A Pintail on the Lake!

We've had an exciting new arrival on the Lake this week, a very smart male Pintail. Its white front stood out among the Mallards and Moorhens, we hope he sticks around for a little longer. 

We had our Owl Pellet Discovery for kids event this morning. After a walk around to see some of the Owl boxes around the reserve, the children began their Pellet dissection. 

The first task was to dissect the pellets to see what could be found…

Next was to glue what was found onto a card for display. The children found bones and skulls of both mice and voles, tasty snacks for owls. 

We were missing our regular volunteer Colin today who is having a well deserved break in Scotland. This meant it was our turn to do the seed and peanut round of all the feeders. The birds at Foxglove sure seem to be able to get through some food! 

One of the jobs of the day was to check the mink rafts around the reserve. One of them, by the bullet catcher pond, had quite a few different prints, including a brave Grey Squirrel and a regular domestic cat, amoung others which are yet to be identified.