I don't know what happened to the covey of Grey Partridges that appeared on the field a few weeks ago. Apparently they tend to stay in one territory but these must have been disturbed from theirs for a short time as they turned up, stayed a couple of days then disappeared again.
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| Grey Partridges |
Never mind ... they might have upset our Red Legged Partridges and I really like these.
One of the good things about blogging is being able to look back. I know the first pair of Red Legs arrived in May 2012 because I wrote about them here. That pair bred successfully so by the end of the year we had five birds. They disperse each Spring and return around October time.
Last winter we had a covey of eight in the field. Over the Spring and Summer only four birds remained ... two pairs who divided the field between themselves and stayed very much in their own halves.
They disappeared altogether for a short time then I was thrilled to see one bird leading four chicks across the newly ploughed earth. Unfortunately the Magpies saw them too. I ran out to the rescue. Poor Magpies!
The numbers have grown to eleven birds this year. It is lovely to see them close to the house: unlike the Pheasants they don't tend to venture into the garden very often.
They have such lovely faces, I think of them a shape shifters. We once spotted one crouched in grass on the plot but when it spotted us it became a totally dfiferent shape as it dashed away.
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