Last month a lone female took a liking to the new owl box and quickly settled in. Not long after, she started bringing a fella back and they are now officially a couple. No signs of eggs yet but it shouldn’t be long.
Category: Animals
Valentine’s Day
And the frogs and toads are gathering. The toads have appeared first, in great numbers, as they head towards the pond. Some can’t wait until they get there.
A gang of male common frogs writhing around a lone female (somewhere in the middle).
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6… 7!
There are still seven little black moorhen chicks on the pond, learning to swim and feed themselves, while being closely guarded by the two adults.
Surprise arrivals
We knew there was a moorhen in the pond, but we didn’t realise there were two and they were nesting! Here’s the result: six chicks, probably only a day old.
The mother spends time feeding the chicks until they can fend for themselves.
Moorhens have very big feet for their size, from the day they hatch!
Growing up fast
The greylag gosling is now two weeks old and growing fast. The adult male has disappeared, leaving the female to bring up the gooselet (no, this isn’t a real word) on her own, but she seems to be doing a good job.
Update 12 June. Three weeks old and doing well!
Update 16 June. Unfortunately it looks as though we’ve lost the greylag gosling. We last saw it a week ago and briefly saw the mother fly off a couple of days ago (she never leaves the gosling on its own). Such is nature, though whether it was a predator like a fox we’ll never know.
Two goose eggs
A careful drone flyby when the mother was away feeding shows two intact eggs in the middle of the nest. There may be more to come as four or five are a typical clutch for a greylag goose.
Update 21 May 2023. The two goose eggs disappeared a few days later, then two more appeared but the female crushed one. The remaining one survived and just two hours ago hatched and the gosling is already happily swimming around the pond!
Geese!
We now have a pair of greylag geese taking residence on the pond with the female making a nest on the floating island. These birds are HUGE!
A long way from any oysters
Oystercatchers today at Tipton’s Croft.
Voyeurism can be subtle…
…or not subtle!
The toads have arrived
A little late to the party but at last the change to warmer and wetter weather has brought them out of hiding. They’re everywhere already (and it’s only the first night).
Spring is in the air
After a long winter in hibernation frogs have started to appear in the pond. Not many yet but over the next few days they’ll be joined by toads and then there’s going to be one heck of a party!
A surprising find in the pond
One swan mussel. No idea where it came from because we haven’t put any in, but a welcome sight: swan mussels are native and good for the water quality. We hope there are more but they are quite shy, normally hiding in the mud at the bottom.
Pond-loving birds
A week of filming the new shallow end of the pond shows how popular it is for birds.
In order of appearance: carrion crows, jackdaws, magpies, wood pigeons, moorhens, a snipe and a sparrowhawk having a bath.
Sparrowhawk
A female sparrowhawk has started visiting the pond to drink and bathe. The local pigeons had better keep a good lookout otherwise they’ll be breakfast!
New red and yellow resident
The young moorhen that has been visiting is growing up and has developed the distinctive red and yellow beak, and now may be settling in its new home in a clump of bulrush.
A gang of Mallards
A dozen shy young mallards (mostly female) have just arrived by the pond. I might get a better shot if they’re still here tomorrow, but I don’t want to disturb them.
The next morning and they’re still here, doing what ducks do: eating the pond plants and messing up the water!
Update 20 July. The mallards have gone, back to their pond next door where they had escaped from!
Baby fish
The hungry heron hasn’t eaten all the fish! The little sticklebacks we put in in the spring have, surprisingly, spawned and the shallows are full of tiny little ones, each no more than a cm long but already displaying the three spines than give them their name. Long may they be small and unnoticeable to the big bird.
Emperor dragonfly.
A beautiful example of an emperor dragonfly. This female has just transformed from nymph to adult and, too weak to fly, hangs onto a rush and tries to not to be noticed.
Exception to the rule
We’ve made the decision to add a non-native species to the pond: grass carp. Originally from Asia where they are used to get rid of weeds in paddy fields and that is what we need them for here. We have the first signs of broadleaved pondweed in the pond and really do not want it to take hold as it could completely take over, as it has done in the small pond.
The fish are herbivores and won’t eat amphibia or other fish, and won’t breed either and so are a safe and hopefully effective form of weed control. So long as the herons don’t eat them.
This one isn’t limping
Clearly not the lame heron that has been visiting the pond. This one seems quite happy stalking the fish (and frogs, toads and newts).