SLIMBRIDGE WITH THE U3a

Today I joined  a dozen members of my local U3A birders group for their annual visit to Slimbridge. Although I left home in sunshine, as I drove along the A417 it began to rain and I wondered if I'd made the right decision to go.  However, the clouds cleared a little and the sun broke through giving a beautiful rainbow over the centre as I approached it.

We spent time at the various hides, and over the day, gathered a total of over 60 bird species between us, which was a pretty good total. We generally stayed together as a group which meant that occasionally we filled up a hide, giving the impression that something rare and interesting was present that was attracting a lot of attention! No new birds for me today, but highlights of the visit included a curlew sandpiper, spotted redshank  and a peregrine. A few of the wintering wildfowl had begun to return, e.g.. pintail and wigeon and I look forward to the first Bewick swans returning in November. One member of our group walked down to the estuary, but I wasn't aware that he had gone, or I may have joined him as his sightings included grey plovers which would have been a year tick for me.  

We managed to get around most of the centre in dry weather, albeit  very windy which made the  wooden hides creak somewhat.  Our last port of call was the Discovery Hide  when it rained  quite heavily for a while, but of course the birds didn't mind and we spent a while checking out the different waders and gulls with the help of an expert guide. We were also pleased when the little egret that someone noted as we entered the hide, turned out to be a cattle egret! 

All in all an enjoyable outing. Apologies for the poor photos but a few from today are shown below. 

snipe

shovelers

large flock of teal

black tailed godwits

cattle egret

PECTORAL SANDPIPER AT LANGFORD LAKES

I've visited the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust reserve at Langford Lakes on several occasions, but today I was particularly hoping to see a new wader for me - a pectoral sandpiper. It had been reported  there for a few days  so I was hoping that it would still be present. Unsure of how popular the reserve would be on a Saturday I left in good time and after a straightforward one and a quarter hour's  journey southwards  I arrived at around 8.30 am. The car park only had three other cars in it which was a bit surprising, but maybe a pectoral sandpiper isn't  a particularly rare species, or most birders have already seen one this year. I had already guessed that the bird would be seen from the Meadow Hide as this tends to be the place where the best birds are seen, so I made for this area, which was at the far end of the reserve. On the way I passed the visitor centre which confirmed on a  blackboard outside that the Meadow hide was the place to look. Entering the hide, I found two other occupants, neither had yet located the pectoral sandpiper, and after a while one of them left. There were around 100 lapwing standing in the shallows and on the islands preening, and ducks too. On the far bank were about 10 snipe, spaced out along the shoreline. 

There was no evidence of any other waders, but as I was scanning the shoreline, a kingfisher flew in and landed on a dead branch which was jutting out of the water. quite near to the hide. Unfortunately, the sun had not got round that far, so the bird was in shadow, backlit by the sun. 

The kingfisher did not stay long though, and I resumed my look for the pectoral sandpiper. Suddenly the other occupant pointed out a sandpiper on the far bank, but it was a green sandpiper.  A couple of other people joined us in the hide, then the original birder, located a wader in the distance with yellow legs, it looked to me like the photos I'd seen but I checked an image on my phone to  make sure. It was slightly larger than a dunlin, with yellowish legs and a prominent pale stripe over the eye.  This particular bird was now at the furthest point away that it could be but thankfully was still visible through binoculars and I watched it make its way round the back of the lake, sometimes running along at speed, and eventually catching up with the  green sandpiper, although they seemed to ignore each other's presence.  

Whilst watching, we were became aware of a flock  of geese, which flew in toward the lake landing with a splash in the water. This was a mixture of Canada geese and greylags and all of a sudden the lake became full of activity (and noise!).  We briefly lost sight of the sandpipers then realised they had moved around to our right, and thankfully a bit closer.  My zoom wasn't good enough to get particularly good pictures but I managed some record shots.

It was now 10.30 so I decided to leave the hide and visit some of the other hides, although these were pretty quiet. The hide overloooking the woodland edge had a sign saying that birdfeeding had been temporarily discontinued due to concerns about disease which was a pity.

