AUTUMN VISIT TO STANTON PARK

 A beautiful afternoon once the fog had lifted so  I paid a short visit to Stanton park. As someone had filled the feeding station ( mostly with bread!) I decided to sit and wait and see what arrived. The first visitor was a robin, followed by a marsh tit, great tit, then blue tit and coal tit.  In a nearby tree I noticed a greater spotted woodpecker, whilst a shy chaffinch hopped about amongst the undergrowth.

marsh tit

robin

great tit

autumn colour

nuthatch

GREY PHALAROPE AT FARMOOR

Took a detour on my way home from Reading, to see the grey phalarope present at Farmoor's reservoir.  It didn't take long to locate; its presence being fairly obvious from the number of photographers lined up along the bank on the far side of the reservoir. 

This small wader seemed quite unperturbed by the interest it was causing, and stayed very close to the shore, sometimes swimming, sometimes wading, as it fed, and once coming ashore for a short rest. 

Other birds present included: coot, tufted duck, mallard, grey wagtail, pied wagtail, meadow pipit, heron, cormorant, blackheaded gull. 

 

GREAT WHITE EGRET AT LECHLADE

 I checked my emails later this afternoon, and read that there was a great white egret on one of the nature reserve lakes on the edge of Lechlade. As I am due to go away early tomorrow morning, I made the decision to go down straight away, and see if I could locate it.

As I approached the bench overlooking the lake, I spotted it with some blackheaded gulls, visible through the trees next to the path, but unfortunately it spotted me too and flew up and landed on the other side of the lake. It still gave good views though, but was a bit flighty and flew off and landed again several times, eventually flying south  from the lake, possibly landing somewhere in another part of the reserve.

A PLEASANT DAY AT SLIMBRIDGE

The autumn colours were lovely as I drove over to Slimbridge Wetland Centre. I spent the morning visiting the hides. There were good numbers of ducks and geese, the swans haven't yet arrived at the centre yet but apparently some are already in the UK.,  no doubt soon heading this way. Highlights included a couple of sightings of a water rail as it dashed out of the reeds and back in again, a buzzard sat for ages on a fence post, and a little grebe was close to the Peng observatory.

Species I noted included:

robin, blue tit, great tit, house sparrow, blackbird, wood pigeon, jackdaw, wren, mallard, teal, wigeon, shoveler, shelduck, pintail, canada goose, greylag goose, little grebe, lapwing, water rail, buzzard, peregrine, cormorant, grey heron, black headed gull, great black backed gull, pied wagtail, moorhen, coot, black tailed godwit. 

buzzard

]

the same buzzard, viewed from the opposite side of the fence

black headed gull keeping an eye on my lunch!

shelduck

little grebe

pintail

...and again

lapwing

autumn colour at slimbridge

STANTON PARK

I dropped in at Stanton park for an hour, while it was still sunny today. There was not much around in the way of wildlife, although I did spot a few red admirals around the ivy, and a robin was singing away in the hawthorn. Also noted a goldcrest and great tit, as well as swans, moorhens, black headed gulls, great crested grebe and mallards on the lake. 

autumn leaves just beginning to turn

robin singing

a different view of the sky

A TRIO OF SMALL WADERS

An overcast morning, but worth the trip to Farmoor reservoir to see a few small waders.

Having heard that a little stint was present, I made for the causeway which separates the two parts of the resrvoir. A flock of greylag geese was grazing on the grass hill adjacent to the carpark, and I soon spotted grey and pied wagtails as well the other usual water birds including little grebes.  Once on the the causeway, I kept my eyes peeled for the tiny wader I was looking for, and soon spotted  a small wader on its own, although I was unable to confirm its ID and after a quick photo, it flew off over the water.  However, a lady coming towards me asked if I had seen the little stint, and on showing her my photo, she confirmed it was in fact a little stint, recognizable by the white V on its back.  She then told me that it was now  feeding alongside a dunlin further along the causeway, and I soon spotted them both, together with a ringed plover. They were all feeding together, flew out over the water as a threesome, returning together to continue feeding along the shore line. 

Birds seen today included:
mallard, tufted duck, coot, little grebe, great crested grebe, black headed gull, cormorant, greylag goose, canada goose, grey wagtail, pied wagtail, little stint, ringed plover, dunlin. 

dunlin

little stint

little stint

ringed plover

little stint and dunlin

canada geese

pied wagtail

grey wagtail

a trio of small waders!

ANOTHER SUNNY AFTERNOON

With just a few hours in the  afternoon to spare I made another trip to Coate water, to enjoy the afternoon sunshine. I spent roughly an hour at each of the hides, after having watched three red admirals on the ivy bush near the bridge.  Both hides had a few occupants, but it was quiet as far as birds were concerned. Highlights were a kingfisher at hide 1,  whilst at hide 2 there were various ducks, little egret, flypasts by  a green sandpiper , unable to land as the best landing spots were occupied by gulls,  and a kingfisher.

Birds seen today included: canada goose, mute swan, great crested grebe, cormorant, wren, kingfisher, green sandpiper, blackheaded gull, wigeon, shoveler, mallard, tufted duck, little egret, grey heron, moorhen, coot. 

kingfisher

black headed gulls on the 'crocodile log'

red admiral feeding on ivy flowers

wigeon

swan doing contortions whilst preening