A few waders at Riverside park

On a visit to Riverside park in Kent, the tide was out, and I had the opportunity for a quick look for waders. Several redshanks were around, together with an oyster catcher and several wigeon. In the distance I could make out a curlew. 

oyster catcher

redshank

wigeon

FINCH FEAST...AT STONECOTE

Rather gloomy and cold for a walk, so decided to do a bit of a garden watch at home over lunch. 

A nice surprise was a female bullfinch, also a single greenfinch  on the feeder, (first this year) together with a few goldfinches. Other birds noted were 2 dunnocks, 1  robin, 2 blue tits, 3 wood pigeons, m and f blackbirds,  and 2 starlings fighting over the fat-filled coconut shell. 

I was watching again at tea time ( 5pm) and in the fading light spotted a male bullfinch and a second female, which were all pecking away for about 10 minutes at the new buds on the neighbours tree which is next to my boundary hedge. 

female bullfinch

goldfinch on the sunflower hearts

SLIMBRIDGE AGAIN...

With a sunny day forecast, I decided to pay another visit to the Wetlands Centre at Slimbridge to see the Bewick swans before they return. I also wanted to see if I could add Barnacle and White fronted geese to my year list. 

I arrived at 11am having decided to wait for a rise in temperature and for the road conditions to improve after a cold night, as they can get a bit icy on the road to the Centre. As usual I did the rounds of the various hides. Still a good number of Bewick swans were at the Rushy Pen, although during the morning, there was a regular stream of groups of swans flying out to the estuary. The Holden Tower had a cold wind blowing in from the west, unfortunately the geese I wanted were too far out to identify with certainty. However, someone pointed out a shape on a fence post in the  distance was in fact a goshawk! 

Other species of interest were a bittern flying, a water rail feeding and a single oyster catcher. A very pleasant morning with 41 species noted:

blackbird, song thrush, fieldfare, robin, house sparrow, wren, chaffinch, jackdaw, wood pigeon, bluetit, great tit, heron, curlew, oyster catcher, dunlin, black tailed godwit, lapwing, crane, greylag goose, canada goose, mallard, tufted duck, teal, wigeon, pintail, Bewick swan, little grebe, lesser black backed gull, black headed gull, herring gull, crow, bittern, water rail, buzzard, goshawk, cormorant, snipe, shoveler, shelduck, moorhen, coot.

teal

tufted ducks

 a pair of pintail

lapwing

curlew

canada goose and greylag goose

Bewick swan

Bewick swan and lapwings in flight

lapwings

water rail

Rushy pen

a chilly view from Holden tower

more Bewicks in flight

South lake Discovery hide view