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.
