AUTUMN MORNING IN THE CWP AND A NEW PERSONAL RECORD

 There was a definite chill to the air this morning when I visited the Cotswold Water Park. In particular I was looking for whinchats at Blakehill nature reserve, as that would give me   a personal record of 175 bird species seen in a year. Whinchats are migratory and last year I didn't see any at all  but today I was hopeful as there had been some recorded there recently. Blakehill is an old airfield which can become very windy but today there was very little wind and with the sunshine it became quite pleasant as the air temperature warmed up. 

The main track is bordered by post and wire  fencing and I kept my eyes focussed on these, as birds are  more easily seen when they fly up to perch on the fence posts. After a while, I noticed several birds on some posts and wire a bit further on.  I couldn't make out if they were  stonechats or whinchats or something else but, before I got close enough to identify them,  frustratingly, a vehicle came down the track and disturbed them so they flew  off. However,  I continued to walk down the track to a wooden seat  which is often a good point to stop and look. I spoke to a couple of people sitting  there, but disappointingly, they said they had seen several stonechats but no whinchats. I kept walking and it was quite a while before I saw any further  sign of any birds  but eventually I could make out the shape of a bird on a post which was further away, but accessible down a path between some cattle fields. As I got nearer I realised that there were three or four birds perching on the fence and then dropping down into the grass before flying up to the posts again. 

I stopped at a convenient point, so as not to disturb them, and through my binoculars  realised that amongst a few stonechats, there were  whinchats too. You can tell the difference by the white 'eyebrow' that the whinchat has. I had reached my target 175th species, with a few more months in the year, still to go !  I watched them for a time, hoping they might come closer, but only a stonechat came and perched briefly in a  tall bush nearby.  

Next I headed over to Lower Moor Farm nature reserve, Oaksey, where  I was hoping for butterflies, in particular Painted Ladies  which might have been attracted to some buddleia bushes.  However, I only found a large white and a brimstone. By way of compensation I did get  a distant view of  two of the resident otters though and a nice view of a Southern Hawker dragonfly. I did the circuit of the lakes but it was pretty quiet on the bird front.  With limited time I had to resist the temptation to visit the rather attractive Dragonfly cafe,  and instead,  headed home for a late lunch.

stonechat

whinchat

stonechat

 

southern hawker

large white butterfly

Brimstone butterfly

otters

AFTER THE RAIN AT FARMOOR

 Farmoor Reservoir often hosts some 'good' birds at this time of year and earlier this week, there were sightings of greenshank and a little stint. Yesterday's heavy rain also brought in rarities such as Arctic skua and scoters. Sadly I couldn't arrange to get there until today. It had been raining and thundering earlier but looking at the forecast I quickly realised that it was due to dry up midmorning, with rising temperatures and little wind. 

I therefore quickly packed a lunch and headed over to the reservoir to see if anything had turned up. The water was very calm and the air had  a greyness to it, despite  feeling fairly warm.  I picked out a yellow legged gull on one of the buoys to add to my year list. On enquiring, I was told that there were a couple of little terns around, and I soon spotted these, twisting and turning over the water as they flew from  one side of the reservoir to the other, passing fairly close. However, as the weather brightened they disappeared.

I took my time to cross the causeway, looking out for anything unusual. There were many geese (greylags and Canada geese) all along the shoreline and coots, tufted ducks and mallards in the water. There were also good numbers of great crested grebes, now mostly turning to winter grey and white plumage. However, I didn't spot any waders. 

I decided to follow the path all around the larger part of the reservoir, known as F2, I saw a group of common sandpipers, but these were very flighty and I did not get close enough for any photos. There was a raft of cormorants, some little grebes and today the regular flock of  approx 50 feral snow geese was also present. 

Rather than go back to the car, I decided to  go up the causeway again, to see if anything else had turned up. Near to the far side, I caught up with a lady I recognised  who was photographing a turnstone off the side of the causeway. It was very confiding and eventually decided to sit down and rest in front of us! Whilst chatting to her, she expressed an interest in seeing some dragonflies, but was unsure where the ponds and hides were so I offered to show her. From the Pinkhill hide we spotted an emerald damselfly, before being confronted with a group of horned calves who appeared amongst the trees and reeds and waded into the water to munch away at the vegetation. 

Moving to the Shrike Meadow hide along the Thames Path, I showed her the areas of water separated by a little bridge which was a popular area for dragonflies.  We were pleased to see both migrant and southern hawker, together with brown hawkers and ruddy and common darters. Having spent a while there, we headed back to the reservoir and whilst my companion continued around F2, I went back via the causeway once more.  I   saw someone photographing some small waders, and realised that they were juvenile ringed plovers. Although they did not yet have the orange bill or  bright orange legs, they  also did not have the yellow eye ring which distinguishes the little ringed plover. They were feeding alongside the turnstone and seemed unworried by my presence as they ran along the water's edge below me. 

I'd spent longer than anticipated at the Reservoir, but had added 2 more species which brings my total to 174. I'm close to reaching my 175 target  and personal record. Maybe I'd better increase that to 180...