COATE WATER ON ANOTHER COLD DAY

Today it was -4 degrees when I left home to visit Coate Water, a country park just outside Swindon. The lake was pretty much frozen, with swans and ducks congregating at the edges and flocks of gulls standing on the ice in the centre. I noted a lesser black- blacked gull, Canada geese and tufted duck which were new for the year. I took a circuit of the lake, stopping to spend some time photographing birds at the feeding station in the woods. As  at Stanton Park, earlier in the week, a jay was soon attracted by the peanuts I placed on a log; it would seem it was more used to human presence as it came straight down rather than waiting up in the trees. Up in the top of the trees I heard and saw a couple of parakeets, now apparently resident at Coate Water. 

As I  returned towards the car park, I saw a goldcrest in one of the firs, and at the edge of the lake, a grey wagtail flew in and made its way methodically along ahead of me. 

A COLD DAY AT STANTON PARK WOODLAND

 With temperatures hovering just above 0 degrees and a light covering of snow, I decided to spend a couple of hours at Stanton park where a number of woodland species of birds can be often found. It was a sunny afternoon, and after carefully crossing the icy carpark, I headed for one of the seating areas where a bird table will often attracts small birds. I tipped out some peanuts and seeds on the top and placed a snow covered log nearby, hoping that the birds would use this as a perch.

The seats were still snow covered so I went behind them  and stood against a tree, hoping that would help disguise me, particularly as I  rather hoped a jay would come and feed on the peanuts. With the trees bare of leaves, it was fairly easy to notice if a jay was about and it wasn't long before I saw a shape the familiar pinks, blues and whites  fly into a tree some distance away, but from where I could see that it was eying up the bird table. I remained still, waiting for the jay to descend, which it did, slowly, at intervals  getting nearer and nearer, until it was close enough to fly to the ground and snatch a peanut which it flew off with. It then reappeared later and spent a few seconds at the bird table, before flying off at the approach of some people with a dog. 

Other species present included blue tits, robins, dunnocks, blackbird, and coal tits and  the usual few squirrels. 

I was also hoping to see a marsh tit and nuthatch but without seeing either here, I re-located to another feeding table which had a long log next to it, after placing more food there,  I stood back amongst the trees to wait. It was a good move as almost immediately  I was soon rewarded by both species which kept returning to the log to feed. 

I walked around the lake but it was frozen in the centre, and all I saw was a couple of mute swans with their cygnet, a flock of black headed gulls standing on the ice, and a group of mallard ducks at the edge. 

coal tit

jay

dunnock

coal tit

nuthatch

marsh tit

dunnock

 

NEW YEAR BIRDING IN NORFOLK

 I usually spend a few days with my sister at some point in the Christmas holidays so this year I travelled up to Cambridgeshire on New Year's Day. After a wet and windy New Year's day we agreed to spend the next two days visiting various  bird reserves in Norfolk as the forecast was for bright although frosty weather. 

So on the first day, I drove the 40 minute journey to the WWT Centre at Welney. We arrived before 10 o'clock when the centre was still fairly quiet and went upstairs to the viewing point in the cafe where  a range of feeders attract both house and tree sparrows, the latter being a species that I had missed in 2024 as we never got round to visiting Welney which is probably one of the best places to see them in that area.  We had also been told about some short eared owls, and we could also see one of these flying across some rough grass land in the distance. The telescope provided was very handy!  We also  saw a few cattle egrets fly onto the bank alongside the road..  it  was proving  a good start to the year!

Across the bridge we entered a warm hide to view the water where the Whooper swans often congregate along with numerous ducks and geese. However, there were only half a dozen in the distance and we were told by a warden that embarrassingly sometimes their swan feeds had not attracted any swans at all!  We had, however, already  seen good numbers in the fields surrounding the centre and at one of the other hides a pair of whoopers were providing better and closer views. 

We visited the hides which stretch along the a path and overlook the Ouse Washes, and noted various waders and wildfowl as well as a marsh harrier - our count just topped  30 species today.  

Before returning to the carpark, we decided to follow a path from the  visitor centre a little way along where we had been told that sometimes short eared owls roost in the hedges. We hadn't gone far before seeing a gentleman pointing his camera at an area of rough vegetation and he kindly pointed out a shape half hidden amongst some twigs - a roosting short eared owl. I just about managed a few photos though there were a few ill-positioned sticks ( from the photographers point of view!)  which made the picture slightly unclear in places.  We didn't stay long so as to avoid disturbance of the owl but were pleased to have had some good views. This was also a species which I hadn't seen until right at the end of last year so it was nice to have ticked it off so early in 2025. 

