Miscellany from Lackford Lakes

We called at Lackford Lakes on our way back from Norfolk and enjoyed watching a Little Grebe catch and eat several fish. Lots of Lapwing and Snipe but the only close birds were a Robin and Cormorant. Interesting fungi - Stalkball and birds Nest Fungus. 

Rye Meads RSPB Reserve Waders and Gulls

After the heavy morning rain, it started to clear in the afternoon with beautiful lighting to show off the Lapwings and Black-headed Gulls displays - even a rainbow as a backdrop. Bit distant but good to see Green Sandpiper and Snipe (from Draper Hide)

 

Welney Wildfowl Trust: Waders and Ducks

Since last Monday around 2000 Whooper Swans have arrived at Welney along with a large number of Widgeon.  Not seen Welney so busy!! Great to photograph flocks of Black-tailed Godwits, Gadwall, Golden Plover, Starlings, Oyster Catchers and Widgeon. Not many Pochard there as yet.

 

Lapwing Monocular Vision

I took a trip to Fen Drayton pits yesterday to see what was about - not much! I did spend a bit of time photographing a pair of Lapwings and got intrigued by the placement of the eyes - they can obviously see directly behind as well as in front. I then wondered what the world looks like to them and looked up on the web.

 Certain birds including snipe and some other waders have 360 degree horizontal vision and 180 degree verticelly so can detect a potential danger immediately. Their vision is monocular and so they have a harder time judging distances. Birds like raptors have their eyes placed far to the front giving them binocular vision as ours. These birds may have a 180 degree field of overall vision with much of that binocular. They have much sharper vision to the front than their monocular cousins.

The structure of a bird's eye is similar to humans but most birds' eyes are flatter than human eyes. This flatness allows birds to have a larger area in focus at one time while we focus one smaller area at a time. Cones allow the brain to perceive colours. A human may have 10,000 cones per square millimeter while some birds may have up to 120,000 per square millimeter! Birds who forage and feed in the daylight see colours very clearly from far off. In particular, they can distinguish greenish colours much better than we can. In addition, most birds have a UV sensivity with a maximum around 370 nm. This ability allows them for example a better detection of fruits or rodents (scent marks) and a better differentiation of plumage patterns.

Other Images from Pensthorpe

Great to see a hare fairly close from the woodland hide. The holly in the background is a bit distracting but he didn't want to pose anywhere else. The Lapwing and Redshank were having a constant fight for territory.