The end of February saw some very changeable weather with heavy rain causing the river to rise -nearly overtopping its banks:
Monday 27th February 2017 - the Arun very fast flowing through
the wintery landscape, water levels rising. A timely event reminding birds to choose higher banks when nest-building.
Fortunately the nests already started further along the banks were not flooded. With winter unwilling to make way for spring this year, birds have not started building too early. On 28th February, great-spotted woodpeckers were heard drumming and nuthatches calling. Work started on the removal of an old Ash tree from the river where it had fallen after the trunk split last year. Whilst the EA worked, many birds flew in to investigate - robins, wrens, blue and great tits, chaffinches and blackbirds - none put off by the noise.
The disturbance produced a feast of invertebrates emerging from the rotten split branches and the churned-up earth.
On Thursday 2nd March work continued, whilst bird activity increased - great-spotted woodpeckers calling rather than drumming today, great tits now also calling loudly, foraging with the quieter blue tits, louder than the calling and singing chaffinches and singing robins. On the nearby field, about thirty black-headed gulls were foraging in the company of a few fieldfare and along the riverside several blackbirds, two songthrushes, six redwing and five fieldfare all foraged together on the grass, with goldfinches singing in the blackthorn and wrens and dunnocks singing on the banks.
Further rain on 3rd March caused the river levels to rise again, whilst the EA worked on clearing some debris not far downstream. This again attracted a good number of birds which flew down to investigate, then feast.
The sun catches the first Willow catkins on an old riverbank tree - 2nd March 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment