RATTY'S RIPPLES

The bright red berries of the guelder rose bush provided a little bit of colour to the walk around the country park on 24th December. Any bush with any sort of berries, has been paid a visit by the birds in recent weeks. However the glistening and sticky guelder rose berries are not the most popular food source and normally end up withering on the stalks.
Various thrushes have been feeding on many berries along the hedgerows and today a couple of song thrushes were noted amongst the blackbirds.

At the park pond there was the regular group of ducks with mallard, teal, gadwall, shoveler, wigeon, along with one tufted duck. A lot of the ducks were gathered near the back of the pond and seemed vaguely concerned at something. The noisiest bird was a water rail calling out anxiously with lots of "kip" calls. However its concern was suddenly appreciated when a female sparrowhawk flew out of a nearby tree.

Along the borrowdyke, ripples could be seen spreading out over the calm water. When I scanned the opposite bank, the dark brown outline of a water vole was seen swimming along the edge of the muddy bank. Ratty's little snout and eyes held just above the water, it paddled swiftly along the edge, checking out many of the small holes and burrows close to the water surface. It's always nice to see one of these increasingly scarce mammals, although the views of them here never seem to be long enough.

Even with relatively calm conditions, there were still waves breaking gently onto the mud as the tide went out in the afternoon.

Ten sanderling were still close to the beach with some turnstones, while some of the bigger flocks of waders included the 300 knot and 500 golden plover near the Point. Also here were 100 shelduck bobbing in the sheltered water, waiting for more of the mud to show.