As I made my way to the car, taking a slow walk down the marina west path at around 6am this morning, Sedge Warblers singing from the reeds not 10 feet away and Yellowhammer singing from the Hawthorn once again, I reminded myself of how privileged I am to lead the life I do! I cannot at any stage see myself ever wanting to return to bricks and mortar. Just sitting in the dinette drinking my morning coffee and waiting for 'Fred', our resident hybrid goose to arrive at the hatch for his morning slice of bread, is something that brings a smile to my face every day, rain or shine.Thursday as ever is work party day at Brandon and the usual willing bodies were on hand to play their part in the conservation of the reserve.
Both myself and JR met early and had our usual stroll prior to starting work. The usual Warblers, Wildfowl and Waders were on view but a new visitor had arrived today on East Marsh Pool, a Little Egret (pictured), not a first for the reserve but always a pleasure to see and who only hung around until about 9.30am. It would also seem certain now that a Little Ringed Plover pair have settled to nest on Tern Island, which is a bonus compared to last year, when breeding was abandoned due to harassment from Lapwing and a breeding pair of Ringed Plover.
All our regular summer visitors are now on site and what remains for the rest of the season is to pick out the more unusual visitors to the reserve, Wood Warbler, Nightingale and even Red Rumped Swallow would be a dream. As this is my first summer working on the reserve I'm really looking forward to honing my skills on Butterfly, Dragonfly and Damselfly identification, although as far as Butterflies go I'm not too shabby!
Something else to look forward to is my impending trip to Canada, which is now only 7 days away, not exactly a birding holiday, I'm actually getting married, but an ideal opportunity nevertheless, but don't tell the future wife!!
