Avian highlights today included 12 Green Sandpipers, 2 Little Ringed Plover and 15 Curlew from the hide at Castle Water, a Red Kite and Spoonbill were also reported. At Ternery Pool the breeding pairs of Shelduck have now formed a creche, one pair have all the work to do now, but at least they are big enough to be off the menu for the larger gulls.
Shelduck pair with a creche of 31 chicks. Read the rest of this entry »
The pair of purple herons that started nesting on the reserve in early May, are believed to have bred successfully, with increased activity around the nest.
We are seeing more frequent changeovers at the nest, one bird returning from a feeding foray at regular intervals, presumably to deliver food to the awaiting chicks. As this bird approaches the nest often with head and chin feathers raised, its partner normally rises from the nest, after a short greeting ceremony that involves much calling from within the reedbed and departs to nearby marshland.
It is the first time ever that the UK has hosted a breeding pair of purple herons and we set up a round-the-clock Species Protection Scheme to give the birds as good a chance of breeding as possible. It seems to have paid off with the pair at Dungeness looking set to be the first to successfully breed in the UK.
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