Railing against the weather
I chose Thursday as my day off because on Monday that was
when the cold easterlies were due in. Thursday arrived after 32hrs of constant
rain and counting. No problem let’s try for the Water Rail, ideal conditions,
there must be flocks. Shoulder of Mutton has become Torso of Mutton (do sheep
have a torso?) so the water edge comes to meet you. After the first hour in the
drizzle I was half way there, lots of aquaticus but no rallus. I had heard that
surveying for Water Rails was best done at night as they are more likely to
respond, but respond to what? I had downloaded Water Rail song
(!), call and their sharming. Sharming is the raucous shrieking noise made when
two Water Rails meet or dispute a feeding area, apparently. I tried all three -
nothing. I wandered slowly and damply all
around ToM as close to the water as possible and returned to stand by the bramble patch
in the SE. Standing six inches in I heard what sounded like a Water Rail call,
but a bit high pitched. I retaliated with my phone's call to get an instant
sharming “whark, whark, whark” from within
the brambles. Gotcha! Stood around for
another ten minutes, not even a glimpse. One short of my end of Jan target, it's stopped raining though, shall I go out for Tawny Owl?
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