The day had a spring like feel to it. There was plenty of birdsong at dawn. This had me lock on to my first bird of the day a Wood Lark. This was perched on the wires at the water meadows singing its head off. A couple of Yellowhammer joined it on the wires but could not compete with the melody!
It took a while to get pictures of the bird as the light was not great. At least it stuck around long enough to snap something before it dropped into the field. I did not have this species last year therefore it was a welcome addition to the yearlist.
Also on the playlist today were Song Thrush, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Cetti's Warbler, Mistle Thrush and drumming woodpeckers!
During the photo shoot I turned my head and saw a large mass of birds heading high towards the water meadows from the Northeast. Initially I thought they were starling but I had not seen this phenomenon before at the water meadows let alone this number of birds!
A check through the binos and the “swarm” was made up entirely of Lapwing and what a sight to see as the wheeled and whirled around directly above the now receding flooded area. The birds split into three flocks (one above) who parted and then came back together in what looked like chaos! This did however make them easier to count! I now have the task of checking all the pictures for other shorebirds!
During the display the Lapwings that were already resting on the ground joined the show eventually the majority of the birds landed of the muddy areas near mill mead. This was short lived as the flock was off again departing in different directions in smaller groups. The rest of the day saw flocks of Lapwing moving around between the key areas feeding and moving on to the next zone! 1268 was the final count from the initial display. Amazing!
I continued working through the farm and spied a Coot at Athelhampton! Why the fuss you may wonder?! The last one I saw was at Athelhampton on 3rd February 2021 a day short of two years ago!
Not a bad day two species that were not recorded last year and the magical mass of Lapwing which can’t be bad!
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