There are a few species, granted not particularly rare or even spectacular, that evoke happy birding times. One such species for me is Golden Plover. Like the Curlew it's a bird of wide and often wild open spaces with its estuarine winter haunt and moorland breeding home. I'm fond of this gentle looking wader and spend many a happy hour searching through coastal flocks on the Solway for "Lesser Goldies" from the far Arctic tundra of points further east or west.
I remember my teenage birding excursions by bus from Watford Junction to Staines with great affection. A Green Line bus journey of just over an hour found me at the bottom of the causeway between the concrete bowls, ever optimistic and often surprised by the quality of bird frequenting this inhospitable landscape. Long-billed Dowitcher, Baird's Sandpiper, Wilson's Phalarope, Collared Pratincole, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, a selection of lost seabirds and various waterfowl adorned an impressive personal tally for the "resers". The lure of other nearby sites lengthened my days in the Staines area and Wraysbury Gravel Pits and Queen Mary Reservoir added a bit of variety and often a good soaking and sore feet. One bird I just couldn't get to grip with in the early days was Golden Plover however. Checking London Natural History Bird Reports I discovered that there was a regular flock on Staines Moor so that looked worthy of a stroll. One cold February morning I walked the moor and found a Golden Plover almost straight away. Well, a bit of one. It was dead but live ones soon followed as we located a flock in a nearby field. I can still remember them shuffling around in their usual plover way in the late winter mist.
So why recount all this drivel? Well last night I located several Golden Plovers on the tops of the high fells in Bowland, Lancs. That same thrill shot through me, just as it did back in the 70's on Staines Moor. Golden Plover are pretty rare in Bowland in the summer months and the site of a singing male tumbling through the air over a sphagnum bog in the late evening remnants of sunshine was quite magical:
"The characteristic high-circling display flight of the male Golden Plover, with its accompanying far-carrying song, is one of the most evocative sounds of the Lancashire uplands in early spring." (Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Lancashire and North Merseyside). Spot on!
Anyway the GP encounter was a perfect ending to a great day. Congratulations to Callum, our youngest son, who passed his driving test at the first time of asking last week. We celebrated with lunch at Bashall Barn in Bowland today before Callum and Mrs B. let me loose with a clipboard and GPS and returned home. The rest of my day consisted of surveying some bracken covered slopes with 4 pairs of Whinchats, a couple of pairs of Wheatears and a Peregrine darting overhead before I clambered onto the fells. Happy days indeed.
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2 comments:
Just enjoyed reading this and 'A bit of a Grouse' Colin the latter in which you casually commented something like 'whats happened to the House Martins'. I think in due course we are going to see some figures from the experts confirming my suspicions that we have problem (for want of a better description) re this species. I think the church I/we visit at Abbeystead on a regular basis each summer and which has 15 nests from previous summers around it has just recently managed only two pairs this year......on the face of it I think this speaks volumes.
Hi Pete,
Yes that was a gentleman of 80 who commented on "the martins". He went on to tell me how his father had helped construct Stocks. I had as much pleasure chatting to the locals the other day as I did seeing birds I reckon .....
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