Welney May days

It's been a glorious few days on Lady Fen. Eight Ringed Plovers skimmed onto a pool one evening, and joined the Redshank and other waders feeding there. Everywhere the warm air is filled with the raucousness of Black-headed Gulls- an almost constant cacophony of bad-neighbourliness and skullduggery. The Lapwings, of all the waders, are best equipped to fend off the gulls- by sheer numbers and aggressive defence they kreen upwards and dive at any intruder, spatulate-winged sirens of the marsh.

Around the perimeter, Corn Buntings, Yellow Wagtails and Meadow Pipits scurry along the track, or perch up on the fence. Most of them are nesting among the wheat fields that wash around the fen like a tideless sea. In the evening Stil, the fen is covered with nesting birds sitting narrow-eyed with bills drooping- never quite sleeping.