Six of us met in the car park on a grey dismal day. We already had 8 species from the car park looking out over the main flash, including a pair of goldeneye. We walked to the first hide looking over one end of the flash and the spit. Here there were about 40 lapwing at the end of the spit with a single oystercatcher and a couple of teal hunkered down in the grass. Cormorants hung out on the posts and 3 herons stood solemnly at the edge of the water. Further out on the flash we spotted pochard, and great-crested grebe including a couple of juveniles, then a couple of little grebe popped up. A couple of pairs of goosander surfaced near the spit, the males looking particularly clean and dapper.
We carried on to the next hide – a great white egret immediately stood out at the back of one of the smaller flashes. There were also a number of gadwall and shoveler. As we progressed around it started to drizzle. We walked through an open area surrounded by trees – birds were flitting about, but it was difficult to see as the light wasn't great. A small flock of long tailed tits worked their way along the tree line and we caught glimpses of medium sized birds, which we eventually got a clearer view of and identified as redwing. We also got a brief view of great spotted woodpecker. Some of the group walked up to the canal and saw a kestrel.
We continued round and the rain was heavier for a time. There was fungi in various places including candle snuff, jelly ear and turkeytail. We visited the other hides – the water was quite high, so there weren’t any waders, and the birds were similar to previously, with plenty of teal and gadwall. The hide with the feeders only had fairly common birds to view. The last hide didn’t bring us anything new but we enjoyed looking out at the colours, with the dogwood showing off nicely.
Species 33: tufted duck, mute swan, coot, black-headed gull, goldeneye, Canada goose, moorhen,
cormorant, herring gull, grey heron, lapwing, oystercatcher, teal, wood pigeon, magpie, crow, goosander, pochard, mallard, great crested grebe, little grebe, great white egret, shoveler, gadwall, redwing, long-tailed tit, great spotted woodpecker, blue tit, chaffinch, kestrel, dunnock, great tit, robin
We carried on to the next hide – a great white egret immediately stood out at the back of one of the smaller flashes. There were also a number of gadwall and shoveler. As we progressed around it started to drizzle. We walked through an open area surrounded by trees – birds were flitting about, but it was difficult to see as the light wasn't great. A small flock of long tailed tits worked their way along the tree line and we caught glimpses of medium sized birds, which we eventually got a clearer view of and identified as redwing. We also got a brief view of great spotted woodpecker. Some of the group walked up to the canal and saw a kestrel.
We continued round and the rain was heavier for a time. There was fungi in various places including candle snuff, jelly ear and turkeytail. We visited the other hides – the water was quite high, so there weren’t any waders, and the birds were similar to previously, with plenty of teal and gadwall. The hide with the feeders only had fairly common birds to view. The last hide didn’t bring us anything new but we enjoyed looking out at the colours, with the dogwood showing off nicely.
Species 33: tufted duck, mute swan, coot, black-headed gull, goldeneye, Canada goose, moorhen,
cormorant, herring gull, grey heron, lapwing, oystercatcher, teal, wood pigeon, magpie, crow, goosander, pochard, mallard, great crested grebe, little grebe, great white egret, shoveler, gadwall, redwing, long-tailed tit, great spotted woodpecker, blue tit, chaffinch, kestrel, dunnock, great tit, robin
