Magpie Building nest

Paxton Pits Nature Reserve 07-Mar-2013 Diddington

Spring is Springing.

The first week of March is now out of the way, and what a wonderful week for me personally, walking around my favourite place. Of course, that has to be Paxton Pits Nature Reserve.

Snowdrops

They have been in bloom for a couple of weeks now, but they do look stunning and certainly do brighten up the area. Daffodil shoots can be seen, so it will not belong before they appear into bloom too. I have always associated the Daffodil with Mothers day. Maybe it is something I have been told at a younger age, or just something I read somewhere.

Sailing Lake

Now here is where I have managed to film some beautiful birds, that to be honest, I have either never seen, or they are always difficult to get into focus before they move around or fly off into the distance. The work party have cut the grass down on the islands and already, we are seeing the benefits of that. Many gulls, and not just black headed gulls, are already checking it out. The noise is awesome.

Brent Geese on sailing lake

Here is a beauty that I have never seen before on the reserve in all my years walking around there. They are the Brent Geese. I know of at least three types, the Pale bellied, the black and these, which are the dark bellied Brent Goose. Smaller than other black geese and shorter, thicker neck, with that little white collar made identification easier and of course the big screen I use when looking at my videos and photos.

Lapwings

They used to be known as Pee-wits from the call they make, but always a delight to see these beauties. They are in massive decline, and I am just glad that they are at the reserve and hopefully will nest again here this year. Look at the size of them, They grow up to 30cm which is small when you look at the size of the Rook on the right of them, which grows to around 45cm. Beautiful little things you have to agree.

Oystercatcher

From the distance, when they are laid down, I sometimes mix them up with the Lapwing, but once you see that large orange bill, there is no mistaking the Oystercatcher. It uses that bill to dig deep into the ground in search of food. It is also larger than the lapwing, it grows to around 43cm

I was lucky enough to see three of them on the sailing lake this week.

Lesser Redpolls

These are usually very difficult for me to film as they are fast little movers and usually found high up in the Alder trees. This year, they have descended onto the Nyger seed feeders in the Visitor Centre garden. There were at least 14 of them yesterday knocking each other off the feeders. not one looked the same to me as they flew in and out and on and off the feeders. These have no pink on them, so they are either females, or young adults.

Male and Female together on the nyger seed feeder. Not for long though as like I said, they keep knocking each other off. You can clearly see the Pink breast of the male. Stunning little birds.

Paxton Pits Nature Reserve Feb 2013