The mission for today was a straight forward one. Locate the flock of Golden Plover that were at Maiden Castle and count them! I arrived at the lay-by and scanned the fields around the base of the Iron Age Fort and bingo lots of dots huddled in a field.
I drove to the main car-park which was considerably nearer and spoke to a local dog walker who confirmed my thoughts at the lay-by! I had also noticed a field near my destination had been ploughed with a good number of gulls in attendance.
I could hear the rattling of keys all around me and spied a single Corn Bunting sat on a fence en-route to the field. After a few pictures I made my way along the base of the fort to view my intended quarry!
The Golden Plover were settled in a rough field which had its chalk layer exposed at the bottom of the hill. The clicker was deployed and the task of counting and checking them began. I have adopted the check everything approach since I arrived in Dorset as a rarity could be lurking behind any blade of grass!
There were no American counterparts in the flock and after a re-count the total number of birds was 681! Wow not a bad number at a site that is known to hold a wintering population.
I was just admiring the view when whoosh the gulls went up in the ploughed field and yes you have guessed it the Plover followed. What an impressive sight! I did not find what had caused the commotion but turned my attention back to the flock which had by now gained height and broken down into several smaller “V” formations with a muddle of individuals in-between.
The decent was just as impressive as the three groups circled the field losing height as each circuit was complete! Then before I knew it the flock had returned to terra firma in almost the same area as before. Now that was impressive no accidents or crash landings in sight!
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