The Swimming Fox of Amwell - 17th April 2022

A trip down to Amwell turned up two big surprises, the first one was a surprise Whimbrel that dropped in at the Viewpoint for less than 60 seconds before heading off South. It was at about 9.00am and with clear blue skies. An annual visitor, but scarce here so a great year tick.

Next was a walk up to Hardmead Lock with a singing Wren and flyover Raven on the way.

It was also good to see my first Whitethroat of the year, albeit staying in quite dense cover!

By the Lock is always a good place for Grey Wagtails and this one certainly showed well, feeding quietly on the short grass.

Back at the Viewpoint, it is fairly common to see a Fox on the far bank, but this one came out onto one of the shallow chain of islands. It certainly put the Gulls up!

It was determined in its route and when the islands ran out, it simply carried on.

Until it was swimming towards the main island.

It then disappeared from sight until about 20 minutes later, the Gulls all went up again as it made the return journey.

It was carrying something and on closer inspection it turned out to be the head of a Cormorant, which nest on the island. How it managed to get this is a bit of a mystery, but what wonderful behaviour to observe!

Never a dull moment at Amwell!