Going back a couple of weeks, I arrived at my usual survey spot along the riverside track at North Killingholme on the Southern bank of the Humber, driving (thankfully) slowly as I caught sight of several fluffballs disappearing into the grassy verge.....
Stopping the car, I was soon confronted by four (very) young Lapwing chicks, a noisily attendant mother and a fairly close-by father, on the track in front of me. The problem was, to one side was a steep ditch, and to the other, a metre-high wall cutting off access to the saltmarsh, all the way along the track.....
So I figured the best bet was to try and slowly shepherd them along the track and into the only wider opening (a disused industrial field) a little further along. Before I could do so, however, I heard engines behind me - very rare along the (private) track, where I usually encounter no other vehicles all day.
With particularly bad timing*, two tractors and a pick up truck approached behind me - EA vehicles, there to mow the entire banks, including the areas where the Lapwings were - and there began what turned out to be much of the day spent as a personal security detail for this special young family.
The EA work continued at distance, dog walkers were repelled with sign language, and periodically I tried to usher the chicks onto the safety of the open area; but every time I thought I'd succeeded, mom called them back along the track, seemingly unable to work out why they couldn't get through a concrete wall and onto the saltmarsh...
Aside from that, one of the chicks was particularly unruly, and one many occasions ran straight towards me, viewing my legs, and car, as the perfect safe haven.
Long story (and day) short: they were all present and correct, and as close to the open area as I could get them, when I had to leave late in the day - here's hoping their luck continued beyond.
(*Actually, very good timing - if I'd arrived minutes later, it would likely have been a very different ending....)
