Thursday 23rd June
a month to the day that my bird watching went into “hold”. But it’s good to be
back, and thanks to Mr Awad and his excellent team, I have fought through a 5
hour op, pneumonia, Colitis and a period of non compos mentis to return to my
blog.
Anyway I have no stomach for
this subject so let’s move on.
As I looked out on 3 grey
walls for 14 days, I often wondered what I would be able to write about, and I
mentally inaugurated the RHEA club (Royal Hospital Exotic Avian Club). The
first such visitor, a Pigeon, and not just any old pigeon but a feral pigeon to
boot, came twice, defecated on the window sill and left. Pointed out the pigeon
to the Indonesian Nurse, who wondered what the excitement was all about. Then, with Mary and Sarah, we saw what was
undoubtedly the BOF (bird of the fortnight) a Pied Wagtail.
Of course I missed my
Carsington Beginners walk on the 5th, but dependable Amanda and Gary
looked after the 21 people booked for the course, including an encouraging 8
people who had not been on the walk before. All the Hirundines were seen, plus
Swift, Whitethroat and Sparrowhawk, but the BOD was a pair of Red Crested
Pochards.
Please don’t forget the
beginners walk is ALWAYS on the first Sunday of each month – 10.00am Tel 01629
540696 to book.
I was amused by 2 interesting recent
press items. The first was the Gull that fell into a bucket of Chicken Tikka
Masala in June, at a food factory in Wales. Apparently it should be Ok when it
gets oil back into the feathers, but in the meantime, Welsh birders may have
some surprise sightings.
The other story was about a
Jackdaw in Derbyshire, (which made national news) which swallowed a small pair
of tweezers with which it was being hand fed. The lucky bird was taken to
Cheshire where RSPB experts successfully removed the tweezers.
I don't know how many of you watch
Springwatch, and an item on the final day of the recent series gave an
incredible case of Deja vu. Let me quote
from an e-mail from Gary in 2013:-
I was just reading the 2013 CBC annual report
and your piece on the disappointing year for Ospreys at Carsington. The
reference to 'Blue 24' piqued my interest as my sister volunteers for the Dyfi
Osprey Project in west Wales and there's been quite a bit of drama there this
year with the 'resident' female Glesni arriving back to find another female on
the nest, so to speak ... turns out that was Blue 24, who was promptly turfed
off the nest by Glesni!!!
Blue 24 (below) was seen at Carsington on June 11th 2013, then on the 13th at Rutland
Fast forward to Springwatch
2016, on Thursday 16th June. In summary-
Blue 24, the same female
Osprey arrives at Dyfi on the 1st April 2016 and takes over a nest
belonging to Monti and Glesni. Monti duly returns on the 3rd April
and straightaway starts mating with Blue 24. Later in the day, Glesni returns
and turfs Blue 24 off her nest, (Blue 24 moves to another nearby nest,)
leaving Glesni to mate with Monti.
Are you with me so far? Good.
So Monti is the male, and Glesni and Blue 24 are the females, and to
prove it on the 17th April each have a nest with eggs.
Ponder the thought – Monti has
potentially 6 chicks to feed!
It’s a pity that Blue 24 was
only 3 when she dropped in to Carsington in 2013 - she seems a bit more
persistent now she is 6!!
Happy Birding.
