We started in Neigh Bridge car park where we managed to get
views of a grey
wagtail and a blue
tit. We then headed over to the edge of the first lake where a great
crested grebe was resting and a moorhen
was looking lost in the middle of the lake. In the bushes here we saw our first
redwing,
blackbird
and an all too brief view of two mistle
thrush. We also briefly saw robin,
wren
and goldcrest. We headed along the road and had the first of many very
brief views of song
thrush and bullfinch
as they quickly disappeared!
On the next lake we saw a large flock of red-crested
pochard, also present were cormorant,
coot
and mute
swan. As we headed on down the lane we picked up dunnock,
jackdaw,
magpie
and carrion
crow. We also started bumping into mixed tit flocks and were lucky enough
to see more goldcrest as well as great
tit, long-tailed
tit and chiffchaff. We also managed to see a great
spotted woodpecker, woodpigeon,
treecreeper,
fieldfare,
jay
and an all too brief view of a goldfinch
and chaffinch.
At the big lake with the housing at the back we managed to
add teal,
tufted
duck, wigeon,
pochard,
black-headed
gull and common
gull to our fast growing list.
We moved on to the next lake seeing more robin and
long-tailed tit as we did. At the next lake with the recently cleared viewing
area we had views of little
egret, grey
heron, gadwall,
mallard
and shoveler and a kingfisher tried to slip by without us seeing it, it didn't quite manage it!
We headed over to a large lake with islands where we had
great views of tufted duck, great crested grebe and cormorant in their day
roost in the trees.We then worked through the scrub seeing more redwing,
blackbird, song thrush and robin. Some careful searching gave us clear signs of otters in the are with spraints and food remains being found.
Then onto the next lakes where we saw a group of goosander
as well as more gadwall, moorhen, coot and tufted duck. We continued to see redwing flushing ahead of
us, as well as song thrush and more elusive bullfinches. We worked our way back
through the scrub to the road where we had great views of a great spotted
woodpecker at the top of a tree.
A great walk with the bushes full of thrushes and the lakes starting to fill up with waterfowl of many species!
(NA)