In the Neighbourhood
It was the first day of June and I had decided to leave the bicycle and take a more local walk just to discover what was there…
My spontaneous wanderings led me first through meadows where the mist was highlighted by the dawn sun and oystercatchers foraged in floral meadows…
Along the side of the road I came across a Jay or two…
Then I decided to check out a footpath alongside the motorway where years ago I used to walk with my beloved fox terrier called Billy…the verge was built up to create a sound barrier…the last time I had walked there there were many young trees…all of which had now been removed and was currently filled with flowers…
Between the flowers and scrub were many birds, mainly Whitethroats…yet there was a bird singing an amazingly beautiful song that was confusing me as it looked like a Reed Warbler, but I was familiar with the Reed Warblers’ song and I knew the song I was hearing was nothing like it…
It wasn’t until a week or so later when I met a fellow photographer, who spoke over Marsh Warblers that it slowly began to dawn on me that all the years I had been overlooking this species…and as usual with bird identification, once you confirm the identity, you see and hear the Marsh Warbler everywhere…
There were whitethroats everywhere too…to be honest it was all a bit of a pleasant surprise…
Finally, the sun was rising on the opposite side of the motorway to which I was standing and made a halo in the sky to round off a perfect morning stroll. 🙂
Noisy Neighbours
One of the first signs of spring is the return of the Oystercatcher which I notice both in the wild and in the street where I live. In the wild they can be found in most pastures alongside the black-tailed godwit and in the street they spend a lot of time on top of the flats on the opposite side of the street.
Due to their plumage and loud call they are clearly present…I see them often in the street flying around in small groups making a lot of noise, at night I can hear them too as I suspect they sleep on top of the flats… Once there was a car alarm going off and there was an oystercatcher on the other side of the street relentlessly answering the alarm!
As a youth, I generally associated this bird with coastal vacations, yet over the years the oystercatcher has ventured further inland in the search for food….I’m always glad to hear their call again when they come back from the coast in March, as far as I’m corcerned they can make as much noise as they want! 🙂
a heartical view 