Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

My life had a little lift this morning……I found an active  Dipper nest!  Two years ago I had watched a pair of nesting Dipper, daily  for 7 weeks and really learnt  about this species.  I wouldnt call myself an expert on Dippers but based on my own studies of the species I am quite ofay with their breeding behaviour.

Dave Stone came to see me this morning, as we chatted, he was telling me that, in spite of having 149 species on his 2014 Devon list, Dipper had eluded him so far.  I was quite sure that I could find him one with very little trouble. I rose to the challenge and took him out to a spot on the River Teign where, if I hadn't seen one, I would have been shocked, such was my confidence. We parked the car and made our way to the water and within 30 seconds I saw one.  It was flying with a mouthful of beach leaves so, as well as seeing one, I also knew it had a nest very nearby.  They use the leaves to finally line their nest by the way.   We sat down qietly and then saw it disappear in to its obvious nest.  That was great to see.  Two years ago when the Dipper nest that I had been watching was washed out and the chicks drowned, I had been upset and very disappointed.  So to find a nest again this year was very satisfying.  This nest has been chosen in a spot that is at least 15 feet above the water line so it's not going to be washed out this year and thats for sure.  The photo opportunities are going to be endless and I am already planning a strategy.

I have taken perhaps a thousand photos of Dipper and the photos today do not rank even in the best 500 that I have taken but its the first few of what will be many in the coming weeks and I look forward to keeping you updated as nature takes it's course.  Above, one of the pair, the female I think, arrives at the nest with some leaves to line the nest.

…… and then here, the male is opposite the nest with material before he flies up to the nest where construction is underway.  Its very hard to get good images of Dipper because the pattern of white breat and other dark plumage is difficult to deal with.

In the next shot, the male flies over the river towards the nest site.  Keep checking back on the blog over the next few weeks and I am sure there will be many many more photos and most a lot better than these hopefully.