COATE WATER

Stopped on the way home today to take this photo of a red kite, one of  4 that I regularly see in a field in Southrop. This one was just about close enough for a photo. 

Red kite

As it was a sunny afternoon I spent a couple of hours at Coate water country park. Only a few people around today and the lake was being used by a rowing club, so pushing all the birds towards the nature reserve.

On and around the main lake I saw Canada geese, mute swans, mallards, coots, moorhens, pied wagtail, tufted duck, great crested grebe, magpie,goosanders, goldcrest, grey heron, black headed gull, lesser black backed gull, blackbird.

At Hide 1 there were also  the usual blue tits, great tits, robin, dunnock, chaffinch and wren and at Hide 2 gadwall, shoveler..

Some nice close ups of an obliging grey heron today

blue tit

male goosander

grey squirrel helping himself to nuts

a wren hiding in the reeds

STANTON PARK

I had an hour or so to spare so popped over for a short visit to my local country park. Having set up the bird table with some tempting peanuts and seeds, my patience was eventually rewarded with a visit from one of the park's resident jays.  Other birds seen included mallards, mute swan, long tailed tit, bluetit, great tit, nuthatch, grey wagtail, dunnock, chaffinch, robin, blackbird, coot, crow, heron.

jay

robin

nuthatch

another robin

mute swans

thatch

COATE WATER

Since New Year's Day I have seen a few further species: Red Kite, kestrel, buzzard,greenfinch.

Spent a couple of hours at Coate Water Park today. Species seen on the main lake and at the two hides included:

bluetit, great tit, robin, dunnock,  greater spotted woodpecker, jay, moorhen, coot, mallard, mute swan, snipe, stock dove, shoveler, teal, gadwall,  goosander, grey heron, tufted duck, canada goose, kingfisher, black headed gull, long tailed tit, mistle thrush, magpie.


As you can see I have decided to colour code in red, new species for the year.

black headed gull

a rather miserable stock dove

shoveler

dunnock

coot

canada geese

mallard (m)

long tailed tit

mallard (f)

RUTLAND WATER NATURE RESERVE

Had a good day out at Rutland Water on New Year's Day with a total count of over 50 species which included a couple of new ones for me.
Birds seen were blackbird, bluetit, great tit, chaffinch, collared dove, dunnock, goldfinch, magpie, robin, wren, wood pigeon, bullfinch, coal tit, marsh tit, long tailed tit, green woodpecker, pheasant, lapwing, golden plover, crow, rook, jackdaw, redwing, pied wagtail, coot, cormorant, curlew, gadwall, goldeneye,  Canada geese, greylag goose, Egyptian goose, goosander, great crested grebe, green sandpiper, snipe, redshank, little egret, great white egret, grey heron, mute swan, mallard, tufted duck, shoveler, shellduck, pintail, pochard, wigeon, teal, kingfisher, moorhen, black headed gull, herring gull, lesser blackbacked gull.

After a frosty start, it was mainly a cold, bright day  with occasional sunshine. I have put a  few of my favourite  photos  below.

mixed flock of lapwing and golden plovers

green sandpiper

little egret

great white egret

a pair of curlews

greylag geese

male bullfinch

female bullfinch

snipe

Stanton park

Another sunny day so took a walk at Stanton park. The first birds I saw were a goldcrest and tree creeper, then on the lake were a male teal, mallards and mute swans. No goosanders today. I made my way round to a bird feeding station with some benches near it, where I joined a couple of  others to take some close ups of garden birds. Saw nuthatches, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, chaffinches and robin. 

bluetit

male chaffinch

coal tit

female chaffinch

great tit

nuthatch

robin

Coate water

Lovely weather so got out to Coate Water. As expected the hides were busy, but managed to find a seat! Highlights from today were  wren, dunnock, greater spotted woodpecker (m and f), robin, bluetits, great tits, long tailed tits, gadwalls, mallard, mute swan, herons, tufted duck, coot, moorhen, shoveler, great crested grebe, goldcrest, chaffinches, kingfisher, cormorant, canada goose, pochard. 

long tailed tits

greater spotted woodpecker

a couple of mallards

mute swan

blue tit

gadwalls ( mand f)

kingfisher