We started off from the car park and visitor centre at Lower
Moor Wiltshire Wildlife Trust reserve. In the first few bushes were the first
of many robin
and wren.
 |
| Robin |
We arrived at the first hide where we could see four wigeon
on the far side and a confiding pair of mallard
flew in and swam right up to the hide. Once we’d refilled the feeders, blue
tit and great
tit were in and out grabbing food. Kingfisher
kept calling but managed to stay out of sight.
We worked our way towards the next hide, on the way we
checked out the main lake where a male mute
swan was busy evicting that year’s youngsters. Also present were a
number of cormorant
in the trees. Just after this we spotted an otter
fishing out in the middle of the lake – great stuff!
 |
| Autumnal view from the hide |
At the next hide the grey heron spotted us and was gone
before we sat down, also present were more wigeon, mallard and mute swan. A
pair of gadwall
flew in to let us see their lovely plumage up close.
We moved on past he impressive cattle shed to Clattinger Farm
where we started seeing fieldfare
and redwing
in great numbers, perhaps 500 birds in total. We also had fleeting glimpses of long-tailed
tit and goldcrest
while walking round the fields. Flying over were siskin, lesser redpoll and yellowhammer.
It was then back to the hides to look for the elusive
kingfisher, where the mute swan were still resting (NA).
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| A snoozing Penn |
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