As we walked back from the Village Hall recently, we saw a
very large egg partly hidden in the grass by the entrance to the church. There was no sign of any nesting activity,
and no sign of any large birds anywhere.
The most likely parent is a greylag goose. These have been seen flying over the area,
and the distinctive thing about their eggs is that they are white when laid but
gradually become stained as they age.
This egg was mostly white with some staining and has become more stained
since we first saw it. One theory is
that geese could jettison their egg in flight for some reason, perhaps because
the bird was ill or injured, or maybe just exhausted. Apparently, the population of greylag geese
in the south-east don’t migrate and are resident throughout the year, but it is
possible that it could be from a bird that was returning from its Mediterranean
wintering ground to more northerly breeding grounds in say Scotland. I guess that it’s a mystery that will never
be solved, the only certainty is that sadly, this particular egg won’t be
hatched.
I was delighted to see a red kite fly over the garden in the
last day or two (mid-May), not least because it gave me a break from digging
the garden as it meandered slowly past.
They are magnificent birds and the reintroduction of red kites to the UK
has been very successful. Starting in
1989, young birds were introduced, mostly from Spain, to the Chilterns and to
Northern Scotland over a five year period.
Since then there have been several more reintroductions in the Midlands
and in Northern England. Though red
kites are now seen regularly throughout the UK, the one that I saw may not have
been from a reintroduced population, it could equally well have been a migrant
from northern Europe which also has a thriving population of red kites. Though they are raptors and will take live
prey if they get the chance, they are mainly scavengers taking carrion and any
other scraps they can find.
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| Barn Owl (Not the local one, this was seen in Norfolk) |
Last year we saw a barn owl carrying prey over to a nest on
the far side of the field at the back of the house, and eventually saw one
fluffy fledgling sat out on a branch of the tree. A couple of weeks ago, we saw the barn owl
again (or maybe another one) carrying prey in the opposite direction towards
Pannel Valley. No doubt it has a young
family to feed somewhere in that direction.
The breeding season is certainly in full swing at the moment and we have
seen blackbird and sparrow parents feeding their chicks in the garden. The sparrows have re-used the artificial
house martin nest box I put up a couple of years ago, that has never been used
by the martins. The martins seem to
prefer to refurbish their old mud nests, which they are doing at both the front
and the back of the house. The swallows
seem to be investigating the carport for nesting, but it always takes them a
long time to settle and start nest building.
As in previous years, there are three swallows involved. We assume that this is a male, a female, and
one of last year’s juveniles. There
seems to be no squabbling as between two rival males and so the third bird is
probably a family member. We also assume
that it is the same pair that return each year, but that is unlikely as most
swallows only survive for about four years, though some have been recorded up
to eleven years old.
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| Swallow chicks from 2012 |
