GREAT WHITE EGRET

Having just purchased a key to the hides on the Lower Windrush Valley, near Witney,  I decided to spend a sunny afternoon exploring what they had to offer. 

My first stop was at Rushy Common Nature reserve, a small car park, with a choice of either visiting a new bird screen or a well kept hide. I opted for the hide, which gave a pleasant view over the lake a few islands. A good variety of waterbirds here, three species of goose, and eight species of duck, including goldeneyes. A very kind lady allowed me to have use of her  'scope to view the further shores, where  I made out red crested pochard and teal.  
A quick look from the viewing screen, produced nothing extra so I returned to the car.

My second visit was to the Standlake Nature reserve. The hides were a rather longer walk, but the sun had come out and I enjoyed the bird song, including several chiffchaffs singing. 
I visited both hides, again, a nice variety of waterfowl. At the second hide, I saw a heron, and just as was about to go, I spotted something white emerging behind it ... a great white egret... one which has been wintering there. At first it was pretty distant but after two short flights it gradually came a little nearer.  Always worth a final look....

A nice afternoon, and hopefully, one of plenty more visits. 

List of birds seen today:
Shoveler, Gadwall, tufted duck, mallard, goldeneye, red crested pochard, wigeon, teal, egyptian geese, canada geese, greylag geese, swan, pied wagtail, lapwing, oyster catcher, black headed gull, heron, coot, moorhen, great white egret, blue tit, great tit, pheasant, wren, robin, blackbird, chiffchaff, goldfinch, chiffchaff

chiffchaff

great white egret

great white egret

heron and GWE

a few birds at Rushy common

view of Rushy Common Reserve

ANOTHER YEAR TICK

I haven't been to  Whelford pools,  near Fairford for a while so thought I'd pay a visit, as its only a short detour on my route home from work. ( Actually I tried to go last week but they were resurfacing the car park) . I've seen red crested pochards there before, but they hadn't been reported recently.

I spent a little while at each of the two hides, though it was very quiet... Gadwalls, tufted ducks and mallards on the lake. Also a grey heron and some nesting cormorants in the trees.

I then decided to follow the footpath  past the fishing lake round to  another viewpoint, and on the way had a quick look through my binoculars. On the far side of the fishing lake I could make out two or three red crested pochards...another species for the year.

nesting cormorants

lesser blackbacked gull on the tern raft

great crested grebe

female gadwall

very distant shot of red crested pochard

A STROLL AROUND THE LAGOON

When it finally looked as if it might stay dry for a while, I took a quick stroll round the perimiter path of Liden Lagoon. On the lagoon itself were good numbers of canada geese, together with mallards, gadwall, tufted ducks and mute swans. Also a great-crested grebe, herring gulls and a lesser blacked backed gull. I watched a chiffchaff flitting amongst the reeds and brambles around the edge of the water, and noticed a coot on its nest. Oh and also a kingfisher flew past...

Birds seen: magpie, swan, great crested grebe, mallard, tufted duck, gadwall, robin, dunnock, long tailed tits, herring gull, lesser blackbacked gull, kingfisher, chiffchaff, wood pigeon, collared dove. 

spring at Liden lagoon

pair of collard doves preening

coot on its nest

chiffchaff

PAIRING UP

Plenty of birdsong in the garden this morning, notably this wren...

Also the usual mix of garden birds; blue tits, robins, dunnocks, goldfinches and green finches, nearly all in pairs.

After spending the morning staining my fence, I took a quick stroll round Stanton Park. Again, plenty of bird song, though not much variety at the feeders, mainly great tits. I didn;t see any nuthatches or marsh tits today. However, on the lake there was a pair of canada geese ( one with orange neck band) and the resident swans with last years cygnet. Amongst the mallards there was obviously some odd pairing with hybrid birds. 

canada geese

hybrid drake mallard?

hybrid female mallard?

last year's cygnet

coal tit preening

my first sighting of lambs,  although these are obviously several weeks old now, 

STAYING LOCAL

Pentylands Country park, Highworth is very close to home, but is somewhere I rarely seem to visit.  It consists of five fields  with paths crossing them, but today I stuck to the perimeter, hoping to see a few  early butterflies.  At least half a dozen Brimstones were fluttering along the hedgerows, though none landed; however, I had more success with several small tortoiseshells and commas. 

