You've Got to Love a Shrike & a Crabbing Gull!

Last month I popped up to Titchwell when migration was in full swing pretending to be a serious birder!
The main reason for heading that way was the Steppe Grey Shrike at Burnham Norton. Having been rather impressed by the Red-Back at Winterton I thought I would check this bird out too. It was all bit grey that morning, including the bird, but fortunately these shrikes don't mind having an audience while they go about their business of trying to work out why the sat-nav brought them to Norfolk.
Two very average pictures for you to decide which shrike is best!
Red-Backed Shrike, Winterton late Aug 2014
Steppe Grey Shrike, Burnham Norton Oct 2014
Don't let me influence you but my vote goes to the red back, and not just because it has caught a wasp, its simply a really smart looking bird.
Well, once the fret really rolled in, and along with it another load of lenses and tripods, I thought I'd nip up the road to RSPB Titchwell to see what treasures I could find there. You know, a cuppa and cake whilst the mists lifted! It didn't take long and I was soon treated to some lovely sunshine in which the gathering Golden Plover glittered and danced in a bright blue sky - I gave them a Strictly 10!
However, the real reason for a first load of 'Spinkyblurb' is this;
I watched this Herring Gull for several minutes as it worked the saltmarsh for crab and here is its crabby photo story that I wanted to share:
First they waved at each other!
Then the crab tries sumo gestures, it doesn't want to be sushi!
The gull picks off a leg but the crab fights on waving its pincers...
...to no avail!
The crab chucking technique was method of choice for leg removal
Nips off a pincer...
...and breaks in to the carapace.
Once it was all eaten it was time to wash off the mud....
...and start looking for the next one!
It was a fascinating few minutes that most people seemed to be overlooking, but I love watching the detail in the way the wild gets on with life. Plus, the light was just lovely for some photography and quite frankly, who wouldn't want to eat a tasty Norfolk crab.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nature Notes during COVID19 - the forgotten pictures!

Image
I can't believe I forgot to post the rest of the pictures from my daily Nature Notes collection of 2020. See my previous blog post. Anyway they are here now, plus the bonus Advent Nature Notes in the lead up to lockdown Christmas 2020. Better late then never! They start with the tail end of #30DaysWild. After #30DaysWild and lockdown started to lift, I only posted notes at the weekend, unless something remarkable occurred such as 'Flying Ant Day'. At the end of summer, after Hen Harrier Day, I started to post notes about the changing seasons through the autumn lockdown. Instead of an advent calendar l decided to do Advent Nature Notes, with a Christmassy theme. And following Advent we had the Twelve Days of Christmas Nature Notes. I continue to occasionally post some nature messages in the window, but my COVID19 Lockdown Nature Notes have ended, if only it was this easy to end the pandemic and focus on healing the planet. Please do your bit to help nature's recovery and
Read more

Determined Lapwing & A Wild Goose Chase!

Image
Peewit, Lapwing, Green Plover, Vanellus vanellus , whatever you call them, they're in big population decline here in the UK. I'm a scientist, so here's a graph showing the data from BTO that proves it (y axis is a smoothed population index & green indicates 85% confidence limits).  Adult Lapwing showing off gorgeous feather colours & a jaunty crest. Origins of the Lapwing name hail from Middle English lappewinke and lapwyngis , and back even earlier to the Old English  hleapewince , all of which mean 'leap' and 'wince' or 'waver, move rapidly'. It's descriptive, as the Lapwing appear to make a big leap  when they take to the air, and when on the ground they scuttle about quite rapidly. In that respect I'd hardly call them wavering, as I shall highlight below. However, when they're foraging they pause to listen, and patter on the mud using a foot, which increases their success rate in finding and catching invertebrates.
Read more

Why Blue Tits are like Snowboarders & the Brilliant Thing about Gardens in Winter.

Image
The days are short in January and leaves very little time for birding during the working week, but its not all gloom and doom because there's a lot going on if you just take a few minutes to look out of the window. Winter is a great time for watching birds, not only for the big spectacles out on the marshes be they salt or grazing marshes, but also for those birds that get driven by hunger into your garden at this time of year. Chris Packham described it as the "hunger gap" which starts in late January, early February and is when the birds are finding it more difficult to source a good meal in the 'wilds' beyond the garden boundaries. All sorts of species start to sneak in if you put out some treats and wait, some in quite large numbers. I had twenty-four Blackbirds, just like the nursery rhyme, in my tiny garden all at one time last February. There's a Blackcap back in my garden at the moment. Could it be the same one as last year, I like to think so. His M
Read more