Saturday 7 July 2012

Somerset Black-winged Stilts

This post comes with apologies to the Plymouth Birder whose bete (blanc et) noire is BWS - sorry I really couldn't say anything at the time.....

You may remember my post about the flooding on my Somerset patch. It was quite an unhappy post and this may explain some of that unhappiness. In the preceding week, I was working in my office when the phone rang. It was the RSPB (thanks for the call!) asking whether I knew what was going on on Currymoor. I set off on a little tirade about the flooding but was stopped to be told that a pair of Black-winged Stilts were nesting behind my mothers house............ I got itchy over the next couple of days and decided it was time to visit my mother!

Unfortunately, the Stilts had abandoned the day before I went (press release from SOS) and were unlikely to have been successful anyway given the state of the moor.

For posterity, some "record shots" that I probably won't be entering into Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Also a second patch tick in the same scope view - Garganey

If anyone is mad enough to want any copies of the photos for posterity, please contact me (via billington lab page>contacts). Free of charge - it would be morally wrong to ask for money for photos of this quality!!! I'll even touch them up a bit for free!




1 comment:

  1. Awful news about the original flooding at the site and a shame the nesting attempt failed but what a great bird to have behind your Mums house! One day I will see a BWS in the UK, maybe in better circumstances?

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