This was a new reserve for me, which I discovered yesterday when I was looking for somewhere I could spend my Saturday morning which was predicted to be sunny once the early fog had disappeared. Although in Worcestershire, I discovered from Google maps that it could be reached in only 1 hour 5 minutes from my house; taking my usual route to the M5 then taking the northbound carriageway rather than the south ( which I use when visiting Slimbridge). The reserve is then only a mile from the M5 Junction I needed to exit the motorway. I found I would need to purchase a day permit for £3 as it is only open to local Wildlife Trust Members so I did this on line and printed off the email receipt in case it was required.
I left home at 7.45 and being a Saturday all the roads were relatively clear and I arrived just over an hour later. It had been foggy a lot of the way and the car thermometer was registering 0 degrees. The smallish car park had about five other vehicles in it so after parking I kitted myself out in wellies and warm hat and gloves and made for one of the hides which was accessed by some wooden steps. One other person was already there. From the hide, you looked down over the lake in front of us which was iced over for the main part and visibility wasn't good. I could see and hear some black headed gulls over the other side of a little headland, whilst a group of teal splashed around not far in front of us. After a while a water rail ventured out from the reeds but not for long. At one point a curlew appeared in the mist before something scared it off with many of the gulls. A little wren also hopped about down below the hide.
As this was the furthest hide on the path, I retraced my steps and stopped off at a new hide down a board walk. This one overlooked a frozen pond where nothing stirred, but to the right some metres away was a feeding station which I could see was attracting the expected tits and finches but it was the fog made it difficult to make out exactly what.
It was still pretty chilly as I returned past the carpark and took a path to a further couple of hides. The first of these was at ground level and for weeks (unknown to me) had been a good place to spot a female bearded tit that was overwintering here. I waited with others but with the cold foggy conditions it didn't appear. I had to content myself with photographing some of the birds near the feeders in the frost.
Just nearby was a high level hide which I popped into. More feeders could be seen here which were visited continually by tits, reed buntings, greenfinches etc and a greater spotted woodpecker popped by too. Occasionally the mist seemed to lift a bit, and the lake ahead of us came into view but sadly the promised sunshine never happened.
After four hours it was time to return home, but I'd certainly like to revisit in sunnier conditions.
No comments:
Post a Comment