Sunday, 5 July 2015

5th of July: Fighting chicks

This week on Blakeney Point, Ranger Sarah captured this video of two Oystercatcher chicks fighting on the beach. This could either be play fighting or competition for food.

Other slightly unexpected discoveries included this barley growing on Far Point. Presumably the seed had been transported by a gull and somehow managed to germinate in the shingle. This, combined with a domestic farmyard duck nesting on the tip, makes for a disturbingly farm-like atmosphere on a spit of land as close to wilderness as you can get in Britain, showing that no area of land is completely un-influenced by man!
Barley growing on Far Point

...If it spreads, we could brew our own Blakeney beer!

Bird sightings this week have included migrating Swifts, Herons, Mute Swans and Curlews, plus regular Spoonbills, a pair of Stock Doves and a couple of Roseate Terns over.

Butterflies have included several Red Admirals, Painted Ladies and Whites arriving in off the sea, plus the first Graylings and Dark Green Fritillary of the year.

Today we found three flowering Pyramidal Orchid spikes in the dunes. Orchids are a rarity on Blakeney Point and a true joy to discover.
Pyramidal Orchids (Harry Mitchell)
 
 - Ajay

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