Saturday, December 21, 2024
December 18th 2024, Northern circuit as far as Lapwing and returning via Merganser, then the Holly walk to Tern Hide. 14.10hrs to 15.45hrs
Rain interfered with my route but large numbers of wildfowl was a joy to see. Pintail appeared to be the majority species and after counting them in Merganser Hide 'bay' I would guess numbers on the east side of Ibsley Water probably topped 500 birds at least. From Merganser Hide I also noted 6 Mergansers – 5 males and 1 female. On the footpath at around W3W 'curated.ketchup.regaining' I was literally accosted by a young Fallow buck. He came very close and pulled the corner of my jacket towards him. With that I told him to 'sod off' while grabbing an antler and pushing him away. As I walked off he followed but lost interest as I speeded up. I would be concerned that this sort of behaviour could be intimidating to young children. Just a thought. Nothing to report from Tern Hide as visibility was getting worse.
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Thanks for posting Nigel. It is a little concerning how the fallow deer on the reserve seem to have lost their fear of humans and actually approach people sometimes! Good numbers of Pintail by the sound of it. Much less around yesterday but numbers do fluctuate hugely. I expect you saw Goosander as opposed to Merganser, from Goosander hide 😉
ReplyDeleteProbably not helped by the deer being fed in the field to the left of the cattle grid up near the Wildlife Rescue Service. They gather around the people bringing out the feed and there never seems to be any attempt to shoo them away.
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