Cross bills

I couldn't resist any longer going to see the avocets that are back in the brackish pools at Leighton Moss.  They are feisty birds, and they need to be when they are surrounded by breeding gulls.  Here there are two pairs having an altercation.  The third bird from the left has just swept round to avoid the bill of the second one.  When not interacting, they were feeding in pairs, swishing their bills through the water and upending like dabbling ducks in deeper water.  

The emblem of the RSPB is the avocet, and the species has been one of the great conservation success stories for the Society.  They were extinct in the UK until the Second World War, they returned to breed on land that was flooded for military purposes, and careful management since has seen them spread widely round the  east and west English coasts.  They have specialised requirements for feeding and nesting which can be relatively simply provided - shallow saline lagoons rich in shrimps and other invertebrates.

This afternoon visit rounded off a good day.  In the morning I joined C's Qigong Zoom workshop which was particularly calming and enervating at the same time.  Then after lunch it was back to the allotment, getting it ready for the garlic to be planted tomorrow if all goes to plan.