Wern Wonders

Morning walks around the Wern this week have been pretty exciting. On Monday, a pair of curlews were feeding in a laneside meadow, and we live in hope that they might breed again on the Wern one day, as they did many, many years ago. A female goosander flew overhead in wide circles, although it was impossible to see where she finally landed. Perhaps she is one of a pair we were seeing regularly on the canal earlier in the year, and maybe she too might breed in the area. A recently cultivated field was feeding ground for 2 peewits and rather surprisingly, a male wheatear. By Wednesday, there were 6 wheatears feeding in the same field, and at least 8 lapwing. But today, this morning, as well as around 10 peewits, and about 8 wheatears, there was a singing skylark and a yellow wagtail! As I arrived home to tell Steve the good news, a phone call from Tom Richards informed us there were 3 yellow wagtails on the Wern! So of course, we had to go and see......... and there they were, in the same field, along with a yellowhammer, several pied wags, 8 or more wheatears, a curlew and plenty of peewits, including a particularly pale one which was so well camouflaged on the dusty field that it could barely be seen. What a morning - and all testament to the fact that the right habitat works wonders. It will be interesting to see what has been sown here, and how the land is managed.
Apologies for the quality of the photos, but the field was large and the birds were probably about 100 yards away.