MIST AND MURK AT WELNEY

Not the  best weather for a winter trip to Welney WWT but it was the only day we had free during my trip to Cambridgeshire this week. However the prospect of a tasty lunch in the restaurant was too good to miss and we drove through the mist to the Welney. On our arrival at the car park we could hear the swans loud honking, evidence that we would at least hear if not see the swans during our visit. In fact, although it was still quite dull, it was possible to make out most of the species we could expect to see, through binoculars. 

We spent a little time in the heated observatory where, apart from the Whooper swans in abundance, we could also see greylag and canada geese, and a selection of ducks including mallard, tufted, pochard, teal, pintail, wigeon, shelduck and shoverler. 

Waders included black tailed godwit, lapwing, dunlin, snipe and curlew, whilst on the bird feeders we spotted house and tree sparrows as well as goldfinches. 

We ended the morning with a tasty lunch from the Christmas menu. A successful morning as both my sister and I were able to add a final species to our list for the year.  

house and tree sparrow

pochard

whooper swans