COTSWOLD WATER PARK

I spent a pleasant afternoon walking in the water parks, firstly at Keynes Park, although I failed to spot the ring necked duck; my fault as I had not taken enough notice of what it looked like, as it is very similar to tufted duck! Hopefully it will still be there if I get a chance to return in the next few days.

I then parked at Neigh bridge and walked along to the road to a pit on private land where I stood at the entrance and added Red crested pochards to my year list. 

Finally I drove over to Blakehill nature reserve where up to 3 short eared owls have been seen regularly from 3pm onwards. I arrived shortly before three and at ten past, spotted my first short eared owl. I watched it through binoculars for 10 minutes, before I was joined by several other birders equipped with telescopes and long lenses.  We saw at least two different birds, and managed a few record photos, one of which shows one holding prey.

BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH 2018

I settled down just before 9 am today to start my Big Garden Birdwatch count.  It was raining lightly with poor light so I had my binoculars handy as I knew I would have to check every silhouette in the trees to verify identification. My garden usually boasts about 11 or 12 regular species, though over the past few weeks this has peaked at 18.

I had already filled my feeders and put out some additional scraps so  I wasn't surprised to find a couple of crows turning up almost immediately. They hung around on the lawn for several minutes before flying off. In the next few minutes there was a flurry of activity, with a variety of species including goldfinch, dunnock, blue tit and great tit, and a blackbird. I also noticed three wood pigeons in  tree and another pecking at apples in the orchard part of the garden. 

The rain got a bit heavier and the wind picked up a bit and there was a lull in activity for a bit. 

Then a flock of four goldfinches flew into the tops of the trees behind the feeders and I noticed a house sparrow sheltering in the bush.   A coal tit also made a fleeting appearance at the sunflower heart feeder whilst a couple of robins pecked about around the base. 

The rain was still falling and all became quiet once more, although the pigeon was still feasting on apples. 

Over the rest of the hour there were intermittent visits from the various species above in varying numbers. Half way through my count ,a neighbour's cat decided to settle itself down under the  bushes behind the feeders so as it wasn't going to assist in my count, I''m afraid I sent it packing! 

As my hour drew to a close, a flock of 20 house sparrows flew across the garden in small groups, a magpie visited the willow tree and in the final minute my regular fieldfare made a short appearance in the orchard. 

Over the hour I had a total of 12 species and 43 birds shown below for your interest:

crows 2
blackbird 2
dunnock 2
goldfinch 4
blue tit  3
great tit 1
coal tit 1
wood pigeon 4
house sparrow 20
magpie 1
fieldfare 1
robin 2

COLN COUNTRY PARK AND WHELFORD POOLS

A lovely afternoon for a walk with blue skies although quite cold.  I headed for Coln country park, a lake I have recently discovered on the eastern part of the Cotswold Water Park. Not particularly well signposted but consists of a walk around a lake, partly used by Bowmoor sailing club. 

Recently a great northern diver was seen there, although on two visits I didn't have time to walk the whole way round which could be reason for not seeing it!. Yesterday a Scaup was seen but again I missed it! 

However despite the rather muddy path around, it was a lovely place to be, and a nice walk in the summer months I should think. 

During my walk  I was able to see a flock of long tailed tits, wren, tufted ducks, mallard, great crested grebes, gadwall, pochard, coot and mute swan.

gadwall in conversation with a coot?

pair of gadwall

After circuiting the lake which took about an hour, I drove over to a neighbouring nature reserve at Whelford Pools, which I have not visited for some months. 

From the first hide I could make out a pair of goosander in the distance, and also saw cormoratns, great crested grebes, tufted duck, gadwall mallard, shovelers and coots.

However the main interest for me was  when out of the bushes flew a small bird which  landed on the ground in front of some other bushes several metres ahead of me and stayed there motionless for ages. I had expected to see it was a  robin but quickly realised it was in fact a brambling!  As I edged to one side to get a better view I expected it to fly off into the bushes, but it didn't move.  I watched it for several minutes on the ground and took a few photos, but then it  flew a couple of metres onto a fallen branch.  It was then I noticed that its eyes seemed half shut, which made me wonder if it was in fact unwell. However a few other photos did show it with eyes open so I am unsure!  After walking on  for another 5 minutes I returned to find it had only moved a short distance away from where it was before. 

It was a good opportunity for some photos and also another tick for the year list even though, sadly,  its health was questionable. 

STANTON PARK WOODLAND

Only a short visit to Stanton Park this afternoon to get some fresh air before it rained, but worthwhile as I added jay and tree creeper to my year list.  

I put out some bird seed and peanuts on the feeding tray which soon attracted the usual species; dunnock, robins, blue tit, great tit, coal tit, marsh tit, nuthatch and blackbirds. I spotted a tree creeper moving quickly up a nearby tree, and as I hoped, a  couple of jays were soon attracted by the peanuts but stayed high in the branches.  With a bit more time, (and peanuts) I think they might have ventured down. However, they were in competition with three squirrels who were keen to get their share first. 

Next time I think I will need a greater supply of peanuts to allow enough for both jays and squirrels! 

benches around the feeder

blackbird

marsh tit

jay

squirrel waiting to get on the feeder

robin

nuthatch

tree creeper moving faster than my camera!

