wiltshirebirder

Other than a local Barn Owl yesterday things have been a bit quiet on the birding front over the last few days. With the weather looking good I had decided to spend a bit of time at the Water park today. On my last visit to Norfolk I met with a birder who was moving to the local area, he is now here and having sorted out the new house wanted to start exploring the area so I offered to show him some of the harder to find areas. After meeting up at the Gateway Centre we headed for Eysey with a look at the main pit followed by the Canal path and then the floods along the Thames. Even with wellies it looked pretty wet and this was confirmed in a message from another birder who had struggled to do the Thames path in waders! There weren’t a great number of birds around but I did manage to year tick Chiffchaff and Sparrowhawk. We then had a look around Castle Eaton and Kempsford, again pretty quiet with sixteen Little Egret about the best. The highlight for me though was the USAF U2 doing training circuits while we were there. We finished off the morning with a hot drink and cake at the excellent Dragonfly Cafe with a quick look in at a very quiet Twitchers Gate.

One of the many things that I haven’t been doing much of since I retired is getting out on my ebike. The plan of, at least a weekly breakfast visit to one of the hides at Coate having been forgotten. So yesterday afternoon I dragged the bike from the garage, charged it and put a bit of air in the tyres. After a bit of an unintended lie-in I set of along the cycle route to Coate. On reaching the hide and opening the shutters I was greeted by a good number of birds. Mainly gulls and Tufted Ducks to be fair but good all the same. First of all I ate my breakfast and then started checking the birds. A hundred and fifty gulls later a look closer to the hide found a Water Rail paddling around under the feeders. It was soon joined by another. I then looked out on the other side of the hide and was amazed to see two more wandering around in the open. I am pretty sure this is the first time that I have seen four Water Rails out at the same time. Another good bird seen was a Shelduck. This one has been around for a while but is still a pretty rare bird here. I then headed home where my first look out at the front garden got me a male Blackcap which for my garden is a bit of a mega.

As usual on Monday found me heading to my Mum’s in London and as always I had checked to see if there were any good birds en-route. A male and redhead Smew certainly qualify as good birds so the Henley Road lakes just outside Reading were to be my first stop. Someone I know had been for the Smew a couple of days previously so I was able to get a bit of information regarding parking and access to what was another new to me site. I found the place with no problem and set up to scan the lakes. Plenty of birds to be seen but Smew was not one of them. A lone white Smew often stands out well on a piece of water but a large amount of Black-headed Gulls loafing around on the water certainly made things difficult, with a bit of wishful thinking, they can, at distance look surprisingly like a Smew. Finally I caught a glimpse of a white shape disappearing under the water, surely the bird I was looking for. After what seemed to be ages the male Smew resurfaced briefly before diving again. It appeared once more before going under again, this time it went out of sight behind an island. However with mission accomplished it was back to the car as I wanted to stop off at Staines Reservoir to try for a Slavonian Grebe. For the second week running conditions at Staines were pretty good with very little wind and hazy sunshine. This was fortunate as a couple of other birders were already looking and had been told by a local that the Grebe was favouring the far bank of the southern reservoir. With three of us looking we soon found a small grebe and managed to confirm it as the Slav. A good result as this gave me all five of the regular grebes seen in January without a visit to the coast. Some more scanning found singles of Brent Goose, Oystercatcher and Great Northern Diver which along with a flyover calling Water Pipit made it an excellent visit.

