Bird News: Ibsley Water - black tern the adult still at least in the morning, ruff 1 juv, knot 1, dunlin 2, ringed plover 1 juv, common sandpiper 1, black-necked grebe 1, sand martin c1200, house martin c500, swallow c200, wigeon 9.
Ivy Lake - green sandpiper 2, water rail 1, wigeon 10.
Not much change in the birds of late, although this does mean there is a good range of species. The high numbers of martins have really been a feature of this autumn and they continue to swarm over Ibsley Water, strictly the sand martins and swallows are over the lake and the house martins over the trees beside the lake. When I opened the Ivy North hide I was greeted by one of those scenes you sometimes see of "Birds you can see from here" an assemblage that you never actually seem to see, but today I did. Just below the hide 2 green sandpiper were feeding with a kingfisher perched on a reed mace stem just above them, when a water rail ran out and stopped briefly beside the sandpipers.
Less appealing, at least to most, was the very fine slug I found crossing the path to the Ivy South hide, it was the common slug Arion ater.
We were working beside Ivy Lake again today, clearing yet more of the willows that have invaded the shallows, this will be the last session as tomorrow I am getting the stumps dug out, just in time as the lake level is rising as the water pumped out slowly returns from Blashford Lake. The pictures show before we started this morning.
Followed by the view at the end of the day, it is wonderful what five volunteers and me and my chainsaw can do in a day. In fact we cleared so far that I could not get it all in shot, but you get the idea. Hopefully the reeds will spread back into the cleared area over the next few years to give us a valuable new area of habitat.
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