RUSHY COMMON

I spent an hour or so at Rushy Common today, it was grey and cloudy and not particularly warm although it did seem to brighten up once or twice. 

There were several cars in the car park so I expected a full hide , but on opening the door I found it was empty.  The lake had good numbers of birds on it, including a large flock of lesser black backed gulls. There were also wigeon, tufted ducks and a couple of gadwall, with shoveler and mallard around the fringes.  A grey wagtail also landed on the distant shore next to a solitary lapwing. 


However most activity was in front of the hide, around the feeders and long grasses. Blue tits and great tits visited the feeders, with a dunnock   feeding below. A flock of around 8 long tailed tits passed through a couple of times, pecking at the seed heads, whilst a couple of wrens appeared and a goldcrest came out into the open. Shortly before I left, a male and two female bullfinches made an appearance in the bare trees next to the hide.

Nothing special but a few more ticks for the year.  

blue tit

bullfinch

goldcrest

long tailed tit

wren

SLIMBRIDGE FIRST VISIT 2018

Today was my first visit to WWT centre at Slimbridge in 2018. It's been dull and damp for the past few days so when  I saw that today was expected to be sunny in the afternoon I thought I'd spend a few hours there to get my yearly count well underway. 

I learned that it had been foggy during the morning but on my arrival  at 1 pm it  had turned into a beautiful day, much milder and no wind. I decided that my best plan was to visit the hides on the Holden Walkway where most of the wildfowl had been enjoying the flooded fields. 

From the various hides, I was able to see  both white fronted and barnacle geese , and the presumed escapee,  a red breasted goose, although the latter was too distant to photograph. 

The water rail showed well from time to time, and I eventually caught up with the two little stints which have been visiting the Rushy Pen. 

barnacle and white fronted geese

the sole Bewicks swan remaining on the Rushy Pen

redshanks

greylag goose

shelducks

flight of the lapwing

little stint in front of lapwing

tufted duck

water rail

shelduck - sorry about the gull behind !

As I prepared to leave, the mist rolled in again. 

Highlights of today's visit:

buzzard, pintail, wigeon, shoveler, shelduck, teal, pochard white fronted goose, barnacle goose, (red breasted goose) Bewick swan, crane, dunlin, lapwing, little stint, snipe, curlew, redshank, ruff, water rail, black tailed godwit, 

BIRDING AT A DISTANCE

Weather cloudy and cold so I decided to wrap up, and with soup and hot chocolate on board, made my way into my neighbouring county of  Oxfordshire. I wanted to check out Port Meadow as a birding destination, but on the way I stopped off at the little village of Northmoor where yesterday there were reports of hawfinches in the village churchyard.  

There has been an influx of hawfinches this year (like waxwings last year) so I've been keen to see one, as I've never seen one before. As I wondered where the church actually was and where to park, I spotted someone with a give-away long camera lens and stopped to ask. He offered to wait while I parked and we chatted as we made out way to the church. Unsurprisingly there a were a few others already there who  confirmed they'd seen at least nine in the tops of the bare trees and in the yews. 
It wasn't long before we could make out the shape of a hawfinch at the top of a tree. The sun had come out just before I arrived but didn't last long. Long enough for a few record shots though. During my visit we saw at least two different individuals, male and female.

I then headed off to Oxford, where I eventually found Port Meadow Nature reserve, which consists mainly of  a meadow which attracts many wildfowl when floooded in winter.  

Most birds were at a distance though, so I couldn't get any good photos,  though I did add another seven species including goosander to my list for the year so far. 

HAPPY BIRDING 2018

With cloudy, damp weather for New Year's Day and an invitation to lunch with my sister, I decided to stay local for  my first birding of the Year.

After 8 species seen on my garden feeders (robin, blackbird, blue tit, great tit, starling, wood pigeon, house sparrow and goldfinch)  I headed over to a very muddy  local country park at Stanton Fitzwarren, to see if I could add a few more species. It is my local hotspot for nuthatches and marsh tits, and these were soon seen as I stood away from the bird table after stopping to top it up with bird seed.  Two of each of these were seen, together with coal tit . On the water were mallard, coot and mute swans.

marsh tit

black headed gull

nuthatch

robin

blue tit

coal tit

As I left the country park, it began to rain and this became heavier as I got home.Later,  through the window, during  a delicious roast lamb dinner at my sister's house in Faringdon, I spotted a red kite circling over their garden ready to swoop on the lamb bone put out ready, although it did not actually  come down while I was there. 

After stopping back home to change, I drove over to Lower Moor Farm in the Water Parks, where I was hopeful of seeing bullfinches and possibly  a reed bunting.  

A lot of water was laying around on the entrance to the nature reserve and I was glad of the wellies again. It is only a short walk to the hide from the car park, and I sat down at the window overlooking the feeders, with the lake on my right. A  male bullfinch was sitting in a nearby bush whilst numerous blue tits and great tits feasted on the peanuts in a hanging feeder.  

During my visit there, I also saw dunnock, magpie, male reed bunting, long tailed tits and male and female chaffinches. As the light began to fade, the bird table became a frenzy of activity, with three bullfinches,  2 male and 1 female all joining in 

A nice start to the new year.

male bullfinch

great tit

view across lake in the late afternoon sun

reed bunting

long tailed tit

long tailed tits