It's been weeks since I ventured forth properly to visit a few local sites due to one reason or another. So yesterday one's arse decided to take a visit to Station burn , a section of the Don which the DWT have had a lot of involvement with over the years and a local stamping ground for a year or two. ;-).
The two above shots of 'Ratty' do not do justice of the experience had on this visit here- Spotted this Water vole swimming across the Don and then lost sight of it.Moved into a area that isn't normally accessible during the summer months and sat and waited. Within 5 minutes the vole was picked up feeding on the grass...( loads of vegetation etc. between us). After about 10 minutes of watching this mammal feeding it moved off into the Don's water, I lost sight of the vole briefly at this stage. It then surfaced again, climbing up a man-made bit of rubbish wrapped around a pipeline ..It then swam towards me before doing the usual 'plop' and disappearing under water...within 4 feet away.
Frog love in the area.
'Older otter sign'
Also today I caught up with the Water rail briefly reported first by Sid Gibson. Only the second time I've seen a one here!
This shot show's a Kit breeding on a ledge at Readheads landing last year. One of the adults has returned again this year to the same ledge despite all the work going off here.
Good to see Ratty so close to the centre of a large town. I can happily sit and watch them for hours - a pleasure that I have not had for a long time.
ReplyDeleteThe Don has been a 'stronghold' in our area for years thankfully Andrew.
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