Two Winter tours at The Cotswold Water Park

Cotswold Water Park.

With the weather not looking good we started out at one of the smaller reserves within the park, giving us an option to dive into one of the hides if the rain became to persistent.

There were lots of small birds around the feeders with Reed Buntings, Bullfinch, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, both Blue and Great Tit along with a single Chiffchaff chasing insects.

Just before leaving the hide with the weather improving a Kingfisher landed in the tree just yards from the hide giving a brief but very close view always good to see at close range.

Walking around the lakes a pair of Goosander were fishing on the water along with a couple of Cormorants, as we walked around a Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen flying in the treetops and the yaffaling call of a Green Woodpecker was heard in the distance.

A final quick look from the hide found a Roe Deer and a Fox on the middle island.

After lunch we explored a different area with several groups of Redwing and Fieldfare being seen along with Blackbird and Song Thrush.

Out on the water several duck species were seen including Tufted Duck, Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler,  Wigeon, Goldeneye along with several Great Crested Grebe.

On the walk back a Sparrowhawk flew overhead at close range and checking out the evergreen trees we found a couple of tiny Goldcrest feeding on the very outside of the tree, again giving some wonderful views which we watched for about ten minutes as they went about their feeding totally oblivious of us standing there this was the best views we have had of this tiny bird.

With the weather not great today we still saw some wonderful wildlife with our guests highlight being the tiny Goldcrest at such close range.

It just goes to show that you should not be put of by the weather we still managed 45 species of bird and a couple of mammals. DT.

More people than birds on CWP Walk!

One of the things we do that we don't always talk about is helping to promote the Cotswold Water Park (CWP) to a wider audience.

This usually takes the form of leading walks for the Cotswold Water Park Trust. These are for anybody to turn up on the day, there's a small charge by the CWP Trust but that's it. We vary the target species and the one on last weekend was for wintering birds.

Its a good job we both went as there were 45 of us on the walk!

We saw a great selection of waterfowl, including many goosander, the males looking resplendent in the winter sunshine. On one lake there 141 red-crested pochard, which is around one quarter of the UK population!

Male goosander

A lovely male bullfinch sat hardly ten metres from us eating berries from a bush.

The best however was kept to last with five smew seen on the same lake - including a fantastic male, certainly my favourite duck and its hard to disagree when you get a good view of him!

Two male and a female smew from a previous visit

(NA)

Magical moment!

I was recently on a Wiltshire farm leading a trip for the Wiltshire Ornithological Society (WOS), when the following happened.

I had just shut the gate having let the group in and was just heading along the track to catch them up when out of the corner of my eye I saw a kestrel hovering. On this farm this is by no means an unusual sight, but this was different.

This bird was only just the other side of the fence and at about two metres height, in total I couldn’t have been more than ten metres away.

In this one you can see the tiny whiskers around the face.

I turned out the engine and coasted alongside, undid the passenger window and managed to get a couple of pictures, I watched the bird for a while, wings twitching and tail twisting to keep it in the exact spot, the head and body stock still. For a moment it was just the kestrel and me…..ooops the group! I headed off without flushing her and met the group, I forgot about the pictures until I got home.

 

I love this one! The body absolutely still, but this the wings blurred to keep her still and the tail twisting.

 A truly magical moment! (NA)

Late Autumn at the Cotswold Water Park

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)

A day at Pagham Harbour

Today we were meet with lovely sunshine but a stiff easterly wind for our tour.

First stop the ferry pool several small groups of Lapwing along with a few Teal and about twenty Wigeon, a single Green Sandpiper also found on the muddy edge.

A Cetti's Warbler blasted out its call giving a very brief view as it dropped down into a thick bush.

Just as we were about to move off a large bird of prey shot over the top of the pool putting up some of the Lapwing this turned out to be a Peregrine Falcon looking for breakfast. We watched it for a few minutes as it dived at something out in the field but did not see if it had caught anything.

Moving down the footpath towards the estuary we encountered several different birds with Little Grebe calling on the small pool along with Tufted Duck, Coot and Moorhen, also several vocal Curlews rose up out off the marsh along with a few Redshank. A Water Rail called from within the reed bed but we could not locate it so moved on.