Returning home we stopped at Ouse Fen rspb reserve and took a walk around the reed beds. We did not locate any bearded tits (reedlings) but saw a few stonechats, a roe deer and some mute swans. Near the entrance to the reserve,  a handful of keen birders were searching for a lesser scaup amongst distant ducks on another pit but we didn't stay to look as we did not have a scope and certainly would not have been able to find it using just binoculars. 

a mix of house and tree sparrows

tree sparrow

tree sparrow

cattle egrets

whooper swan

view across reed beds at Welney WWT

short eared owl

mute swan at Ouse Fen

stonechat

view across reed bed at Ouse Fen

The following day also dawned clear and frosty but with a longer distance to travel we left an hour earlier and arrived at our destination - rspb Titchwell marsh at around 9.45 am. Again, there were less people than we expected at this time of year, but it did get busier as the day progressed. 

After showing membership cards and being welcomed at the centre we decided to visit the hides along the fen trail to start with. We asked  a warden who was returning   what we might expect to see and he took us back to a spot further along the path to show us - yes - another owl! This time it was a tawny owl, so hidden amongst ivy leaves that  you could only make out its brown feathers through binoculars when standing at a certain spot on the path!  

We didn't see anything else of note in that area so returned to the main path  which leads from the visitor centre in a direct line to the beach. However, there was plenty to see from the path, starting with a flock of noisy brent geese which flew into one of the lakes. It is species I am unlikely to see again this year unless visiting the east or south east coast. Sadly no bearded tits in the reed beds during our visit but one of the gullies by the path gave wonderful close views of a curlew, in fact similar to my last visit last  March. The freshmarsh hide was looking direct into the sun  so to it was hard to discern many of the bird species apart from greylags and gulls, but when walking along the path beside the saltmarsh, there a were a variety of waders present. These included redshanks, a greenshank, ringed plovers and  grey plovers. We also saw our first kingfisher of the year.  On our return along the same path I was looking at the curlew again and suddenly out of one of the channels. a slim black and white bird with long red legs suddenly made an appearance - the black winged stilt ( escapee) which  has been around the centre for a while but hadn't yet been reported that day. Raising my camera, it took off as I pressed the shutter, so we could not admire it for long but pleased to have had such a close view for just  few seconds! 

The tide was already receding quickly as we made out way through the dunes down the beach.  We could see oyster catchers, and black tailed godwits as well as a few sanderling running along the edge of the water but sadly were a bit late for close photos. A single turnstone flew past and landed just past the entrance to the beach but then flew off again. Further along  we could see crowds of birds, mainly gulls and godwits and a few smaller birds amongst them which could have been dunlins but too far to identify confidently.  Out at sea there were apparently some velvet scoter but with the rough waves it was very hard to make out any black 'blobs' which could have been the scoters, although there were quite a few birder with telescopes trying to describe their position to each other. Whilst watching, a single little egret flew past, trailing its yellow feet behind.

There are numerous places in Norfolk worth  a visit but with daylight being short and a journey home ahead  we decided to finish our day and go home. hopefully to return another time. All in all we felt it had been a productive couple of days with some good birds seen in perfect winter weather.

brent geese preening

shelduck

brent geese

 

grey plover

curlew

black winged stilt taking off!

  

..almost off camera

another black winged stilt at Slimbridge in 2023

curlew

                                                                            oyster catchers

 a mellee of gulls and godwits on the at the edge of the sea

a lone little egret

SLIMBRIDGE IN DECEMBER

 It's almost the end of the year and until today I hadn't seen a water rail to add to my yearly count. They tend to prefer the colder weather to emerge from the reeds and when I visited Slimbridge a few weeks back, I missed seeing one. Today, however, I thought that I might have a chance as the temperature registered only 3 degrees. So on my arrival just after the Centre opened I headed straight for the Willow Hide, from where water rails are regularly seen during the colder months. A few people were already in the hide, with a water rail in view which had just emerged further down a channel.  I found a good position to watch as it came towards the hide, probing the mud with its  red beak.  A pair of teal and a couple of moorhens were also beneath the feeders which were attracting sparrows, blue tits  and a dunnock. The water rail stayed around for a few minutes before hurriedly retreating. However, I didn't have to wait too long before it reappeared and stayed around for longer and gave some good opportunities for photos. 

Walking back to the Rushy Hide, there were no less than 4 species of swan present on the water,  Bewicks, Whooper, Mute, and a black Swan. They were located right at the back of the lake so hard to photograph, apart from the Bewicks, of which there had been 60 overnight.  Other species  of waterfowl included Canada geese, greylags, pintails, pochard, tufted ducks, mallard, shoveler and shelduck.  ( Some of the photos below were taken two weeks ago)

pintail m

shelduck

Bewicks swan

Bewicks swan

view of Rushy Pen

sleeping pintails

canada goose

wigeon f

wigeon m

redshanks

tufted duck

pintails

The weather was becoming more overcast so I decided to  visit the Discovery Hide overlooking South lake before returning home.  The lake seemed quite empty, a small flock of avocets, a few teal and shovelers  could be easily seen and,  standing motionless on a small rock at the end of the causeway was the juvenile spoonbill , asleep as usual.  I sat down for a rest on one of the comfy sofas in this insulated hide, and waited to see if it would stir, which it did after a while, showing its spoon shaped bill.  As I photographed it, the spoonbill suddenly took off and flew  to a small island further away. 

spoonbill