Farlington Marshes Visit (Sorry, no photos, but there is a video)

A few days ago, me, Nan and Dad went to Farlington Marshes to do some birdwatching, or I did the birdwatching, because dad knows nothing about birds. Epic day it was. Plenty of  "good" birds to see, as well as the usuals.  Scores of Redshank and Greenshank, lots of Coots and Moorhens, about five Little Egrets, loads of Wood Pigeons (Ring Doves), Collared Doves, Stock Doves and even a couple of Turtle Doves. There was a couple of Ringed Plovers, some Reed Warblers, and the usual Great and Blue Titmice, as well as Coal, Marsh and Long-tailed Titmice. No Willow Titmice though. There was a family of Mute Swans (two adults, six cygnets, probably very experienced parents, those two) on one of the water bodies, when the cob decided there was more water plants to eat on a different pond. He got out of the pond they were in, and made sure his family were coming with him. One of the cygnets was a runt, a lot smaller than it's siblings. It lagged behind a bit as they crossed the big piece of land before them. The pen stayed at the back to make sure none of the cygnets turned back. There certainly was a lot of Frogbit and Duckweed and many other waterplants in there! Every so often, the cob would come across a Redshank or a Little Egret or Coot of what ever, and hiss(sssssssss) and snap and curve his wings into a love-heart shape at them. Occasionally, he would beat his wings in the air (two metres of pure aggression ready to snap some bones) noisily. One of the cygnets seemed to like copying his (I'm guessing it was a he) father, clapping his bill and beating his wings. The cygnets were nearly as big as their mother, but still had the grey-brown juvenile plumage. The runt cygnet had a Spectacular Epic Fail and fell bill-over-big-rubbery-black-flippery-foot-things. Unfortunately, it was in the long grass when he/she fell over, and I could just see some black webbed plastic-like feet sticking out of the vegetation. I don't think my camera could zoom in far enough to catch the whole fail. Shame. It was so funny. But the cygnet lived up to his name. It was totally silent. After a long and clumsy waddle across a very wide space of dry land (or wet land because it was raining), the swan family finally reached their plant-laden pond destination. WELL DONE MUTE SWANS. There was loads more birds.

Other Birds:

Kestrels (two hens)
A trio of Oystercatcher
Tufted Duck
Shoveler duck (and drakes)
Pochard duck (and drakes)
Mallard duck (and drakes)
Mandarin Duck (and one drake)
Robins
Goldfinches
Greenfinches
Dunnocks (Hedge Sparrows to the annoying people)
Wrens

The birds were all too quick to get photos of, apart from the swans which I got an awesome video of.

Also, well done to all of Para GB's athletes for winning us those medals!

PS. Sorry little runt Mute Cygnet for embarrassing you by telling the whole world about your Spectacular Epic Fail. Sorry there hasn't been a Getting Started With Bird-Feeding 3 yet. (You have been waiting for a long time) and that I haven't shown you my Spectacular Epic Poems yet. Oh well, I will soon. (I am very lame at this aren't I?)

HERE ARE SOME LINKS WHICH YOU MAY LIKE TO LOOK AT:

www.blackredstarts.org.uk is a non-profit organisation that helps conserve the beautiful little Black Redstart that is now so rare.

www.britishwildboar.or.uk gives loads of information on and super-cute piglet footage of the British Wild Boar that became extinct for so long.

 www.birdsofbritain.co.uk is a fantastic web magazine with stunning photographs and the latest bird updates.

www.bou.org.uk (British Ornithologists' Society Online) has a great blog as well as loads of news on birds around the world. The IBIS journal is really interesting too.

www.britishspiders.org.uk has some freaky photos and interesting spidery news from the British Arachnological Society!

On further posts I may give you more links to other great websites.

Go to this link to see the swan video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5lA5yVbMzA&feature=plcp

Bye for now!