On the bird front, I noted goldfinches, bluetits, great tits, dunnock, house sparrows, wood pigeon, magpie and a female bullfinch. 

comma

small tortoiseshell ( with part of hindwing missing)

looking back towards the entrance to Pentylands.

BACK TO COATE WATER

A beautiful sunny and mild spring day... perfect for Brimstone butterflies I thought, and sure enough, I saw seven of them on my journey home at midday! A real herald of spring, to my mind. 

On reaching home, I packed a  few sandwiches and headed off to Coate Water, which I hadn't visited for a while. For a change I decided to go straight down to Hide 2. After stopping to look at some goldcrests in the hedgerow, I sat in the hide for a while.  It was pretty quiet: a few shovelers,  gadwall, canada geese, cormorant,  mallards,  on the water, around the hide were chaffinch, dunnock, bluetit, great tit,  etc so I threw out some bird food onto the mud at the water's edge to the right of the hide. Within a short time I saw first one water rail, then a second one,  both feeding at the same time. 

Stopping off at Hide 1, birds noted were: grey heron, goosanders, teal, mallard, coot, moorhen, greylag geese, on the feeders I saw great tit, goldfinch, blue tit, coal tit, long tailed tits, dunnock. robin,  and greater spotted woodpecker. 

chaffinch

fluttering goldcrest!

great tit

greater spotted woodpecker

shoveler

one water rail...

...two water rails

SOMEWHERE ELSE FOR A CHANGE...

A mild spring Saturday so decided to head over to Thatcham  Nature Discovery centre  which is owned by the Bucks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife trust. I got there before the centre opened so  stopped for a while in front of the centre where various water fowl were gathered. A variety of species to be seen... including canada geese, egyptian geese, mallards, pochard, moorhens, coots. Then I took a walk around the lake, and noted tufted duck, cormorants, black headed gulls.  

canada goose

On returning to the visitor centre I borrowed a key to the reed bed hide, on the way I passed another lake with gadwall, more pochards and tufted ducks on it, and noted blue tits, long tailed tits and great tits in the hedgerows. Sadly the hide didn't give great views of anything as it was awaiting the cutting of the reeds in front of it, but I decided to continue the trail,  toward the canal, where a couple of grey wagtail were flitting about.

grey wagtail

grey wagtail - I love the colour of these birds

pochard

Egyptian goose

willow bursting into bloom

FAIRLY QUIET AT FARMOOR...

Having heard that a black necked grebe had been yesterday at Farmoor's Reservoir I decide to head over there on my only free afternoon this week. It was a pleasantly sunny stroll around lake F2 ,albeit breezy in places; no black necked grebe but both great crested and little grebes seen. Also a stop at the hide in the neighbouring nature reserve produced both male and female reed buntings, a grey heron and a water rail. 

Bird seen included:
grey heron, water rail, reed bunting, great tit, dunnock, long tailed tit, canada goose, greylag goose, little grebe, great crested grebe, mute swan, mallard, tufted ducks, coot, moorhen, cormorant, grey wagtail, pied wagrtail, black headed gull. 

grey heron

grey wagtail

little grebe

reed bunting female

tufted ducks

water rail

reed bunting male

THE LAST BEWICK...

One last chance to see the remaining Bewick(s?) and wintering geese at Slimbridge WWT before they start their migration. Happily, both the barnacle and white fronted geese were within identifiable and photographic distance , whilst a lone Bewick cygnet was on the Rushy Pen, There were 4 other Bewicks on the lake behind the visitor centre but I'm not sure if these live there!
Three of the cranes were also closer than usual.

 Several species of waders were showing, including the newly returned avocets and oyster catchers.  I also caught a glimpse of a water rail.

Species seen today were as follows (including 6 new for the year):

Bewick swan, mute swan, greylag goose, canada goose, white fronted goose, barnacle goose, teal, mallard, gadwall, shoveler, wigeon, shelduck, pintail, teal, tufted duck, coot, moorhen, lapwing, golden plover, redshank, heron, avocet, black-tailed godwit, dunlin, ruff, oyster catcher, water rail, curlew, crane, robin, dunnock, blue tit, great tit, house sparrow, tree creeper, long tailed tit,rook, jackdaw, herring gull, black headed gull, greater black backed gull, lesser black backed gull.

avocet, black headed gulls and black-tailed godwits

the lone cygnet!

canada geese and barnacle geese

curlew and wigeon

cranes

dunnock

ruff

a pair of dozing teal

white fronted geese

shelduck

tree creeper