SPRING IS COMING AT COATE WATER

A pleasant hour or so spent at Coate Water as I had to renew my permit for the hides. Nothing much going on at Hide 1, but  the lane between the two hides was alive with birdsong, with severa malel blackcaps seen and heard as well as chiffchaffs. The common sandpiper reported yesterday was no longer around. Birds seen today were canada geese, mute swans, gadwalls, tufted ducks, great crested grebes, mallards, blue tits, great tits, chaffinch, reed bunting, grey heron, blackcap, chiffchaff, wood pigeon, blackbird, robin, herring gull, lesser black backed gull, moorhen  and coot. 

reed bunting

pair of mallard amongst cowslips

canada goose

male gadwall

coot gathering nest material

OUSE WASHES RSPB

A mix of cloud and sunshine, but thankfully no wind, for a visit to this RSPB reserve. Highlights for me included  a lone whooper swan, plenty of black tailed godwits, resplendent in red  summer plumage, also a number of tree sparrows, though these preferred the feeders seen through the window of the visitor centre rather than being visible outside which wasn't great for photos, Also what I think was a marsh harrier which glided low over the bank in front of us and disappeared over the reeds, and my first swallow of the year.
Other species seen, included heron, oyster catcher, redshank,  avocet, great crested grebes, mallard, tufted duck, mute swan, gadwall, teal, shoveler, shellduck, wigeon, black headed gull, pied wagtail, (was hoping for yellow but none seen) reed bunting, house sparrow, red legged partridge, pheasant, greater spotted woodpecker, chaffinch, bluetit, dunnock,  coot, moorhen, robin, song thrush and blackbird. (32 species). A few photos below.

a lone whooper swan

greater spotted woodpecker

a trio of tree sparrows

reed bunting - loved the colouring, shame it was looking the wrong way!

FARMOOR RESERVOIR

As it was a nice day I drove over to Farmoor reservoir with the hope of seeing the red-necked grebe and possibly some yellow wagtails. As I started walking round the smaller of the two reservoirs, the great northern divers were pointed out to me; I had seen them last year but it was worth trying for some better photos. I spoke to a couple who had just been watching a pair of yellow wagtails but they had been frightened off and unfortunately didn't reappear for me. Eventually I located the red necked grebe, which was attracting several photographers.  
Species seen during my visit: great northern divers, red necked  grebe, great crested grebe, mallard, tufted duck, pied wagtail, heron, house martins, cormorant, greylag geese, meadow pipit, wheatear. 

great northern diver

meadow pipit

pied wagtail

red necked grebe

greylag goose

RETURN TO STANTON PARK

After a week away, I returned to Stanton Park. A lot of work is currently being done by  volunteers(?) to tidy up the park. Although not there for long, I did spot a good number of singing chiffchaffs, goldfinch, goldcrest, jay, coal tit, bluetit, great tit, chaffinch, swan, 2 male, 1 female teal, mallard, moorhen, coot, blackbird, jackdaw, nesting wood pigeon.

male teal

female teal

nesting wood pigeon

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

Yesterday's beautiful weather brought out the Brimstones. (I saw 12 of them from the car window)  I also saw a  small tortoiseshell butterfly, plus bluebells and white bells. At Langford lakes, all was peaceful. Species noted were tufted duck, mallard, great crested grebe, swans, greylag geese, canada geese, reed bunting, pheasant, blackbird, blue tit, robin, dunnock, coot, moorhen, lapwing, gold crest, green sandpiper grey wagtail, An osprey would have been nice, but sadly none appeared!

chaffinch

lapwing

grey wagtail

canada goose

not sure about this one!

bluebells

white bells

MARSH TIT AND MORE AT STANTON PARK

An unexpected day off and a sunny morning and I popped down to Stanton park with the aim of enticing those jays down! 
It was busy at the bird table, with plenty of blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits and coal tits visiting, together with a pair of nuthatches, several robins, dunnock and male chaffinch.  But no jay. I did spot it high in the trees though but it didn't come closer. 
As I got up to leave, a marsh tit flew past straight to the bird table and I was able to get a nice  shot of it eating its nut on a branch close by. 
Spring is definitely in the air with sheep and lambs and jackdaws nest building. 

coal tit

singing robin

nuthatch

dunnock

marsh tit

sheep and lambs

jackdaw nest building in tree hole

COATE WATER

Spring must have arrived, as I saw my first Brimstone butterfly of the year; it flew past just as I got in my car to go to Coate Water. Well, it is the first day of spring today.
Water rail, reed bunting and kingfisher (flypast) all seen at Coate Water today, together with, the usual waterfowl and woodland species. 

water rail which appeared for just a few seconds.

pair of canada geese

reed bunting

chaffinch