The beautiful autumn sunshine made the lakes look lovely as the water sparkled in the sunlight. I bought a coffee from the newly refurbished Kingfisher cafe which had a seating area overlooking one of the lakes and then found a bench in a quiet area by a stream to eat my lunch, during which I was accompanied by a robin  quietly singing in adjacent

 bush.

As I returned to my car, I found a group of people admiring a Southern Hawker dragonfly perched motionless in the hedgerow so I took a few pictures of it, and also a common darter. 

It was still sunny as I made my way back home, after another worthwhile excursion to one of Wiltshire Wildlife trust's lovely reserves.   

pectoral and green sandpipers

pectoral sandpiper

lapwings

kingfisher

view from hide

Langford lakes

view from Meadow hide

southern hawker dragonfly

robin

ALONG THE CAUSEWAY AT FARMOOR

 

After finishing work at lunch time today I drove over to Farmoor Reservoir where a number of waders had been seen on the causeway recently. The causeway is an excellent spot for obtaining close views of a variety of waders as they stop off on their journeys. Yesterday a little stint was reported, and when I checked today I saw that a curlew sandpiper was also present. 

I decided it was worth a visit to see if either of these birds were still there, as I hadn't yet included them on my year list, neither did I see them last year.  

I hadn't gone very far along the causeway when I noticed a group of waders along the shore edge.  A couple of photographers were already watching them and they pointed out to me the little stint feeding amongst  a group of dunlins,, identifiable by its smaller size and patterned plumage on its back, which displayed a white V sign. 

Further along, I was told that the curlew sandpiper was close to the far end, alongside a ruff. It didn't take me long to find them both, as some birders were already there, lenses pointing down at the shoreline. The ruff appeared a little lame, but was feeding easily enough, though spent more time resting than the sandpiper, which continuously made its way searching for food along the edge, then returning the way it had come. 

Having spent quite a bit of time watching and photographing the waders I returned along the causeway, spotting a little egret fishing in the shallows right at the end. A satisfying afternoon!

sailing at Farmoor reservoir

little stint creeping past some resting dunlins !

little stint

dunlin

curlew sandpiper

ruff

little egret

SLIMBRIDGE WADERS

 Having set myself a new yearly bird species target, I went over to Slimbridge WWT centre to see if I could add to my current total. I've not been for a little while so also decided to book myself a place on the morning 'Landrover safari' too. 

I spent the hour or so before the Landrover trip on the Holden Walkway side of the reserve, particularly at the Rushy Hide which had a good number of waders present, including two greenshanks which so far I've not seen this year. 

The Landrover Safari took us across  some different parts of the reserve, including some reed beds  which have matured extremely well after just two years since  making from just a field.  We looked under a number of corrugated pieces of metal but only found one grass snake, which hurriedly disappeared. There were not a great number of different bird species to be seen but above a recently cut meadow about 7 buzzards were circling and there were also curlews on the estuary. A number of dragonflies were present including a migrant hawker dragonfly which remained perched for quite a while in a tree beside the track. 

Back at the centre I walked down to the Zeiss hide to locate a couple of spoonbill  which were also new for this year. 

black tailed godwit

migrant hawker dragonfly

grey wagtail

greenshank

two greenshank

ruff

greenshank

ruff

greenshank and ruff

MORE WADERS AT FARMOOR

 After a somewhat damp morning (rain very welcome) I decided to head to Farmoor reservoir where several waders on my 'still to see' list for 2022 had been reported.

It was cloudy but with little wind so I donned my cotton jacket as I took the route around the smaller of the two reservoirs which was lot quieter, the other having several groups of children having sailing lessons. However  there weren't many birds there really, possibly due to the presence of a lone paddle boarder who was paddling up and down quite close to the shoreline! I did spot a single common sandpiper though but it kept at a distance, flying out from the shore and  back to another spot further away as I walked towards the area it was feeding in. In the bushes on the other side of the path, a common whitethroat was feeding on berries.

