WHOOPER SWANS AT LECHLADE

It was a dismal day weather-wise today so I abandoned my original plans to go out in the morning,  and instead got down to some much needed housework and tidying up!  However, by two o'clock it had brightened up a little, so  before paying my parents their regular Saturday afternoon visit,  I decided to pop down to Lechlade where, earlier in the week, my cousin  Jon had  had found three whooper swans amongst a flock of mute swans feeding in one of the fields opposite Riverside park. Actually this is on my way to work each day, but on each occasion I'd looked so far, the swans had been distant and I had been unable to find a safe place to stop on the busy A361.  

But being Saturday I reckoned the road would be less busy and in fact I had already earmarked a gateway opposite the field which might prove a good viewing point.
After  I'd pulled up in the gateway, I got my binoculars ready to scan the small groups of swans, some of which were a lot nearer than on previous occasions. I focussed on the first groups, and there they were, yellow bills, brightening up the dullness;  the three Whoopers feeding amongst the mute swans, only a few miles from my home!   

  

DOWN IN THE WOODS

I had a couple of trips to local(ish) woods this week where the bare trees make it a lot easier to locate the species you are looking for. Earlier this week I took advantage of the sunshine for walk in Oakley Wood near Cirencester (known for Pearl fritillary butterflies in early summer) and although unsuccessful in  my search for bramblings, I did find a few siskins feeding along side goldfinches in the alder trees. 

Then today I took the opportunity to pay one of my regular visits to Stanton Country Park, where I clocked up a further five species for my year list; tree creeper, goldcrest ( lots of them about today but mostly high in the trees and still not enabling a decent  photo!), marsh tit, nuthatch and jay.

dunnock

blue tit

great tit

marsh tit

nuthatch

tree creeper

wood pigeon

robin

SLIMBRIDGE IN THE NEW YEAR

It was a lovely sunny afternoon at Slimbridge for my first visit of 2019 and I was able to add a number of winter migrants to my list so far this year before they return to breed in warmer climates. Two species I didn't see, however, were the brent goose, which had been feeding with the barnacle geese for the past few week, also a yellow browed warbler  which was  found in the grounds yesterday and seen this morning, but it reportedly flew into a window and its whereabouts was unknown by the afternoon.
However, a highlight of today's visit was not one but three water rails seen feeding  out in the open feeding from the willow hide. Also both a jack and common snipe on the same 'island' viewed from the Martin Smith hide. 

birds gathering for afternoon feed

pintails

Bewick swans

water rail

two of the three water rails

common snipe

house sparrows

shelduck

white fronted geese

wigeon

Canada and barnacle geese

greylags

Bewick swans

greylags

NEW YEAR BIRDING

My first birding trip of the year was to Rutland water with my sister, during a visit to Cambridgeshire, . We arrived early on a cloudy but dry and still day. A reasonable number of species seen  (50); highlights included marsh harrier and a  jack snipe, which was only a few metres  from one of the hides, but so cleverly camouflaged whilst resting,  that  you could only make it out with  binoculars!!  Also good to see a great white egret fly in and land right next to a little egret. Other species of note included smew, goldeneye and goosander. Regretfully  we were not able to add four of the five grebe species on the reserve to our list, as they could only be seen through a telescope :( An interesting addition to our visit was watching an otter swimming around amongst a few swans on an area known as the Northern Arm.

little and great white egrets

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female smew

reed bunting

END OF YEAR AT STANTON PARK

I paid my final visit of the year to Stanton Park, where someone had helpfully scattered bird seed around the park, enticing some of the regular species/

coal tit

grey heron

marsh tit

nuthatch

robin

A FEW PHOTOS FROM SLIMBRIDGE 20 DEC

view over tack piece

pintail

Bewicks

common and jack snipe

shelduck and pintail

view from hide

A MORNING STAR AND AN AFTERNOON AT OTMOOR

This was the view from my bedroom window when I opened the curtains yesterday... a crescent moon and a bright star close to it as the sun began to rise. As it happened, the bright star turned out to be the planet Venus, shining brightly due to its closeness to earth, but I didn't find that out until the evening! 

Having had a bright, frosty morning, I headed over to RSPB's Otrmoor reserve straight from work, arriving at 1 pm.  The car park only held a few vehicles and I hardly saw anyone as I walked down the track and along the bridleway to the Wetland hide. As this blog shows, I hadn't been out and about for a while due to some inclement weather and even now  the sun was hastily disappearing behind the gathering clouds and  at 2 oclock it seemed as if dusk wasn't far off. 

Along the track the bird feeders were attracting plenty of tits and finches whilst a couple of grey squirrels were foraging for spillages underneath. Flocks of fieldfares with a few redwings could also be seen in the trees that edged the bridleway. 

From the wetland hide, reed buntings, and goldfinches were regularly seen and from the first screen were the expected wildfowl; gadwall, teal, mallards, shovelers etc. 

The main attraction at this time of the year is the 80,000 starlings that form regular murmurations over the reed beds, but with nearly a mile to walk from the carpark, and the possibility of being caught in rush hour traffic around Oxford I opted to leave earlier. Returning to the car, starlings were gathering on the overhead wires, as if waiting for a signal that their show was about to start!

redwing

female reed bunting

male reed bunting

gathering starlings ( and clouds!)