Slow Food

Winter can give many birders the heebie-jeebies; the low-slung sun, hours of darkness and long spells of foul weather can drive us to fervently pray for the advent of spring.

Thankfully, excellent nature documentaries such as last night’s Natural World on BBC2 and clear and calm days like today – when the marsh seems to sink down into the earth and let the tide flow over it - just about provide us with enough bird methadone to last until the arrival of the first Wheatear.

The highlight at Connah’s Quay this morning was watching a pair of Peregrines chasing down a Redshank. I have seen these falcons hunt in tandem before, but never so closely and so systematically. The raptors were taking it in turn to chase the wader, each pursuing it for around thirty seconds before letting the other bird take over. After about nine or ten shifts, the male eventually caught the Redshank and interestingly gave the quarry straight to the female!?

This method of hunting must surely make good sense. Although the reward is halved, the chances of a successful kill must improve by more than double, making it a much more efficacious tactic than hunting alone.

Other birds of note included at least five Spotted Redshank roosting in the creek over towards Flint, and also the same number of Greenshank doing exactly the same over on the bunded pools.

A female Goosander also fished briefly in front of the west hide at high tide. Like an emerging submarine the duck seemed to materialise from nowhere and it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, taking flight and heading south down the River Dee.

Connah’s Quay 4.12.09

Spotted Redshank 5
Greenshank 5
Oystercatcher 1,750
Redshank 300
Black-tailed Godwit 150
Dunlin 150
Curlew 50
Goosander 1 (female)
Wigeon 620
Teal 350
Shelduck 100
Peregrine 2
GC Grebe 5
Bullfinch 1

Until later.