While I was in Portugal a Ring-necked Duck turned up at Fonthill Lake in the extreme South West of Wiltshire. For a few days after my return I resisted going, despite it being a rare bird for Wiltshire. But last night decided that I would go, I made some lunch and got all of my stuff together ready for a seven a.m start. The alarm went off and I almost changed my mind and didn’t get up. In the end I did and was out the house within ten minutes. I had just reached Marlborough when I realised that I hadn’t had any breakfast and a few minutes later my wife called and asked if I realised that I had left my lunch in the fridge! Luckily I had decided to go Pewsey way so a stop was made at the excellent Marshalls Bakery where a croissant, pain au chocolate and sausage roll were purchased. After a good run down I arrived at the lake for only my second visit here. Another birder was already here and on pulling into the lakeside layby I realised it was Nigel, another Swindon based birder who was well away from his normal CWP habitat. The duck was any easy tick as it was drifting around right out in front of the layby with a GWE in the background, so two year ticks straight away. A flyby Kingfisher made number three. the duck was a nice male and despite the poor light the white tip off the bill was really obvious. Along with the grey sides and head shape, very obviously different to the Tufted it was hanging around with. Despite that they are often pretty hard too pick out at a distance in a large mixed flock. After a short wander along the edge of the lake I got my breakfast from the car but didn’t see much more while I was eating it. Rather than head straight home I had a couple of options, the first was Langford Lakes and the the Plain and the second the By Brook at Box and Corsham Lake. I chose the latter and despite the usual hold-up in the traffic hell of Bradford-on-Avon arrived in Box in about fifty minutes. Target bird here was Dipper with Grey Wagtail also hoped for. First bird seen was a Little Egret that was wandering around on a grassy bank. There was no sign of a Dipper at the Mill Pond and neither did a few minutes sat on the bench that is handily placed to watch the tunnel where the river passes under the railway.

So I headed west along the Brook and got a brief sighting of one as it flew from another small tunnel and away. Grey Wagtail, Treecreeper and Goldcrest were also seen from here. I then headed back to the bench where after sitting for another few minutes had a great view of the Dipper as it flew towards me through the tunnel. Then back to the car and the short drive to Corsham Lake, I have only been here a couple of times before (Hooded Merganser in 2016 being one of them) I had remembered where I had parked before but it now wasn’t allowed so I had to find the new car park which actually was much more conveniently located. A short walk took me to the lake where I found the hoped for Goosander, the bonus here was a dozen of them, nine male and three redheads. A good number of a species of which there are fewer and fewer each year.

I have just been on a short trip to Faro in Portugal. A couple of nights would have been good but I had something booked for the Tuesday so one night it was. With a bit of research and a chat with someone I know who has been there before I found there is a great birding site just a thirty minute walk from the airport. A seven a.m. departure from Birmingham meant leaving home at three, as I mentioned the other day I haven’t missed the early starts from when I was working and the early alarm certainly confirmed that. With an on-time departure and a good tailwind we landed almost thirty minutes early and as I just had hand luggage I was out the airport within fifteen minutes. Unfortunately my phone wouldn’t connect to the internet so I ended up wasting a half-hour talking to Sky to get it sorted. With that done I headed off to the Ludo trail at the PN Ria Formosa reserve. With Flamingos seen from the plane as we were landing and a couple of Hoopoes on the walk to the reserve I was feeling pretty happy.. With the sun out and the temperature climbing I was already regretting forgettingn to bring a baseball cap and was hoping that my clothes which had been great in a freezing UK would also work for me here. I flew out with Jet 2 who have a generous luggage allowance but was returning on Ryanair who don’t, so no scope, just binoculars. It was fingers crossed that this wouldn’t make things a bit frustrating. The reserve looked great and with a seven km circuit shown on the map a good day of birding was in store. I certainly wasn’t disappointed with Sardinian Warblers singing and White Storks overhead in the first few minutes. The only downside was that as it was Sunday and beautiful weather there were a lot of people around and this seemed to have moved the waders away from the path which with no scope was a bit of a shame. There was plenty of other birds to see as I headed along the path between the lagoons. Twenty plus Spoonbill, Whimbrel, lots of YL and Audouins Gulls were all good to see amongst the more regular birds from home. I stopped to eat lunch at an impressive two storey hide overlooking a lake and a golf course. The familiarity of large numbers of Mallard, Wigeon, Shoveler, Gadwall and Pintail was upset by Iberian Magpie, Hoopoe, Purple Gallinule and Common Waxbill. There has been a Yellow-crowned Night Heron here since October and on occasions it has shown really well, obviously while I was around it wasn’t, which was a bit of a disappointment.

