It's still early in February, too early for any real breeding to have begun so I don,t know what I really hoped to achieve when I made my way to the Dipper hide this morning. I had restored it back to ship shape yesterday and I was keen to try it out I suppose. Frankly, I had been just a little bit deflated yesterday when I didn't see Dippers in last years territory. So, when I picked my way down the river towards the hide today, I asked myself that very question.The answer was simple, I just wanted to check on things and keep abreast of any behaviour and be there when activity started. I was feeling confident though. Nothing has changed, Dippers have been breeding here on this stretch of the river for who knows how long, it could be thousands of years? Why should 2013 be any different. So when I saw a Dipper feeding just ahead of me as I walked down the river, I was pleased but not surprised in the least. It did the usual thing once it had seen me. It flew onwards to a safe distance, then as I get nearer I saw and heard "him" singing, yes it was a male and the singing confirmed it. My presennce "moved" him on further down stream in front of me, hopping accross from boulder to boulder. Then suddenly he turned back and flew past me and up river again, singing and calling loudly. This turning back usually indicates that a bird has reached the edge of it's territory but who knows at this stage of the season. I tucked myself under cover in the hide, it was cramped and still needs lots work to make it ideal but I was concealed at least. It wasn't very long before I heard a familiar noise and not one, but two Dippers flew down stream and past the hide towards the area that they had bred last year. A broad smile lit my face, perhaps this year is going to be a good one after all.
I waited for ages for them to return to the weir and the hide to feed. It was cold and my originally warm legs got colder and colder, I should have worn more clothing. The cramped hide wasn't giving me good views and eventually I exited, mainly to get warm again. But I had stupidly broke rule number 1. That is, always double check to see if there is anything close by before you emerge because there, perched on the weir and just to my left, 10 feet away was a Dipper! Murphy and his law in action yet again! Still not to worry, I now knew that indeed, nothing was different whtsoever about 2013. Having further re-arranged the hide so that when I go back in the next few days I will not be so cramped, I walked back up river towards the car. I saw even more Dipper, one more bird, again flying down river singly..... that made three, and then a very interesting piece of behaviour. Two Dippers flew towards me from up-stream calling very noisily. When they were just past my position, one turned and flew back from the direction it had come giving me the distinct impression that this was a territorial dispute and one bird had been "escorting" the other off it's patch. So now that made 5 different birds seen today. Obviously territories are not yet settled. It had finished up a good session and well worth the effort (and cold).