Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Dorney
Last time I saw the common sandpiper at the weir I approached incautiously and it flew from the fish ladder near the south bank before I realised it was there. Today I was more careful and was able to watch it foraging through the fence for some minutes.
The sandpiper was interested in the green-encrusted inner wall of the structure, where it seemed to be finding tiny food items.
Further downstream, one of the cattle had developed a taste for phragmites and munched away on them for ages.
A couple of reed buntings and a kestrel were nearby. Back at the flood I enjoyed again the spectacle of many house martins, some swallows, and several sand martins hunting low over the pool and the Roundmoor Ditch (and me - not sure how some of them avoided crashing into my head). Two chiffchaffs in the willows darted out and had a go at them when they flew too near to the trees. A kingfisher brightened up what was otherwise a cold and gloomy morning.
// posted by Christine @ 5:33 AM 
