PIPIT UPDATE.

I'm afraid folks as regards the Meadow Pipit nest it has not been good news.

<<< a Meadow Pipit not far from the nest where I first found the three eggs. As I watched it, with it's three eggs over several days, hoping to record as I did last year a diary of a Skylarks nest. This was not to be a happy ending. Sheep grazing very close to the nest, seemed to have scared the birds away and day after day there were only three eggs in the well concealed nest. Without seeing the adult bird, it's hard to know if if the nest belongs to Skylark or Pipit, as the eggs are very much alike.

It is only when they hatch that it is easier to identify the occupants. Sadly these did not hatch. It seemed to be a mixture of constantly lousy wet weather, a lot of grazing sheep (who almost stepped on the nest) and left their tell tale wool. Plus on one day, the eggs were covered in rain drops, a bad sign that the eggs had been left unattended.

A few days later, I took the chance to show you how small is the size of the eggs, by placing a British five pence and one pence coin in the nest. They are tiny and very difficult to see normally. Over the days that followed, I checked the eggs, but nothing had changed, until the other day, when all that was left was the remains of the shells. Something, most probably a foraging fox, judging by the fresh spraint nearby, had had a very small meal. But the good news is that there are Skylarks & Meadow Pipits aplenty up on the moor land and I feel sure that despite the weather, many of them have been much more successful in rearing this years chicks. I hope so, they bring the mountain brilliantly alive with their song.