A Day with the Turtles and Martins

23rd June 2021

Time for our annual pilgrimage to see how the Turtle Doves and Sand Martins are getting on. We had hardly stepped out of the cars when we were treated to a dogfight overhead where a Buzzard was being mobbed by a crow. The crows soon learn that provided they keep above or behind the Buzzard they are completely safe.

It was a lovely sunny morning with plenty of Linnets about staking their claim from the tops of bushes.

There were also plenty of Whitethroats on site. The second photo is of a Lesser Whitethroat of which there were a number of pairs but mainly kept out of sight. One of the easiest ways of separating these two warblers is on leg colour.

So now for the Turtle Doves, a species that is in decline and present each year on fewer and fewer sites. They are fairly mobile and therefore difficult to count with any certainty, but I would estimate that there were at least four purring males.

So colourful in flight!

On the sea wall large flocks of Starlings and their young were gathering, whilst on the beach there were a few Herring Gulls and some Oystercatchers.

But the main target today was the Sand Martin colony and it certainly didn't disappoint. I don't do annual counts but was under the impression that this year there were a lot more birds present than normal which is always good news.

There was a lot of activity around the nest holes with plenty of young birds peering out at their new world. I wonder what is going through their mind?

A few birds were collecting nest material, although I am not sure whether they are late breeders or getting ready for a second brood.

Sand Martin colonies also give you the opportunity to enhance your flight shot skills and it really is good fun.

I call this shot "out of the blue".

I even managed to get a couple of shots of birds carrying nest material.

Well that's it for another year, absolutely fantastic. Let us hope both the Turtle Doves and Sand Martins continue to thrive.