Having enjoyed ourselves so much the last time catching dippers, we thought it was about time for another bash to add more numbers to the project.
As we learnt from our last outing, catching dippers can be a piece of pie (yes PIE, sometimes spelt with no E and two S’s), so we were feeling quiet cocky when setting up the net at the site that yielded no dippers last time (you can already see where this is going can’t you?). We settled down with a net invisible to the human eye and waited. And waited. And waited some more – not a frickin’ dipper in sight.
We did score lucky, however, with a new species for our project site. Some call it the Broad-billed quacking dipper, while others, and quite incorrectly call it a mallard…
Haf a'r hwyaden
After the excitement of this new species we decided to strike camp and head to a new spot. With Sherpa Solman leading the way we found a location along the river judged absolutely perfect for dippers. Mainly as we saw some there….
With waders donned, another net was unfurled in anticipation and it wasn’t long before a dipper came hurtling up the river and straight into the net. Sadly it came straight back out and flew back from whence it came. To add insult to injury the same happened twice more!
However, we lucked out again with something new – a lovely pied wagtail which, on release uttered something quiet unrepeatable an no doubt offensive.
Mallard 1,
Pied Wag 1,
Dipper 0,
There is always next time!
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