TWO LOCAL VISITS

Friday dawned frosty and slightly foggy before clearing to a day of blue skies and winter sunshine; as has been the case on the preceding couple of days.  It was my usual weekly day off and I made the most of it by visiting a couple of local sites. . I'd already visited Stanton Park earlier in the month on a rather damp day so  thought I'd  try and get some photos of the regular woodland birds while it was sunny. The feeding stations were mainly empty so I added some peanuts and seeds of my own and waited to see what would appear.  

It didn't take long for the usual blue tits and great tits to find the food, also three robins, a dunnock, a couple of chaffinches, coal tit, marsh tit. and nuthatch.  A blackbird also made an appearance and my first song thrush of the year.  Up in the tree tops I'd already spotted a jay and on the lake were lots of gulls, including lesser black backed gull. 

After lunch I met up with the local U3A birding group for a walk around Highworth's country park at Pentylands, We started by walking up part of the hedge lined lane I'd not  used before which runs past Highworth's sewage plant. Here we saw both pied and grey wagtails. We could only walk on part of the fields as they are currently being dug up  by Thames Water to lay a huge pipe across the middle and you can't get across  from one side to the other.

However, we did manage a total of 30 species between us, and I was pleased to see my first bullfinch of the year although too far off to photograph. 

blue tit

coal tit

nuthatch

blue tit and marsh tit

marsh tit

nuthatch with robin playing 'peekaboo'!

sheep in the mist

song thrush

FARMOOR REGULARS AND NOT SO REGULAR

 I paid another visit to Farmoor Reservoir today to ensure the Great Northern Diver was added to my 2022 list. It was not in the same area as last time, and I wondered if it may have left but another birder told me it was  quite close in further along the causeway, and I soon found it; the water was  a lot calmer here so maybe that's why it  had moved. It was giving some more great views and I watched it for a while though didn't see it bring any crayfish to the surface today. 

The female scaup wasn't where I'd seen it before either but I did scan a few tufted duck flocks and didn't find it. Admittedly I didn't walk too far along the western bank as I planned to  go on to Radley Lakes to look for a ringed neck duck ( which sadly I couldn't find, though it was there apparently) .

I did manage to add little and great crested grebes to my list but nothing else, having had a successful 'water bird' day at Slimbridge on Saturday. 

great northern diver

little grebe

great crested grebe

NEW YEAR BIRDING WITH AN UNEXPECTED BONUS!

I started my new year's birding with a trip to  WWT Slimbridge. I had read that the forecast was for a dry day so set out soon after 9 a.m. but was then dismayed to experience heavy rain for much of the latter part of my journey. I couldn't check my phone for the forecast but decided to carry on and in fact as I drew up in the carpark, thankfully the rain stopped and as the day wore on, the clouds gradually thinned and it turned out a  pleasant and mild day with an occasional burst of sunshine. 

There were large numbers of birds to be seen from many of the hides, including huge flocks of golden plover, teal and wigeon.  As expected there were a good number of birders also starting on their year lists, which in some ways was helpful as I could hear them pointing out birds that I may have missed!

I managed to achieve a list of 46 birds today, though I read afterwards that 80 had actually been seen at Slimbridge, but obviously you can't be everywhere at the same time! 

The highlight of my day, however, came right at the very end of my visit, when I stopped by, as usual, for a last look at the Rushy Pen prior to returning to my car. I had just slipped into a place by the window when a shout went up 'glossy ibis' and it flew in and landed on the central causeway. It stopped and preened for about five minutes  whilst a flurry of camera clicking went on, before it flew off again.  I had heard that the ibis had been around in the past few days but lately it had been in one of the fields outside the centre and therefore it was a most unexpected but welcome sighting, and one which I had not had  in 2021.

 

OUT FOR A DUCK AT THE END OF THE YEAR

Having not succeeded in adding a scaup to my 2021 year list, I decided to try and rectify that on the final day of the year by visiting Farmoor Reservoir where a scaup has been present for a couple of weeks.   After a wet mornng, the forecast was for a   little sun at around 1pm so I drove over to Farmoor Reservoir

. It was quite blustery to start with but as I crossed the reservoir, the sun appeared from behind the clouds and the wind seemed to drop a little. I watched the great northern diver which has been there for a while now,  as it worked its way across the reservoir, diving for crayfish, and submerging for around 45 seconds each time. 