Moving a little further down we watched a Sparrowhawk fly out over the marsh but it did not seem to be hunting on this occasion. Checking the fields we found around 30 Skylark feeding along with Meadow Pipits, Pheasant and Red Legged Partridge also a group of a dozen Swallows flew past us on their way back south.

Heading towards the hide we could see several groups of waders out on the mud flats so decided to head into the hide to get a little shelter from the wind and check out the groups.

Scanning through them we found Dunlin, Knot, Grey Plover, Black tailed Godwit, Turnstone and several Little Egrets. We also found the Peregrines again sat out on one of the islands giving some great views through the telescope really showing the size difference between the larger female and the very much smaller male.

Taking lunch in the hide we had a brief view of a Kingfisher as it shot past also a late Red Admiral Butterfly flew by.

After lunch we heading back checking the more tree lined areas and found Great spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Jay, and a very close view of a male Kestrel sat in the tree tops. Smaller birds were harder to find today maybe they were hiding out of the strong wind.

Checking one of the small channels on the way back we found a single Greenshank giving a nice close up view and a single Reed Bunting dropped into the reed bed also a couple of Snipe were seen flying over.

Other birds seen included Pintail, Buzzard, Greenfinch, Stock Dove, Goldfinch and Greenfinch in total a list of 62 birds seen or heard on the day.

Again we struck lucky with the weather no rain but a little windy but still a very enjoyable day at this fantastic bird reserve on the coast. DT.

Half day at The Cotswold Water Park

Today we were greeted with lovely sunshine for our tour around Cleeveland Lakes.

From the car park we could still hear Chiffchaff calling and overhead four Skylarks flew by along with a couple of Meadow Pipits.

Scanning the lakes we found around 50 Cormorants along with over 30 Little Egrets and a good number of Great Crested Grebes.

Numbers of Wigeon are starting to rise now as the winter is on the way also a few more Shoveller are around.

Looking out from the hide we had very good views of both Goldeneye and Black Necked Grebe also a few little grebes.

Moving on to the other hide a good selection of duck could be seen which included the following,
Teal, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Gadwall, Wigeon and best of all two juvenile Pintail.

A couple of Grey Wagtail feed along the muddy edge along with a single Snipe. We heard a Water Rail call but it did not come out from its hiding place, also hearing Cetti's Warbler here too.

Moving on back around the lake we saw both Sparrowhawk and Kingfisher and two tiny Goldcrest were found in the thick hedgerow.

A quick look from the new footpath around lake 83 produced two Stonechat and a couple more Meadow Pipits.

With the warm weather still around we counted four Red Admiral butterflies all around the Ivy bushes along with a few larger Dragonflies.

All in all a very enjoyable walk in the Autumn sunshine.DT

A day at Farmoor Reservoir Oxford

Today we visited Farmoor Reservoir.

A bright sunny morning greated us at this large body of inland water.

First birds seen flying over were a small group of House Martins making their long journey back to Africa.

Scanning the water several groups of Cormorant, Great crested Grebes and Little grebes were found all diving and fishing in the sunshine.

Walking along the middle of the two basins several Pied wagtails were found along with a couple of Grey Wagtails and a single Yellow Wagtail great to see three different types all close together showing their different plumages.

A little further on two Meadow Pipits were found along with two Wheatears.

Around the small nature reserve at the end of the reservoir several Long tailed Tits were calling along with both Blue and Great Tits. Also seen or heard here were Goldcrest, Green Woodpecker, Cetti's Warbler, Reed Bunting, Wren, Robin along with Grey Heron,Moorhen and Coot.

Moving onto another hide we had a very brief view of a Kingfisher diving into the water and a fly past Kestrel also a couple of Chiffchaffs were heard.

After taking lunch in the hide we headed back along the middle of the reservoir picking up several Buzzards riding the thermals along with two Red Kites, out on the water were several groups of Tufted duck and Mallard a few Greylag Geese and a single male Pochard.

Scanning the gull flock we found Black headed, Herring, Lesser Black Backed and a single Great Black Backed gull.

Surprising for this time of year no waders were seen but still a very enjoyable day in the warm sunshine. DT.