Sunday 7 July 2013

The Birds.


I see lots of water birds come and go, some stay to feed, some just fly over, some are solitary, some come in pairs and some in flocks, there are waders and divers, large and small, some are frequent visitors, some are not, I don't know where they come from and I don't know where there go to, but I'm always happy to see them.  This brings me to the Cormorant; I believed them to be a rarity in these parts, as I'd only seen one or two, and then one day I walked round the corner, to the rear of my house, and there they were, twenty or thirty, lined up on the railings of a boatyard pier on Southampton Water!

I don't see many pigeons, but there are a few, they clatter about in the trees and occasionally perch on my pergola, but generally they keep their distance, so it was surprising to find a pigeon egg nestling in a large pot of bamboo on my balcony.  I hadn't heard anything, I hadn't seen anything, but there it was, early one morning, a single pigeon egg, and it certainly hadn't been there the night before.  The curious thing is that there were no pigeons to be seen, before or since, just a solitary abandoned egg.  Birds are very mysterious....

The picture at the top shows a Cormorant drying its wings and perched on an old pier stump (to the front of my house) on Southampton Water, at Hythe, Hampshire on Tuesday 25th June 2013 at 15:38.

The picture at the bottom shows the pigeon egg (41x29mm) in the pot of bamboo on my balcony in Hythe, Hampshire at 08:44 on Sunday 26th May 2013.

To read about Cormorants, click on the link below:-

To read about Woodpigeons, click on the link below:-


Monday 1 July 2013

Duck Days.


During my contemplative days staring out of the windows (see my previous blog Late Tulips dated Sunday 30th June 2013), I spotted a couple of different varieties of duck.  A pair of handsome Shelducks visited one early morning at the end of May, fed for a while, flew off and haven't been seen since.  A lone Mallard arrived in early June, patrolled the area and seemed for all the world as though he were searching for his mate; he swam back and forth, round and about, up and down, stood on the sea wall for an age, looking this way and that, but to no avail, and off he went.  A few days later he returned, this time with his mate - hoorah!  He's been back regularly since then, sometimes alone, sometimes with his mate, he doesn't stay for long, but it's always good to see him.

The picture at the top shows the Mallard on the sea wall, overlooking Southampton Water, at Hythe, Hampshire, on Monday 3rd June 2013 at 09:22.

The picture at the bottom shows the pair of Shelducks on Hythe foreshore, Southampton Water, Hampshire, at 07:47 on Sunday 26th May 2013.

To read about Mallards, click on the link below:-

To read about Shelducks, click on the link below:-