Bird Life along the Ormsaigbeg Shore

Oystercatchers are one of The Diary's favourite shore birds, partly because they're remarkably smart-looking birds at all times of year, partly because of their cheerful piping call and busy social life. We have large numbers of them along the shore, and they're with us throughout the year, moving in small flocks at the moment, although they'll soon be splitting into pairs ready for nesting.

We see wigeon only during the winter months, often in groups bobbing around close to the shore, the drakes easily distinguishable with their smart chestnut heads and pale yellow cap. These flocks are like a gang of small children, constantly breaking up as individuals indulge in noisy quarrels, only to come together again.

Herons - this is a grey heron - are the old men of the shore, crotchety, antisocial and drab. If there's more than one of them, then one will be chasing the other away. As well as working his way along the shore, this heron has spent much of his winter in the marshier parts of the lower fields, hunting for frogs or field mice.

We've had four buzzards along Ormsaigbeg this winter, two parents and the two young they reared last summer. The parents spend some of their time chasing their progeny away but, like so many young, they're less than keen to set off on their own.

The buzzards have a series of favoured perches along the shore, either on prominent fence posts or in the tops of trees. As well as the nuisance caused by their young, they are regularly harassed by other birds, particularly the local hooded crows and larger seagulls. But the buzzards, in their turn, become quite aggressive if an eagle strays into their territory, flying up to see it off.