Thursday, December 10, 2020

Responsible Birding Diary: Saturday 5.12.20


In contrast to yesterday, it was a glorious day, today, with wall to wall sunshine. I recorded a few goodies along the Deeping High Bank north and east of Crowland. Over the river (Welland), there were 6 Egyptian Geese on the bank, and behind them the flooding in the fields looked like it could attract something good. It attracted 95 Whooper Swans.

As I was watching the swans, I spotted three large birds flying south-west in the distance, and raised my bins to confirm that they were three Cranes (a brown-headed younger bird and its parents). Eventually, they turned slightly and headed down in the direction of a windfarm you can see miles away, called Wryde Croft, which is just north of the Nene Washes (and a little east of Thorney). So they were heading to where the main population of Cranes hangs out, around here.

Later I took a trip out to Baston Fen and met a couple who had seen presumably the same Curlew I had seen a couple of days ago. I couldn't relocate it. I briefly popped in to check the wader pit at Baston and Langtoft Pits, though I knew the owners of the pits around there had organised a 'shooting party'. Sadly, half a dozen 'guns' were lined up in the divide between the T-junction pit and the pit to its west.

Two Redshanks (at a height of no more than 20 feet) flew over one of the guns, who pointed his shotgun at them and blasted a Redshank out of the sky, plummeting into the waters of the T-junction pit. It was sickening and disgusting to see. I have seen Pheasants, geese and ducks shot before, but nothing prepared me for the horror of witnessing the callous shooting of a Redshank. 'Guardians of the countryside' is what these people who get their kicks maiming and killing call themselves. I call them scum.

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