Six Species

Two of four passage Ring Ousels in wet pasture up here on the coast last week. All very fine males. In fact there were six species of thrush in the same field … but my word were they flighty!

A slug of chemical

Friend Bob and I were musing over the identity of a crop. We do this from time to time when we can’t identify what’s being grown. We show an interest in land use. It may not be our land but it’s our environment.

Bob asked the farmhand on the tractor. He was told it was a mulching crop. It was grown prior to the planting of Sugar Beet, spayed off to kill it and then the Sugar Beet was planted through it. This then apparently negated the need for the use of slug pellets! … WHAT?

I didn’t know slug pellets were used on an industrial scale… did you? I investigated and they sure are. I stopped using these things in the garden in the 1970’s when their threat to wildlife was highlighted.

It’s easy to subjectively attribute blame and say no bloody wonder the Hedgehog population has declined by 40% in the last 10 years and there has been a 70% decline on farmland of Song Thrushes between 1970 and 1995… but it does make you think … doesn’t it?

Problems do come from pumping chemicals into the environment; anyone that lived through the DDT era will know that. Even today I read that in the USA, in California the government are spraying Silver Iodide into the atmosphere to seed cloud formation and induce rain. Much needed rain within a drought stricken area; but at what cost?

The problem is when the environment is disrupted; when natures balance is affected, when things are done on an industrial scale for industrial sized human populations the solving of one problem quite often leads to another. We must try hard to work with nature and not against her.

Hidden Migrant

We were searching for Shorelark and Snow Bunting the other week when we stumbled upon a late migrant. Among the marram grass in the dunes was this Song Thrush. It sat tight after being discovered and readjusted itself to go a little deeper into hiding when it saw us. We left it well alone to recover from its mammoth journey over the North Sea.

More Snow

As I woke on Monday morning another snowfall overnight had left a good 6 inches of the white stuff for us all to negotiate. For all of us in heated homes and vehicles it’s easy to cope with winter but our wildlife is now finding it hard. I urge you to put out a little fruit, nuts, seed, fat and warm water for our feathered friends and others. They need a little help at the moment.

Walking around the hill here at the beginning of the week a Song Thrush came down and inspected my footprints where I’d exposed the grass underneath the snow. He was desperate to find food.

Dutch invaders

The easterly winds coupled with sub-zero temperatures over Europe, has prompted a cold weather movement from the continent. The Norfolk coast is rife with Song Thrushes, Woodcock and Smew; no doubt all from Holland. Another invader from the Netherlands are Goosanders.

We stumbled upon a notable flock of 24 yesterday on a small boating lake. They were engaged in a feeding frenzy. At first I thought they were feeding on some sort of crustacean amid weed in the lake but photographs show they were pulling out small fish. I can’t ever remember seeing a larger winter flock.

Breakfast Bounty

As I opened the door yesterday the sky was a deep lead grey and it was wet; very wet, and quite dark. Rain was pouring down but as I stood looking outside contemplating the route of my morning walk I noticed the ivy bush opposite was bearing heavy with black berries swollen with the moisture. I wasn’t the only one to notice.

As I stood there a regular procession of thrushes came to take advantage of the bounty; mainly Blackbirds but among them the odd Redwing. From within the bush came a Song Thrush; not common here on the hill. Her apricot speckled breast added a little brightness to the dull of the morning.