Golden Plovers Fill Your Eyes

 Once again, song association kicks in. This time it's The Beatles with Golden Slumbers from Abbey Road in 1969. 

Golden slumbers fill your eyes

Smiles await you when you rise

Having walked through Rolston and down to the hide I was nearly home when I heard a Lapwing call from just over the hedgerow. I got the bins on a gap in the hedge and saw a Lapwing - and a couple of Golden Plovers too. Local gold dust as I haven't seen a Golden Plover from the house/garden yet and this field runs up alongside our house!

I crept up to the gap and settled myself down to take some photos...and flushed a Woodcock in the process! No pics of that though.

Golden Plover and Lapwing

Golden Plovers having a flap

Golden Plovers in the ploughed area

16 Golden Plovers and 2 Lapwing

A tractor had just started to plough the field so gulls and other birds were just arriving. Starlings were spotting the opportunity and about 150 flew in while I was watching.

Even better was that the tractor continued to work its way around the field, and when I checked from the bedroom window just after lunchtime there were several plovers in view - Green and Golden - so I got a new entry for my garden list for the Golden Plover.

Did you know? Other names for the Lapwing, or Northern Lapwing as it is now called, are Peewit and Green Plover. I knew the bird by Peewit when I was younger, and  this name is derived from its call during breeding season. "Lapwing" by the way is from the way the bird flies or perhaps from its behaviour of pretending to have a damaged wing to lure predators away from its nest.

I have found over time that Redwing is one of the most difficult birds to get near and photograph. The past few days I've seen hundreds of Fieldfare and Redwing and I've got several decent shots of Fieldfare, but Redwing always seem to fly off or fly out of the blind side of nearby bushes and trees just when you think you've got a chance of togging them. I know the thing to do is to wait and be patient for them to come back. Well, today I was under the hedge clicking away at the plovers when a few Redwing landed just above me.

Decent photo of a Redwing at last

Slightly different to the one above

 Here are a couple of examples of not-so-good Redwing pics from yesterday.

The water at the west end of the Mere as viewed from Decoy hide is almost totally frozen over and this morning there were no birds at all to be seen out there - apart from a dead Mute Swan.

Frozen Mere

Crows feeding on a dead Barnacle Goose

From first field there was open water attracting the ducks and swans, but there was also the sad sight of another dead Barnacle Goose.

I'll finish off with a few photos from the last few days which have been chilly to say the least. Still getting out before the sun is up is good for the soul, not to mention being quieter too.

Greylags

They follow me where ever I go

Goldcrest

Icy teasels