At the far end were groups of tufted ducks,  thankfully not too far from the shore,  and it was here I started scanning for the female scaup with its white flash around the bill. With the sun out, I soon found it,  as the white showed up well.  Hopefully both species will remain for a few more days so that I can put on them on my 2022 list too! 

BRAMBLING FEST BUT NO OWLS

 Today I drove over into the Cotswolds where I'd read about large numbers of bramblings and other finches feeding on a farm track. I wasn't exactly sure where to g- , the reports described a 'gate on a bend' so I used my OS map together with Google maps to check out some possible locations.  I eventually found the place I was looking for; there was space for a car to pull up in front of the gate, and I could see many birds on the ground feeding where a farmer had evidently been leaving seed for them.  With the weather being rather dull and the finches being very flighty with any movement I was only able to get a few photos through my front windscreen, with the bars of the gate making viewing difficult.  I will endeavour to come back when I have a little more time and the weather is brighter.

I then went on to a location where most years it is possible to see both short eared and barn owls quartering an area of rough grassland. With nothing to be seen, I walked over to the occupants of the only other car present.  I was told that the owls hadn't yet been seen this year, which was rather disappointing, but they did tell me that the area I'd seen the bramblings was a popular one for birders as the farmer puts out seed every year. Something to remember!  

Poor quality photos but shows the numbers of bramblings

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER

 

I paid a short visit to Farmoor Reservoir this afternoon on a rather overcast  day. The purpose of my visit was to see a juvenile great northern diver which had recently been reported there and was giving very good views. It wasn't my first sighting of this year as only a week or so ago there had been one on the Cotswold water parks which I'd been to see, though that one was more distant. 

I wasn't sure where it would be, so thought I'd wait until I met someone who looked like a birder and ask, but, in fact, as I started out along the causeway, I looked over to my right and there it was, probably about 30 m out from the shore!  I could easily have missed it as it was diving frequently and for long enough to not realise it was there. 

I continued walking and stopped to enquire from a group of three birders, whether they had seen the scaup which had been there for a week or more but it seemed as if no one had had seen it. I had intended to come before  but it looks as if I've dipped that one this year. 

However, as I walked further along, I did spot a cormorant struggling with a rather large fish... which he eventually discarded I think. 

WATER RAIL AND WHITEFRONTS

 

Today was probably my last visit of the year to Slimbridge WWT, unless something mega interesting turns up in the final two weeks of the year. 

Rain was forecast for the afternoon, so I planned to get there soon after opening time, to make the most of the dry, although overcast, weather.

My main interest today was to find a water rail and some white fronted geese, as I missed both of these at the beginning of the year, due to lockdown. 

I started, as I always do, by looking in at the Rushy Hide. This was probably the busiest place of all today, with quite a few of the Bewick's swans still present after their morning feed. Many pintails and shelducks were also to be seen, as well as shovelers, mallard, tufted ducks and pochards. A lone avocet could also be seen feeding towards the back of the ponds. 

A visit to the Willow hide provided me with the first of my target birds; a water rail was already picking up seed from  the bird feeding areas and stayed around for a while. I stayed to watch though it  would probably be around for much of the day intermittently. There were also several teal present. 

Many of the other hides were relatively quiet, so I made my way to the other end of the reserve, hoping to find some geese. From the kingfisher hide only a few Canada geese were to be seen, although there was a large flock of golden plover flying around overhead. There have been some brent geese present recently but these were not currently visible. Someone kindly enquired if I'd seen the whitefronts, which I hadn't, so I was pleased when they told me that they could be seen from the neighbouring hide, which I had passed by, but by looking back over the reserve rather than out to the estuary.  I soon found them along with some greylags, so that was my second tick of the day. 

With plenty to do back home, I decided to end my visit slightly earlier than usual and head home.

A busy Rushy Pen

Smart pintails

Bewick's swan

water rail

white fronted geese