FROSTY MORNING AT OTMOOR

It's been a while since I've written on this blog, but family matters have taken priority (new grandchild!). A cold but clear morning for my drive over to RSPB Otmoor where there was still frost in the patches not yet reached by the sun.

A fieldfare was in the hedge as I walked along the main track towards the bridleway. A glance at the feeders revealed goldfinch, chaffinch, blue tit and great tits. 

I made my way towards the wetland hide, where there were good views of linnet flocks, chaffinches, reed buntings and blue and great tits. Yellow hammers and bramblings are sometimes seen but I didn't see any today. 

reed bunting

linnet

 Next I walked the 500m to the first screen, on the way  I caught sight of a snipe flying, having been disturbed by a red kite. From the screen which overlooks an area of water, there were gadwalls, mallards, teals and shovelers. Also some snipe, a cormorant, moorhen, coot  and grey heron. 

female shoveler

male shoveler

snipe

 On my return to the carpark there were more red kites and a hovering kestrel. Stopping again at the feeders I saw male and female pheasants and a greater spotted woodpecker. 

Also an interestingly but effectively disguised birder!

With more sunshine forecast next week, hopefully I shall be able to get out and about again. 

A WALK AROUND FARMOOR RESERVOIR

Another lovely autumn day with sunshine, so I drove over to Farmoor Reservoir. It was very quiet, there was no sign of the female common scoter that has visited recently, but I did see a couple of dunlin feeding along the causeway, one of them seemed to have only one leg, and I began to wonder if it was injured as it was hopping along  on one leg at the edge of the water, but suddenly it put the other one down and continued to feed as normal! 

Plenty of coots, cormorants, tufted ducks and mallards, as well as a few little grebe. Also caught sight of a meadow pipit hiding on the other side of the railings. 

dunlin

this bird appeared to have only one leg but....

it suddenly recovered. see below!

meadow pipit

SLIMBRIDGE AGAIN

The clocks have gone back so it will soon be darker evenings and therefore less time to be out and about in the afternoon enjoying nature. With this in mind, I made the trip over to Slimbridge to make the most of the autumn sunshine. The sky was cloudless and there was no breeze.
 The numbers of ducks are increasing now, with the arrival of pintail and wigeon although I was informed today that it'll still be at least a week before the first Bewick swans arrive, as we need an easterly wind and cold air in Europe to tempt them back to the UK! 

Although I saw nothing new or exciting, it was a pleasant afternoon to be out. Species of note included: crane, wigeon, pintail, snipe, curlew, little egret, heron, lapwing, teal, buzzard.
A few photos below give the flavour of Slimbridge at this time of year.

 buzzard

grey heron

lapwing

little egret and snipe

pintail

Rushy Pen gathering of birds

shelduck

wigeon grazing

BEARDED TITS AT WESTHAY MOOR

A few weeks ago someone showed me some photos of bearded tits that they'd taken at Westhay Moor reserve in Somerset, and I thought I'd like try and get down there in the next few weeks if I could. 

Today was the only Saturday I had free and with a reasonable weather forecast  - warm with some cloud and sunshine - I left fairly early for Glastonbury. It was an easy trip via M4/ M5 then ten minutes of country roads the other end, and I arrived at about 20 past 9. 

Having been told exactly where to look, I headed for the boardwalk leading to the island hide, approx 500 metres walk.  I noticed a couple of bird watchers waiting there with cameras at the ready, and yes, they were on the same mission as I was. We waited around for 15 minutes or so, we could hear the bearded tits 'pinging' from the reed beds, and once a couple of them flew across the board walk straight into the reeds on the opposite side. We could also hear  a cetti's warbler and water rails squealing. 

