Thursday, February 7, 2013

Back to (early? ) reality.

After succeeding days of dealing with the aftermath of returning from a period of being away, today provided some opportunity to see what was happening around home.  Sometimes, in winter, its a question of determining what is not around , as opposed to what is present. Suddenly that can change in Spring ( which comes upon us very often earlier than is supposed ), but that was not really confirmed today!

The moors around were virtually devoid of birds, with only a couple of exceptions. A distant silhouette proved to be a single Curlew sitting out on a knoll, but with no calls signalling its arrival, presence or departure. Strange that flocks are present on both Lochs Indaal and Gruinart and certain fields adjacent to them, and yet clearly this individual felt the need to visit (?) a local area.  Also noticeable were a couple of Herring Gulls patrolling over the open ground, a feature which progressively becomes more obvious as Spring advances.

Other than that.....not a lot!! A flock of Fieldfare, by numbers the ones which have been around for a while, periodically either fed on the ground or perched up on overhead telephone wires. A single Starling also perched up and gave out of its varied song. Absent was any sign of Stonechats, which I think almost exclusively high tail it down to more coastal spots during the height of winter and derive a living from a slightly less demanding habitat. So, no awards for diversity or biomass on this occasion!!!

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