Moving on I got to the Salt Pans which had a lot of waders which were a lot closer along with a few Flamingos. By now I was starting to flag, with a combination of early start, a lot of walking and the now 20° temperatures starting to have an effect. Fortunately I was on the last leg and heading back towards the road where I had entered the reserve. The final avian treats were a couple of Caspian Terns amongst a flock of gulls on the lagoons and a fish carrying Osprey passing overhead. I then managed to just miss a bus into the city which meant that I had a fort-five minute wait for the next one. After a thirty minute bus ride I reached the city, it was then a ten minute walk to my Air Bnb where I was extremely relieved to get my shoes off and to have a nice long shower. It was a struggle to force myself out again but I was hungry so it had to be done. Another ten minute walk got me to a nice restaurant where I had some excellent food and some much appreciated beer. My flight home was at 13:25 so I had decided to have another go for the Night Heron. I got a bus at eight back to the reserve with my plan being a brisk walk to the hide and a hour or so looking for the Heron before walking back to the airport. However, as it was a weekday there were a lot less people around which meant that there were many more birds close to the path so progress was slower than intended. Highlights were my first Swallow of the year and a Spotless Starling. Just before the hide a flock of around twenty Waxbills was good to see. From the hide I had forty minutes or so enjoying the birds while eating some very nice Pastel de Nata for breakfast. Unfortunately no Heron again but plenty of other birds to enjoy. On the walk back a final treat was some great views of a Caspian Tern fishing on a lagoon alongside the path. There were also plenty of birds along the road back to the airport with more Hoopoes and Iberian Magpies along with singles of Serin and Crested Lark. After an expensive lunch at the airport and on-time return flight saw me back at BHX for just before four. So a most enjoyable short break with a total of sixty-three species seen. I reckon a scope and a bit more time on the second day would probably have added another dozen or so to the number. Certainly a trip I would recommend and one that I shall be doing again.

On an absolutely gorgeous morning I made my first visit of the year to the area around Folly Farm and Liddington Hill. I drove the short distance to the farm and as I got out of the car a small flock of Fieldfare flew over and I could hear a Corn Bunting singing in the distance. A large number of corvids and Wood Pigeons were flying around as well. I followed the track all the way up to the Ridgeway and there were a good number of birds all along. I walked a little way along towards Liddington Hill but then decided to retrace my steps with a couple of small diversions. It was definitely a good morning to be out with the sun shining from a completely clear sky. I had dressed for the cold but soon found myself getting pretty warm which made a nice change. There were a good number of Skylarks around, none singing but plenty of calling going on. A couple of Bullfinches were a nice surprise as they are quite unusual up here. In all I was out for around two and a half hours and had a total of thirty-one species.

Most Fridays my wife and I have our grandson (age 2½) for the day. With the weather being nice today I suggested Slimbridge might be a nice place to go and the idea was happily accepted. So after having to defrost the car again we headed off. The journey was fine and it is always interesting to see how the work on the missing link project at Birdlip is progressing. At Slimbridge it was a case of slipping in some birding where possible. The Peng Observatory was an obvious place to start and grandson was quite happy watching the swans (only 4 Bewicks) and ducks with his newly purchased binoculars. Then the offer of a walk through a tunnel and a climb up a tower got me Cranes, Little Stint and Barnacle Geese for the year list. Then it was time spent in the adventure and play areas before having lunch in the Kingfisher Cafe. After this it was out to feed the birds and check out the flamingos during which I managed to sneak off to the South Hide to get the seemingly always sleeping Spoonbill. Then there was a bit more exploring done before heading home. We arrived back early enough for me to stroll along to the Chiseldon Floodwater to answer my regular “I wonder how many Mallards will be there today” question. Unsurprisingly, the answer today was zero with the area being totally frozen. The Linnet flock that has had well over a hundred birds recently was down to about thirty and the regular seventy or so Chaffinch were completely absent, possibly as the field that they forage in is also covered in ice.