After a further wait, first one  or two, then up to 6 birds flitted through the reeds onto the board walk,  pecking  at the grit that was put down for them ( I must check out why!)  After a few minutes they all disappeared, reappearing at a different spot about 5 minutes later. This happened several times, and the last time, we were able to get with in two or three metres of them. I've never seen bearded tits at such close quarters before, and it was a joy  to watch them. 

boardwalk to the Island hide

bearded tits 

My next stop was  the RSPB Ham Wall reserve, where I spent the next few hours visiting the various hides. seeing a few more bearded tits, a couple of great white egrets, and a marsh harrier, and various other species  noted below:


bearded tits, marsh harrier, great white egret, little egret, shoveler, mallard, gadwall, coot, moorhen, little grebe, swan, greylag goose, cormorant, heron, kingfisher, kestrel, stonechat,
wren

bearded tits Ham Wall

With the mild weather, there were also good numbers of butterflies around, including speckled wood, red admiral, peacocks and a number of whites. 

SLIMBRIDGE IN AUTUMN SUNSHINE

Now that I no longer work afternoons, I thought I'd try and fit in a trip to Slimbridge, going straight from work. The journey took a little longer than on a Saturday morning, but this might have been partly due to the diversions in and around Slimbridge due to road works.
It was mostly cloudy on my arrival, but the clouds gradually cleared to leave a fine afternoon. 

There were ruff, black tailed godwits and redshanks seen from the Rushy Hide, along with little grebe and little ringed plover. 
From other hides I saw green sandpiper, curlew sandpiper, knot, and a party of eight cranes close to the Discovery hide. 

Main species seen included:
lapwing, buzzard, green sandpiper curlew sandpiper, black tailed godwit, grey wagtail, pied wagtail, little grebe, mallard, gadwall, teal, wigeon, shelduck, shoveler, coot, moothen, redshank, ruff, knot, crane, herring gull, blackheaded gull, cormorant, greylag goose, canada goose, barnacle goose, dunlin.

redshank

little ringed plover

cranes

autumn at slimbridge

another crane

black tailed godwit

more autumn colour

outside the visitor centre

swans galore

RED NECKED PHALAROPE

I've been away for the past couple of days so on my arrival home, I checked the local birding blogs. A red-necked phalarope had been found at Farmoor Reservoir a couple of days ago and was there yesterday, so I checked this morning and it had been seen a 8 o'clock this morning.  I decided that this meant that there was a high chance of seeing it today. I've seen a  grey but not red necked phalarope at Farmoor so drove over there, arriving just before 10 am. The car park seemed to be packed full of cars and sailing paraphanlia, evidence of a big sailing event,  so I wondered if this would disturb the bird, but happily no boats had yet been put in the water. 

 A photographer on his way back, confirmed that yes, the phalarope was still very much there, at the far end of the causeway and I could see a number of photographers all congregating at a certain spot. The bird  is very small so I was nearly up to the photographers before I spotted it, a couple of feet away from the shore.  It seemed quite unperterbed by the amount of interest it had caused and I had the chance to take a number of photographs before returning home.

HERE and THERE

The HERE in the title refers to this week in my garden which has seen an increase in garden bird species;  coal tit has come to the feeders for the past couple of days ,having not been seen for months, then a greenfinch appeared today after a long absence. A not so welcome guest, perhaps, was the sparrow hawk which took a great tit from the feeders in front of my eyes! A goldcrest and chiffchaff have also been around, and a couple of juvenile blackbirds.  In the hedges there continues to be red admirals on the ivy and a couple of small tortoiseshells elsewhere in the garden.

List for this week is as follows: chiffchaff, dunnock, blackbird, magpie, great tit, blue tit, coal tit, robin, greenfinch, stock dove, wood pigeon, house sparrows, goldcrest, crow, sparrowhawk

 A few photos from the past couple of days:

juvenile blackbird

small tortoiseshell butterfly

just how many sparrow can fit in one birdbath?!

And look what happens when  I open the window to get better pictures of the birds around the feeders....

...no I didn't let him in!! ( he's not mine anyway!)

The THERE  relates to my morning visit to Farmoor Reservoir. A little stint was reported there yesterday but wasn't seen today but I did get nice views of a wheatear. Also seen were heron, coot, grelag geese, mute swans, mallards, tufted ducks, great crested grebe, blackheaded gull, yellow legged gull, cormarant, grey wagtail, pied wagtail. 

grey wagtail

pied wagtail on the steps

wheatear

grey heron