Saturday, 21 March 2009

Osprey jam

A bit of very lucky timing allowed me to jam into an osprey as it headed north over Aldcliffe just before 2pm today.
With only an hour or so to spare I had a quick reccie around the patch checking Freeman's Pools first - all the usual stuff was present ie 8 gadwall, 4 tufted duck, 1 shoveler, 2 little grebe, 1 green sandpiper etc. A couple of silent chiffchaff were feeding in the pathway trees.
A little egret was fishing in Darter Pool and the little grebe pair were still busy nest building. A 5th little grebe was on Frog Pond.
Just 2 pair of teal were visible on the Wildfowlers' Pools.
Heading along the upper track to check The Flood I bumped into a birder who had seen 2 little-ringed plover there. They were still present along with 40+ meadow pipit and 9 pied wagtails when I got there. As I was checking through the pipits I heard the cacophonous sound of panicking oystercatchers and curlews and looking up I saw the osprey flying low-ish over the fields heading in the direction of the Priory.
I've seen osprey take this route here before, cutting off the bend in the river and heading over Lancaster. Mind you, I think this is the first year I've seen osprey before wheatear...!

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