Reservoir Success
Following on from last weeks blog on moorland reservoirs this week we highlight one of its success stories.
The Little Ringed Plover is one of our rarest breeding birds and I have to obtain a special Permit to go anywhere near their nest. Four eggs are laid on the gravel bed of a moorland reservoir so if the water levels are high they are unable to breed. This years drought was perfect for them and they had one of their best seasons for a long time. www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
This weeks photo is of Watergrove reservoir which is typical of the dozens of reservoirs that I have filmed at over the last fifty years. In the early years you would never find Great Crested Grebes breeding at the reservoir but all that has changed. They are just as happy now to anchor their nest to a floating Willow as they would be breeding in a Cheshire reed-bed.So always check the Willows on a moorland reservoir and you may find the stunning Great Crested Grebe. www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
This weeks photo of a sunset over our local canal is one of the typical Autumn evenings that we have had recently.Special local birds like Green Woodpecker and Barn Owls have all fledged young this summer and now is the time when they have to go their own way.Lets hope that many of them will make it to next year.
On the 11th October I found my first Winter visitors in the form of 3 Jack Snipe feeding in a local bog. Ironically, without the help of an east wind, these birds had arrived only one day later than they did last year! Migration is amazing when you think that these tiny Snipe had left a bog in Lapland to spend winter in a Lancashire bog and their timing was only one day different. The odds are that these are the very same birds that made the journey there and back last year. www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
Autumn is the time of year to arise early and go in search of early morning mists. These will highlight the overnight work of the Orb Spiders.You need a touch of dew to highlight the hundreds of webs in the moorland grasses. So far this Autumn we have had a couple of perfect mornings to go Spider hunting. www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
Every year the Elderberry is the first of our trees to produce mature berries. These seldom last long as there are always Wood Pigeons and their young awaiting the Autumn feast. There are more photos on my Facebook page of the many Wood Pigeons and their juveniles that cleared our tree in only a matter of days.