There was a reason for my visit yesterday. A friend had told me that signs had been attached to seats advising that a
rare bird was nesting there. However from his description I could get no idea of what kind of bird this was. The visit was made to satisfy my curiosity. The answer to the mystery is below. I did see at
least one rail scurrying about in the tussocks at the northern end.
As we know, dogs are something of a concern at this locality. I spoke to one person who was worried about this (with her own unusual dog on a leash) who was delighted that ‘the swans are back’. I did see a pair of these engaging in what
we sometimes call, when children are listening, ‘bonding behaviour’.
While I was there another person appeared with a large dog and threw a tennis ball in the pond, then spent some minutes proudly videoing the animal with her phone as it swam around with the ball (equally proudly, I suppose). No doubt
dog-videoers think birdwatchers are pretty weird too. This was within a few metres of the rail-protecting notices. I have photos of this, but the rules of this chatline forbid their circulation.
