Birds are making most of drought
WE are just out of the drought and many lakes and reservoirs are at their lowest level for years.
Our wetland nature reserves are seriously dry in places – mosslands are parched where we try to keep them nice and damp.
So how is nature coping?
Well I was wandering around a reservoir next to a reserve and I could see the bottom, which is normally under quite a few metres of water.
I noticed a ‘peeping’ first.
Loud and increasing as I made my way along the path at the top of the banking.
Then louder and louder as I stumbled down the banking to the reservoir floor. So I knew they were oystercatchers before I actually saw them.
A couple were standing by the side of the water looking for food in the mud. Others were flapping around, taking off and landing a couple of yards further on.
Then I saw at least one bird nesting on the dried reservoir floor.
A perfect spot to keep an eye out for predators or Wildlife Trusts officers.
The oystercatchers were looking for invertebrates and shellfish on the bed of the man-made lake.
They are finding access to freshwater mussels in many areas, shellfish that have managed to avoid wading birds by living in deeper water... until that water vanishes.
We are seeing more and more oystercatchers in inland lakes and rivers, which is great news as this beautiful bird is classed as ‘near threatened’ globally. Oystercatchers are fairly big wading birds, with a wingspan of nearly a metre.
When those wings are out you will see a wonderful black and white zig-zag pattern, unlike any other inland birds.
The most obvious way to recognise an oystercatcher is its long, red bill, which it uses to dig into the sand and mud around lakes and estuaries.
Its bill stands out even more because of its black head.
Its body is pied, or black and white and it wears pink stockings.
That’s what it looks like, but it actually has pink legs.
In summer we generally see our own native oystercatchers but they will increase in number in winter when they are joined by their cousins from Norway and Iceland.
During stormy winter days at Heysham Harbour you can often see hundreds of oystercatchers huddled together.
In fact, I saw more than 50 last winter close to St Annes Pier and it is an awesome sight.
There are 12 species of oystercatcher in the world, all of which look very similar, being either pied or plain black, with a red bill and pink legs.
A further species of oystercatcher became extinct in the 20th century so we need to take care of these brilliant birds by providing habitat.
Obviously they will take care of themselves, as proved by the reservoir dwellers, in extreme weather, but we can do our bit.
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