Thursday, July 23, 2009

Gadwall Chicks

Two visits to Brandon this week came up trumps on Tuesday with the first recorded siting of a Gadwall with young since the late 70's! This was in addition to the 3 Teal chicks located last week, which was another rare site at Brandon over recent years.

On a thoroughly wet and miserable Tuesday, (21st July), when the whole morning was spent in the Main-Hide, the highlight of the day was the discovery of our 3 Gadwall chicks. It's days like this when we discover who the fair weather birders are and I'm delighted to say that the usual Tuesday crew all made the effort. Although some arrived slightly later than normal!!

Thursday (23rd July) was work party day and this week we took the opportunity to make another check of the artificial Sand Martin structure, which has now yielded nearly 50 chicks, a major result for the reserve. A respite in the heavy showers also enabled the team to complete the weather proofing of the River, Teal and Main Hides. During the course of today I was also lucky enough to come across a pair of Grass Snake which were sheltering under a section of tarpaulin.
The quiet period continues in relation to irregular visitors to the reserve with only a few sightings of Green and Common Sandpiper over the past week, the latter of which I observed from the Teal hide after work today.