Shelducks in the Bay

I walked to Far Arnside in the afternoon to see how the wild daffodils are coming along.  It looks like they are still a week or so from being in full flower.  Instead, I sat down to watch the Bay and the shelducks that were feeding on the exposed mudflats.

They are largely paired up and the males are starting to get territorial, as the two birds chasing each other in this photo show.  The females aren't getting involved, they carry on feeding regardless.  I don't know if there any pairs nesting in the woods immediately next to the Bay, there perhaps aren't enough nesting holes.  It seems like it would be a good place to install some artificial burrows for them, and then the mothers and their goslings would have a straightforward route to the sea with no roads to cross.

I could have stayed another half an hour to watch the sunset when the mudflats and channels would have taken on a different hue, though that would have meant walking part of the way back in the dark.  As it was, on the way back through the woods I saw 5 roe deer.

Back blipped on 6 March