Pond Dipping

One of the delights when watching wildlife is making new discoveries. Last night when out trying to film the return of the toads and frogs to their breeding ponds, I rediscovered something that I already knew. That water is wet, and the muddy slippy. I did this by empirical experimentation, namely by slipping in the mad and falling in the pond. Now had I bothered to read up on the subject, I would probably have discovered that there are whole tomes written on the subject, but there is nothing like experience in it for real to verify the experiment.

I had gone out with the intention of trying to film whatever was about, and I had seen movement it was while trying to investigate that, but I made my discovery. I then had a rather squelchy soggy walk home, while at least I know what hot baths were invented for, a foolish wood mouse!

The reason for telling you have this incident, all self inflicted, was to explain why I was not out as intended today. In fact today has been a rather lazy day for me, while I have been playing with the computer, trying to learn how to use some of the software; I decided to have a self indulgent day. Had there not happened, I would not have realized that there was a radio drama, an adaptation of a book that I wanted to listen to. With a hot cup of coffee in my hand and a warm cat in my lap I settled down to hear the drama.

Nearing the end and watching the clouds float by; I could see a number of birds in the air in the distance. Because of the size and shape of a silhouettes I could say he I assumed that these were gulls. In the winter here gulls move inland to find food and avoid the storms at sea. And seeing a flock of gulls Wheeling overhead in the distance is not that uncommon.

However when the drama had finished I got my binoculars and looked to see what the birds were. The fist I saw was a Gull, a Herring gull, but I also spotted the russet colours and forked tail of a red Kite. Now I am always delighted to see a Kite, but I was concerned as this bird was getting seriously mobbed by the Ravens that were with the Gulls. However as scanned the flock through the binoculars I realised that there was not just one Red kite but seven of them. Now I have no idea if it was food that had drawn them together, or if this was breeding display behaviour, but seeing seven of them together is rare even here in Red Kite country.

I just watched the birds as they were far too distant to film. However seeing this reminded me that I wanted to listen to the recordings of bird songs/calls as last night I had heard something that had me a bit puzzled. I had heard a raptor call near the ponds. It was very close by, and I thought it was a sparrow hawk. Now while I know that they will take frogs, I was not sure about them feeding off Toads, as they can be distasteful. However, I was surprised, if it was as it meant the bird had been flying and hunting at night.

Well, I had heard what sounded like a Sparrow Hawk. Therefore, is it that the hawk was hunting for toads when abundant? I just don’t know. I have not seen or heard of them hunting at night before. So as well as learning that Water is wet, and that mud is slippy, have I learnt something else new?