Monday
Jun132005

Four Herons

This evening I saw four herons standing in a group on the west side of the lake near Frimley station.  They were only a few metres from each other.  Maybe they were a family?   One of them looked smaller and darker than the others.

Friday
Jun032005

Carrion Crow taking an Ant-Bath

Yesterday I noticed a carrion crow (Corvus corone corone) behaving rather strangely on the lawn at the front of our flats.  It was sitting down in the grass with its wings slightly extended sideways, as if it was sunning itself -- but the Sun was not shining.  I though it rather strange, but I had other things to do, so I soon forgot about it.

Well, today, what I presume was the same bird was doing exactly the same thing but in a slightly different spot.  Then a car slowly drove past and the crow stood up and ambled further away from the road, waiting until the car was gone before returning to precisely the same patch of grass to sit down again.  Then it occurred to me that I had often seen ants in the grass down there, so I went downstairs to take a closer look.  Sure enough there was a concentration of ants in precisely the place where the crow had been sitting.  Presumably, the crow was using these ants to de-louse itself. 
When I came back in, the crow went back to the same spot to resume its ant-bath.

Thursday
May192005

A Black Wagtail

On Monday, just after mid-day, I saw a strange wagtail beside one of the wooded lakes near Farnborough North station.  It was definitely a wagtail: it was the right size and shape, and it behaved like one bobbing its tail up and down as it perched on a branch.  However, its head, neck and upper part of its chest were all black.  Its back was grey and the rest of its body was mostly black with whitish streaks here and there.  While I was watching, it repeated the call "chi-chee" several times and then it flew off into the woods.  I suppose it could have been an unusually dark pied wagtail, maybe a juvenile as these tend to have less well developed white patches than the adults.

Sunday
May152005

Sparrows trying to be Swallows

With the warmer weather we are now getting quite a few flies over the lakes and rivers.  This week I noticed house sparrows hunting mayflies over the Kennet near Kings Point, something that I remember also seeing last summer.  They perch on the railings that run alongside the river, and when they see a suitable fly, they launch themselves out across the river, snapping at the fly, landing on the railings on the other side with it in their beak, if they are lucky.

Sunday
May152005

Yet More Chicks!

This morning I walked down town by myself.  There were quite a few people standing on the banks of the Kennet looking at the young coots and mallard ducks.  The coot nesting near Highbridge Wharf had six red-headed chicks, some out on the water and others, probably only just newly hatched, peeping out from under their  mother's wing.  The female mallard still has all nine of the chicks it had a week ago.

At lunch time, Zoe went up to the University lakes and reports that the flock of Canada geese chicks is now 19 (!) strong.  She thinks that this is a creche consisting of chicks from 3 broods.