On A (Lap)wing and a Prayer

 Good news - one of the Lapwing chicks is still with us. There may be others but I managed to see one this morning. I got a photo from a fair distance as it was heading towards the field edge, without the adults needing to go into their distraction routine.

Lapwing chick

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it (and others?) manages to go the distance and fledge before any harm befalls it.

I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that a Roe Deer I saw this morning behind our house is OK. It has a very large lump on its throat/breast area that must be causing some discomfort.

Roe Deer with a large lump on its chest

Despite the recent poor weather and chilly north easterly winds, the wildlife carries on - apart from dragonflies and butterflies that is, who find it too cold to bother getting on the wing.

Sedge Warbler

Brown Hare

Common Dogwood (lacking a butterfly)

The cool temperatures have meant that I haven't been doing the number of miles I usually do. I walk because I enjoy it not because I feel I have to, so if I am not getting pleasure from walking I go home. Only 5 miles covered this morning, which for a June day is really poor, but I just didn't see that much to grab my attention despite sitting in a field margin for ages hoping something would come along.

June Is Busting Out All Over

 One more walk along the south side of the Mere and another highly enjoyable one.

I do go elsewhere every now and then, but a fantastic mix of habitat is here - fields, water, hedgerows, grassland and woodland. Walking along very early in the morning before most people are out and about is most rewarding and I see more wildlife then.

Cobwebs highlighted in the early morning dew

Wassand Woodland walk

The Grasshopper Warbler was still in place, reeling away and sounding fantastic. Competing with the Gropper was a Great Spotted Woodpecker bashing away at a dead branch. Lovely to see in the sunlight.

Great Spotted Woodpecker - you can see its tongue

Coot

I don't visit the hide very often but I decided to call in for a few minutes today. The water was absolutely still with no breeze. A Hobby was flying around and I watched it pick off a dragonfly from the top of a reed stem then it flew off into a tree to eat it.

Hobby

Whitethroat

I went up to Ulrome to see if the Corn Buntings would show themselves for me. They did - 4 of them - but I couldn't get a clear shot of the them when they were relatively close. Stems of umbels or grass got in the way 😀🤣 but they were singing away for all they were worth which was good to hear.

Corn Bunting singing in Cow Parsley

Corn Bunting sitting out, but distant

There are lots of Yellowhammers and warblers at Ulrome and more Yellowhammer photos can't be a bad thing. 

Yellowhammer belting out a-little-bit-of-bread-but-no-cheese

I met Mark on his local-ish patch and together we watched as a diver came closer so we could decide if it was Great Northern or a Red-throated. Unfortunately it was a Red-throated. Nice, but a Great Northern would have been even better for me.

Red-throated Diver off Ulrome

Treecreepers Fledged

 I'm glad to say that the Treecreeper nest I found after the original TC nest was predated have successfully feldged. Well, hopefully anyway.

I saw them yesterday morning and the chicks were showing well at the nest hole entrance, even when the adult birds weren't bringing food in. At least 2 chicks seen at any one time.

Today the nest is empty with no hunger calls and no sight of the adult birds either. I scanned the adjacent trees hoping to see young birds but no luck, although I will try again tomorrow.

Hungry chick being fed

Treecreeper chick being fed

Treecreeper chick

Treecreeper chick and adult (video still)

Treecreeper chick and both adults (video still)

Treecreeper chick and both adults (video still)

This video shows a chick calling for food, and you can hear the adults responding.

The Lapwings continue to protect their young ones with up to 6 adult birds seen, but only a single chick seen. Hopefully there are more but the field has large patches of weeds and foliage where they can scamper to hide. The adult birds try to lure possible predators away from the chicks by feigning injury.

Adult Lapwings using diversionary tactics

Away from the excitement of new life at the Mere, damselflies have been springing up all over.

Most of the damselflies are Common Blue Damselflies but we have several Blue Tailed and a few Azure as well.

Blue-tailed Damselfly female - form rufescens

Blue-tailed Damselfly female - form violacea

blue-tailed damselfly immature male

I am grateful to Mark Radford for pointing out the variations in the females, and for finding them in the first place!

On the walking front I continue to put in as many miles as I can each morning and today I passed my first milestone for the year - 1,000 miles (or 2 Proclaimers). I am hoping to total 2,500 miles for the year which will be the first time I've managed that, but as I only did 2,200 last year it could be a target too far.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

 From Henrik Ibsen to Arthur Brisbane and Fred R. Barnard, since the early 1900's the phrase has been attributed to several people (including Confucius but that was just Barnard conning people to think it must be true if it's a Chinese proverb) but who said it doesn't really matter as it is certainly true.

So I'll cut the verbage on this post and just put up a few pictures taken over the last few days, with perhaps some words of context to clarify where I think it may add something.

Lapwings On Guard Duty

Treecreepers Feeding Young and Tidying The Nest

Common Terns

Miscellaneous images

Yellowhammer

Song Thrush

Reed Bunting

Wheatear in set aside

Wheatear in set aside

Azure Damselfly (my first here since 2015)

female Common Blue Damselfly

Holly Blue butterfly in our garden

A new species for me - Wood Sanicle found locally

Willow Warbler

Roe Deer

Skylark

That's all for now. You wouldn't know it but I've left you on a cliffhanger, as the Skylark photo was taken over South Cliffs 🤣🤣

Tune in for the next episode to see if... the Skylark escapes certain death? No, that doesn't work at all does it.

Just check back here for some more of the same old stuff 😎

It's certainly good to know someone out there looks at this. I appreciate every visit that people make to this blog👍