STONECHATS AND STARLINGS AT SHORNCOTE

I spent a very pleasant afternoon walking at Shorncote, part of the Cotswold water parks, with cousin Jon. It was milder than of late, and the sun eventually broke through the cloud to give some beautiful autumn light over the reedbeds.  Having parked at South Cerney we took a route through the sports field and over the road, then through another field, looking out for snipe on the waterlogged areas, then on towards the hide and lakes. A buzzard was sitting on the roof of the hide  whilst lapwings and fieldfares flew above us. We heard a cettis warbler as we walked towards the lakes, where  we noted several species of ducks. A good number of birds were seen and heard, perhaps most noticably two pairs of stonechats which looked stunning in the evening sun. As we headed back to the cars, we looked out for a barn owl hunting. It didn't appear, but what we saw instead was a sizeable murmuration of starlings against the yellowing sky. 

Birds seen or  heard during the afternoon included:
robin, wren, chaffinch, bullfinch, long tailed tit, cettis warbler,  swan, moorhen, coot, heron, little egret, sparrowhawk, kestrel, buzzard, snipe ,reed warbler lapwing,fieldfare, blackheaded gull, mallard, teal, wigeon, tufted duck, gadwall, shoveler, water rail, starling, blackbird, stonechat.

A few photos from today are shown below.

female stonechat

starling murmuration