Tipton's Croft

A wild field garden in Bomere Heath, Shropshire, England

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    Out of nowhere (well, probably a quiet corner of the island) a gang of day old mallard chicks has appeared. We’ve not seen any adults for a few days so they have been very secretive about the nest.

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    Five little sootballs spotted today with their parents teaching them life skills.

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    We had almost given up on the nest of moorhen eggs (it has been well over three weeks since we first spotted them) but suddenly six little ‘sootball’ moorhen chicks have appeared, with both adults.

    Here’s one of the adults teaching the chick to feed (on water crowfoot).
    And three chicks closely following an attentive adult.

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    And tadpoles!

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    A quick visit to the island to see why there are no signs of ducklings reveals an empty mallard nest (no evidence of eggs at all of the eggs that were there) but nearby, very well hidden, a full moorhen nest.

    We think there’s only one moorhen so it’s unclear whether the eggs will hatch. Island is now out of bounds for the next three weeks. Watch this space!

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    We’ve started using a temporary plug to block the entrance to the barn owl box during the day, so that other animals can’t nest in it. Unfortunately we didn’t take into account how clever jackdaws are, as you can see (skip to 2:00 if you can’t wait!).

    Within a few hours the jackdaws filled the owl box with twigs and grass to form a formidable nest.

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    A quick trip onto the island to look for moorhen nests and instead we find a female mallard sitting on a clutch of six eggs in a nest made from dried bulrush stems and duck down.

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    One of the first signs of spring: a clump of lesser celandine in the corner of the field.

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    The cold weather held off the frogs and toads but now it’s warming up they’re on the march and getting busy in the pond making loads of spawn: a lot more than last year too. Listen to the video to hear the toads sing!

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    It looks as though we are one down on the moorhen count. Three elusive survivers, though hard to tell which are the adults and which hatched last year as the youngsters have now gained their grown up colours. Winter’s not over yet, but hopefully the worst has passed and these three will keep going until spring with warmer weather and more to eat.

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    We’ve finally managed to get one of the owl box cameras working so we can see inside the owl box in its new position on a large oak tree. No activity yet, but there’s plenty of time.

    Ready for any passing barn owl.