Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

Dipper by the bridge.

Things are not going too well at the Dipper territory at the moment.  It is a bit frustrating,  I am still not sure if they are using last years nest or if they have another nest somewhere else nearby.  What I do know is that I can't find the new nest if there is one.  This morning just didn't go right at all. I made my way to the hide and sat in there without seeing Dippers on the walk down. This usually means that they are around the hide area, but not today.  After sitting and waiting for a few minutes I came to the conclusion that the pair must be further down stream and I planned to go and sit and watch and then see them carrying to the nest.  I walked another 50 yards and could see a Dipper on a favourite rock which I suspected was the male, this was confirmed when I could hear him singing. I crept close and started to watch him.  I am absolutely certain that he didn't see me but then he flew upstream and past me and then past the hide. I saw this behaviour last year when he flew up and down his territory noticeably patrolling. With the male now well away, I set about searching the bank for the nest, if the female was around I would have seen her but there was no sign of her and I didn't find the nest either. On today's evidence there is asolutely no indication that they are not going to use last years nest, so again fingers crossed.

My frustrations were added to when, as I sat covered in the camo cover that I bought in the US, a very good lightweight piece of cam material by the way, a couple of Goosander drakes appeared literally 15 feet from me. I was looking in the other direction and even the movement of my head under the cover was enough to put them up in to flight. Had I  been in my hide I am sure I would have been able to get great shots, quite disappointing!  To compound the mystery, when I eventually went home, there they were, both birds quite a way upstream. There was a certain amount of displaying between the two which was interesting to watch and the photo that I took is a bit different. Quite an "arty" photo with the back light effect.