Category: Animals

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

Oystercatchers today at Tipton’s Croft.

…or not subtle!

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).

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!

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.

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.

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!

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 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!

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.

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.

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.

Clearly not the lame heron that has been visiting the pond. This one seems quite happy stalking the fish (and frogs, toads and newts).

At last caught on camera: the fish thief! This grey heron has been visiting for a while, leaving big footprints in the mud around the pond, but today’s the first time he’s triggered the trail cam. Does seem to be limping though. Hopefully will get more footage soon with a better view.

Five greylag geece visited the pond this morning; lovely to see but the the appetite of geece can be rather destructive to fragile pond plants. They didn’t stay long, treating the pond rather like a motorway service station, and once they had their fill off they went, heading north.