END OF YEAR AT STANTON PARK

I paid my final visit of the year to Stanton Park, where someone had helpfully scattered bird seed around the park, enticing some of the regular species/

coal tit

grey heron

marsh tit

nuthatch

robin

A FEW PHOTOS FROM SLIMBRIDGE 20 DEC

view over tack piece

pintail

Bewicks

common and jack snipe

shelduck and pintail

view from hide

A MORNING STAR AND AN AFTERNOON AT OTMOOR

This was the view from my bedroom window when I opened the curtains yesterday... a crescent moon and a bright star close to it as the sun began to rise. As it happened, the bright star turned out to be the planet Venus, shining brightly due to its closeness to earth, but I didn't find that out until the evening! 

Having had a bright, frosty morning, I headed over to RSPB's Otrmoor reserve straight from work, arriving at 1 pm.  The car park only held a few vehicles and I hardly saw anyone as I walked down the track and along the bridleway to the Wetland hide. As this blog shows, I hadn't been out and about for a while due to some inclement weather and even now  the sun was hastily disappearing behind the gathering clouds and  at 2 oclock it seemed as if dusk wasn't far off. 

Along the track the bird feeders were attracting plenty of tits and finches whilst a couple of grey squirrels were foraging for spillages underneath. Flocks of fieldfares with a few redwings could also be seen in the trees that edged the bridleway. 

From the wetland hide, reed buntings, and goldfinches were regularly seen and from the first screen were the expected wildfowl; gadwall, teal, mallards, shovelers etc. 

The main attraction at this time of the year is the 80,000 starlings that form regular murmurations over the reed beds, but with nearly a mile to walk from the carpark, and the possibility of being caught in rush hour traffic around Oxford I opted to leave earlier. Returning to the car, starlings were gathering on the overhead wires, as if waiting for a signal that their show was about to start!

redwing

female reed bunting

male reed bunting

gathering starlings ( and clouds!)

BEWICKS ARE BACK!

With a cold easterly wind, I was not surprised to hear that the Bewick Swans have begun to arrive at WWT Slimbridge.  With some winter sunshine forecast I paid them a first visit of the season. About 50+ are now present, although all but a couple were grazing in the fields. However as it neared  4pm small groups began to assemble in the Rushy Pen awaiting their tea time feed. 

I spent the afternoon  along the Holden Walkway, where a number of birds of interest were to be found, apart from the Bewick swans. A water rail was clearly visible from the Willow Hide,  making the most of the seed fallen from the feeders above it. A snipe and a Jack snipe were also present on one of the islands seen from  another of the hides. As well as the more common greylags and Canada geese, a few barnacle geese could be seen from the Holden tower,  together with a number of cranes, and I also spotted one of the  white fronted geese from another of the hides along the walkway. Plenty of wigeon were grazing and there were also a good number of pintails and teals. Also a redshank seen. 

                                                                     Bewick swans

Canada geese

greylag

house sparrow

jack snipe

pintails

shelduck

shoveler

snipe

snipe

teal

water rail

whited fronted goose with Canada goose

wigeon

wren

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER

After having missed a Hoopoe near Lyneham yesterday, I was  more successful in locating a great northern diver at Coln country park just outside Lechlade  this afternoon.  I parked up, and walked part way round the lake, every so often checking through my binoculars as gaps in the reeds allowed a decent view. 
 After a while the bird in question popped into my view. It was drifting with the wind back toward the way I had come, and I realised if it continued to do so, it would become slightly nearer as the lake narrowed. This did, in fact happen, although as it became slightly nearer it started to dive which it had not done so far. One dive  brought up a crayfish which I managed to capture. 
According to reports, this bird is an adult  moulting in winter plumage, and although not exactly a twitch, ((no one else was looking for it!) it was another tick for my year list!

A CHARM OF GOLDFINCHES

I spent a couple of hours at Shornecote reed bed in the Cotswold water parks this afternoon Glorious sunshine and not too cold or breezy so an enjoyable autumn walk. Not a large number of species seen, but the sun shed some good light on a group of goldfinches feeding on teasels and a stonechat sat up high on a bush.

Species noted: buzzard, heron, coot,  moorhen, gadwall, teal, mallard, long tailed tit, blue tit, great tit, dunnock, robin, wren, blackbird, pheasant, magpie, wood pigeon, stonechat, goldfinch,  cettis warbler (heard).

stonechat

buzzard

CATTLE EGRETS AT WATERHAY

I managed to find an opportunity to catch up with a couple of cattle egrets which have been hanging around in the Waterhay area of the Cotswold Water park. Admittedly at a distance but another tick for the year.