Although no rain had been forecast the clouds thickened and as I left the path to go down to  a hide on the nature reserve next to the River Thames it started to spit with rain and then once inside it began to rain in earnest. There was no one else in the hide and no birds to see apart from a buzzard on a distant post which soon flew off. 

I waited a while but soon got bored and decided to risk a wet walk back to the car The rain had eased a tiny bit and in fact it wasn't too bad; I  even stopped to watch some  little egrets at one end of the causeway and at the other end I found a turnstone and a juvenile ringed plover. Lots of sand martins could be seen flying low across the water too. 

My bird list for the year now stands at 159 so I've revised my total end of year target upwards to 170 which would be a yearly record. With 11 more species to find in the next 4 months I'm fairly hopeful...

As I drove home the clouds began to break up and soon the sun appeared.....!

common sandpiper

little egret

turnstone

juvenile ringed plover

ASTON ROWANT AND OTMOOR

With the butterfly season slipping away, it's time to look for my last new butterfly sightings of the year at the nature reserves of  Aston Rowant (silver spotted skipper) and Otmoor (brown hairstreak) so with fine weather and warm temperatures predicted I headed over there this morning. It was a 50 minute drive down to Aston Rowant via the A40 and M40 but the traffic was good and I arrived just before 10am. 

After entering the reserve at the top of the slope  I initially saw very few butterflies apart from  the odd meadow brown. However leaving the main path for a narrow trodden path through the grasses and flowers I disturbed a chalk hill blue, the first of dozens throughout the reserve. However, being fairly early in the day and still fairly cool, most of them were warming themselves up in the sun on the ground, rather than nectaring.   My target species of a silver spotted skipper being far less numerous. I began to look carefully at the flower heads as I walked. After some time, a smallish orangey brown butterfly suddenly whizzed passed and stopped suddenly down in the grass. A closer look revealed a skipper like butterfly with silver flecks on its underwings; my first silver spotted skipper of the year. However It wasn't  easy to photograph and soon flew off.

I spent the next hour or so walking through the site, noticing meadow browns, gatekeepers, common blue, a brimstone and eventually  a total of eight silver spotted skippers which I was pleased with, having only found one last year. 

Leaving the site, I  set my sat nav for RSPB Otmoor, half an hour away, where I hoped to find brown hairstreak butterflies. There had also been some posts about a ruddy shelduck and black necked grebe being seen from one of the viewing screens so if time I thought I'd look for these too. 

I spoke to a gentleman who was searching for hairstreaks at the usual spot on what it known as the Roman Road. He said he'd been looking since 10am and  had had good views of a male and then a very short glimpse of a female but both had now flown off. I waited alongside him for a while then decided to wander further along the path while he went the opposite direction. Suddenly I heard him whistle and saw he was frantically waving at me: a male brown hairstreak had come down and was feeding from a bramble flower where it could be seen well at head height. It stayed there for a ages, and I'd taken as many photos as I needed  and then I suddenly noticed another had just landed on an unripe blackberry right in front of us. It opened its wings to reveal that it was a more brightly coloured female but before we had time to reposition our cameras, it had gone!!  However whilst waiting I did see a few common/ruddy darters, a southern hawker and a brown hawker. Sadly the hairstreak didn't reappear so I decided to take the twenty minute or so  walk to the first screen. The bridleway was very dry, so different to the squelchy mud that I'd had to negotiate earlier in the year!  Only one other person was at the screen, and looking out at the water, I  quickly spotted the bright orangey plumage of the ruddy shelduck as it preened itself alongside three cattle egrets. To the left I found the black necked grebe resting just behind some mallards. 

These brought my total of bird species seen this year to one hundred and fifty-six, just over my total for last year! 

chalkhill blue

two 'chalkies' and a meadow brown sharing the same flower

reserve at Aston Rowant

silver spotted skipper

ruddy shelduck and cattle egrets

ruddy shelduck

juvenile black necked grebe (distant)