olive's garden in 2020. I didn't know they emerged so early

There's now a few Buff-tailed Bumblebee Queens feeding in my heather and an odd solitary bee or hoverfly which I haven't photographed yet

The first frenzy of spawning activity in my pond is over, but in most years a few stragglers turn up late and I often see a "lookout! like this one