This morning rather than de-icing the car I instead packed up something for breakfast and set out to walk to the second hide at Coate Water. The route follows cycleway 45 and crosses the M4 by way of the Curly-Wurly footbridge. I can walk it in about twenty-five minutes but at birding pace it takes around twice that. Other than a single Greenfinch nothing new for the year was seen on the way there. At the hide I did a quick scan before eating my cold sausage and hard-boiled egg breakfast. A couple of Water Rail were calling and one eventually came out to forage under one of the feeders. Plenty of activity on the water with four species of gull and six of duck. A nice surprise was the appearance of a Great Black-backed Gull which flew the length of the lake and did not reappear. This isn’t a common bird, especially to the north of the county. I spent a bit of time scanning the island in front of the hide for Snipe but couldn’t find any. However a Great White Egret appeared and a couple of Snipe flew up as it landed. There has been at least one Great White at Coate on a regular basis for several months now, maybe another site for a breeding attempt. A Treecreeper was heard and a Jay landed near to the feeders. On the walk home I was joined for a while by a Pheasant that followed me for about half-a-mile, on a couple of occasions it even tried to have a peck at my leg. I have no idea of what I did to upset it. I also added Redwing and Mistle Thrush to the list, the latter being my sixth year tick of the day. I had hoped to get a Grey Wagtail along the stream at the Washpool but was out of luck.

Yesterday I was heading to London for my weekly visit to my Mum, a check on birdguides showed a couple of good birds that were sort of on the way. The first was a White-fronted Goose at Standlake which is just off of the main road to Oxford. The WF has been mixing with a flock of Greylag Geese in a field behind the church. I found the church, no problem, I found the field, no problem but unfortunately I didn’t find any geese. A little drive around checking nearby fields came up blank so I headed for the next target, a Ruddy Duck at Dix Pit. Although not that far from home I have only been to this site once before. If i remember correctly it is where I saw my first American Wigeon. Access is along the haul road to a large landfill and household waste site so is pretty mucky and busy with trucks. I found somewhere to park and view the pit but of the duck there was no sign. A few Goldeneye being the best birds found. I later heard that the bird had been re-identified as an escaped Maccoa Duck. I then headed off towards London along the M40 seeing a good number of Red Kite on the way, eight together at one point. I was a bit earlier than expected so stopped off at Staines Reservoirs to try for Black-necked Grebe. My luck now changed, despite being a hotspot for the BNG they are often hard to find but today there were three feeding really close to the bank at top of the access slope. A walk along the causeway then got many Coot and Tufties along with Wigeon and a few Goldeneye but generally it was pretty quiet.

Arriving at my Mum’s house I was as usual greeted by a number of noisy Parakeets flying around, at least on my first visit each year they go down as a tick.

So onto today and after an early lunch it was time to head home with again another bird stop on the way. This time it was for a Red-necked Grebe on a fishing lake near to Denham, again not that far off of my normal route home. RNG is a pretty rare bird inland so was well worth making a small diversion. For access I had a choice of paying to park at Denham Country Park with a ten minute or so walk or for free in Harefield with a thirty minute walk. Usually I go for the free option but I knew time was tight today so went for the Country Park option. I can say that I certainly didn’t enjoy shelling out £4.20 for the privilege though.

So after a fairly short walk along the canal I arrived at the lake and without much effort found the Grebe which was reasonably close and fairly active, spending a fair amount of time underwater. Certainly better than the usual half-a-mile out at sea views that I usually get of this species. Not much else about with just Jay and Green Woodpecker being added to the yearlist. A raptor perched on a pylon turned out to be a Kestrel rather than the hoped for Peregrine.

I decided to route home via Oxford to have another go for the White-fronted Goose. The traffic was kind and I arrived in Standlake at three, the same time as everyone coming to collect their kids from the nearby school so it was pretty busy. Again there were no geese behind the church but fortunately I found the flock of geese just a bit further along the road. After a couple of minutes searching through the hundred plus Greylag and I managed to find not one but three WF’s so mission accomplished. I even managed to get all three in a photo.

One thing that I have missed since I stopped working are the early morning Owl sightings although I certainly don’t miss the 02:00 alarms that went with them. So this evening I went out on my first owl drive of the year. As the last couple of days have been pretty wet I was hoping that on a dry night there would be owls out hunting. My route took me to the Barbury Castle area and then on to Marlborough, through Axford, to Ogbourne and home. In all I saw one Muntjac, a couple of Rabbits and three Barn Owls so definitely a worthwhile drive.