These things weren't foremost in my mind when Our Lass and I went for a short walk this morning. However, that changed as we wandered along a muddy track, across some rough pasture and onto a seaweed-strewn beach.
First up was a female Redstart, at the edge of some willow bushes and frequently flitting down to the ground with a beautiful tail shimmer. Then came a pair of Greenfinches, feeding in a weedy area of Docks and Thistles. And finally, the hoped-for colour match, a Bluethroat hopping through the seaweed, looking for invertebrates, in the company of several pipits.
There were one or two Starlings present as well...
This is just a few of them. It all got rather dramatic when a male Hen Harrier flew by and a huge murmuration suddenly gathered to confuse the predator. There was one unsuccessful 'talons out' lunge towards the Starlings, but it seemed as though the tactic of 'strength in numbers' paid off.
Further along the coast, a battle of a different kind was in full swing, as two species of lichen struggled over ownership of a rock.
Near the Brough of Deerness, Our Lass stood on the clifftop, contemplating the waves, the solitude and what the heck is he doing with his phone?
I was trying out the Panorama function, which didn't result in a fly-on-the-wall documentary exposé of some politician's wrongdoing, but did look like this...
2 comments:
Did you mark (deface) the lichen to see how long it takes to recolonise? I wonder what the pace of the battle is on such a rock and whether one side is winning.. A bit like the to and fro of a game of Risk!
(and up to date on the blog-reading ;) )
The battle line is the leading edge of each colony which, if I understand it correctly, comprises just the fungi, not the algae. I think this is why it is a different colour.
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