SUNNY AFTERNOON AT COATE

Had a change of afternoon off this week, so made my way over to Coate Water for a couple of hours to enjoy the winter sunshine. 

A very serene lake with few people about, and only a couple of people in the Hide 1.  A few birds around feeding from the seed that had been put out for them, including great tit, blue tit, robin, dunnock, chaffinch, blackbird, moorhen, a brief visit from a greater spotted woodpecker and some long tailed tits. Also  a bank vole and a couple of grey squirrels.  On the lake were teal, gadwall, goosanders, swans, mallards, tufted ducks, shovelers, cormorants and gulls. At Hide 2, I put out some seed on the ground and was rewarded by a couple of visits from a water rail. 

swan

great tit

gadwall

chaffinch

water rail

JUST ANOTHER AFTERNOON..

Cold but sunny so decided to pay a quick visit to both Liden Lagoon and Stanton Park.

At Liden there were plenty of black headed gulls, also canada geese, swans, tufted duck, gadwall, and shovelers.

At Stanton Park, I was pleased to see the marsh tit was back, in fact there were five species of tits visiting the bird table today. I also caught a glimpse of the jay, but everytime I put out more peanuts they were quickly devoured by nuthatches, and the others tits, so probably I need to stock up with peanuts to tempt him down. 

Bird seen at Stanton included, jay, nuthatch, chaffinch, wren, robin, dunnock, bluetit, great tit, long tailed tit, marsh tit, coal tit.

canada goose

shovelers

gadwall

marsh tit

long tailed tit

nuthatch

jay watching from a distance

STANTON PARK AGAIN

I paid a return visit to Stanton park in the hope that I could get some more pictures of the Marsh Tit, as I am now wondering if it might actually be a Willow tit (thank you Paul).  
Although I sat around for at least an hour, it didn't appear, which surprised me as it has usually appeared fairly soon after food has been put out. Having said  that, the feeding stations had already had seed on them so maybe it had been and gone! I will try and make another return visit in the near future 

However, I did have some opportunities for a few photographs, notably of a nuthatch which seemed to 'freeze', hanging over the edge of the bird table for several minutes! Not sure why, maybe it saw something I didn't!  

Birds seen in and around the feeders today:
robin, dunnock, chaffinch, wren, tree creeper, nuthatch, coal tit, blue tit, great tit. ( and a couple of grey squirrels)

nuthatch 'frozen' over the edge of the bird table

tree creeper

great tit

coal tit

blue tit

BIRDS AT STANTON

After several days of  unsuitable weather on my days off recently, today I stopped off at Stanton park to visit the bird feeders.  After putting several handfuls of seeds and nuts on the top of the feeder, it didn't take long for the usual birds to come and take advantage of it. 
Today there were robins,  dunnock, great tits, blue tits, long tailed tits, coal tit, two nuthatches, marsh tit, male and female chaffinch and naturally a couple of grey squirrels. 

 a cautious male chaffinch

coal tit

dunnock

great tit, can hardly get the peanut in its beak!

squirrel

marsh tit

nuthatch

nuthatch

robin

WAGTAILS AT STONECOTE

I don't usually see wagtails in my garden, but today I was visited by a couple of pied wagtails, and later on a grey wagtail!  Both species were pecking about at the front of the house. The pied wagtails were present when I came back from some shopping but flew off as I opened the car door . The grey wagtail has been around on the front lawn for the past hour or so, and shows no sign of leaving!  ( 1.45 pm). I don't usually associate it with gardens, and it is quite well disguised amongst the leaves.

MAMMALS AND BIRDS

I spent a hour or so at Hide 1 at Coate Water today, beautiful sunny afternoon, albeit a bit chillier than of late, especially when I left. 

Together with some others, I watched the antics of a squirrel, being chased by a rat, as well as a bank vole appearing now and then to feed off a log. 

Birds noted were:

Heron, canada geese, mallard, tufted duck, gadwall, cormorant, kingfisher, water rail (heard), chaffinch, dunnock, great tit, blue tit, wigeon

autumnal scene from the hide

chaffinch

gadwall

bank vole

swan and cygnets preening in the sun

squirrel playing 'peekaboo' with a rat!