8th OCTOBER 2006.
STUNNED STONECHAT
I arrived late at the WWT today as I had been to Staines Reservoir to see the Black Necked Grebe that was there. It was my first ‘purpose’ visit and proved to be good fun although a combination of Sunday Timetables and just missing a train, resulting in an hours wait, did take the shine off it a little! Still, I got to see the Grebe! Whilst waiting on Ashford Station, Leon ‘phoned me to say that he had seen a Pied Wagtail (strangely absent from WWT for some time) whilst traversing Bodmin Moor on the way to Lands End (Leon, not the bird).
Having finally reached WWT I went straight to the Observatory. There was not much about at all. The weather was very god for this time of the year and was actually improving as the day went on so I did expect to see some ‘action’.
The ‘Summer Walk’ was a little quiet and the same applied for the ‘Wildside’ hide. All hell suddenly broke loose as I settled to wait for something to happen. The whole of the hide seemed to erupt as a horde of ‘little darlings’ came screaming in and proceeded to run rampage around the hide. I am all for the idea of teaching youngsters about wildlife, but observing it not living it! The parents should be horsewhipped. Most ‘birders’ left the hide and moved along.
At the ‘Headley’ hide there was a group of ‘scopers who seemed to be having a good time. They were full of comments like “Great view” and “Lucky there!” “What was it?” I asked eagerly. “Oh, it’s gone now” and “Shame, you missed it!” was all the response I received as they vanished outside. I wonder what it was?
I was going to have breakfast having been up since the crack of dawn but the noise and the uncontrolled behaviour of the ‘little darlings’ put me off, so I carried on to the ‘Dulverton’ hide. Again it seemed very quiet here. Was it because I had arrived so much later than usual? Perhaps the birds had all had their breakfast and were lying low! At the ‘feeder’ area things started to pick up with lots of Finches and Tits making an entrance. There were more of the same as I walked around the ‘Lagoon’. There was much commotion behind me and I could see shapes moving about, unfortunately I was looking straight into the Sun so could make no positive identification.
The ‘Wader Scrape’ hide was full and there was plenty for the folks there to look at. There were about twenty people in there, more at one time than I had ever seen. I suppose it was lucky that Leon was not with us or there would have been beggar all!
Some of the ‘regulars’ were in the ‘Peacock Tower’; they had not seen anything unusual. The Snipe were still about and were feeding at the far edge of the ‘Scrape’. There were also a couple of pairs or so of Stonechats on one of the islands. One of the ‘regulars’ let me have a look through his ‘scope at them. Once I had their position fixed I could look at them through my glasses although with not such good results. Other people were looking through the chaps ‘scope, it really is nice of these people to let so many have ‘a quick look’. As everybody was focussed on the Stonechats I noticed a swiftly moving shape coming in from over the ‘Scrape’ hide. “Sparrowhawk!” I said. I had said it a little late for one of the Stonechats. The hawk had dropped straight on it and landed immediately. He had obviously not killed the thing as it was fluttering around in the sparse undergrowth and he proceeded to chase it all over the place! This bird seemed to have a white patch on the back of his neck/head so we thought that it might be the same one that we saw on the ‘Grazing Marsh’ last week We saw him take off but could not discern whether he had the small bird with him or not. I am of the pinion that he must be quite young and inexperienced.
Feeling quite tired I made my way back to the Centre where I got some of the new ‘Events’ brochures for some people at the hospital. Just a few ‘relaxers’ at the ‘office’ and I was on my way home to a lovely hot dinner.
BIRDS SEEN: Great Tit, Ring Necked Parakeet, Heron, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Ruddy Duck, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Little Grebe, Shoveller, Wood Pigeon, Lapwing, Carrion Crow, Feral Pigeon, Green Woodpecker, Blue Tit, Gadwall, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Black Headed Gull, Starling, Cormorant, Goldfinch, Magpie, Herring Gull, Teal, Pochard, Long Tailed tit, Robin, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Stonechat, Sparrowhawk, Common Snipe.
I arrived late at the WWT today as I had been to Staines Reservoir to see the Black Necked Grebe that was there. It was my first ‘purpose’ visit and proved to be good fun although a combination of Sunday Timetables and just missing a train, resulting in an hours wait, did take the shine off it a little! Still, I got to see the Grebe! Whilst waiting on Ashford Station, Leon ‘phoned me to say that he had seen a Pied Wagtail (strangely absent from WWT for some time) whilst traversing Bodmin Moor on the way to Lands End (Leon, not the bird).
Having finally reached WWT I went straight to the Observatory. There was not much about at all. The weather was very god for this time of the year and was actually improving as the day went on so I did expect to see some ‘action’.
The ‘Summer Walk’ was a little quiet and the same applied for the ‘Wildside’ hide. All hell suddenly broke loose as I settled to wait for something to happen. The whole of the hide seemed to erupt as a horde of ‘little darlings’ came screaming in and proceeded to run rampage around the hide. I am all for the idea of teaching youngsters about wildlife, but observing it not living it! The parents should be horsewhipped. Most ‘birders’ left the hide and moved along.
At the ‘Headley’ hide there was a group of ‘scopers who seemed to be having a good time. They were full of comments like “Great view” and “Lucky there!” “What was it?” I asked eagerly. “Oh, it’s gone now” and “Shame, you missed it!” was all the response I received as they vanished outside. I wonder what it was?
I was going to have breakfast having been up since the crack of dawn but the noise and the uncontrolled behaviour of the ‘little darlings’ put me off, so I carried on to the ‘Dulverton’ hide. Again it seemed very quiet here. Was it because I had arrived so much later than usual? Perhaps the birds had all had their breakfast and were lying low! At the ‘feeder’ area things started to pick up with lots of Finches and Tits making an entrance. There were more of the same as I walked around the ‘Lagoon’. There was much commotion behind me and I could see shapes moving about, unfortunately I was looking straight into the Sun so could make no positive identification.
The ‘Wader Scrape’ hide was full and there was plenty for the folks there to look at. There were about twenty people in there, more at one time than I had ever seen. I suppose it was lucky that Leon was not with us or there would have been beggar all!
Some of the ‘regulars’ were in the ‘Peacock Tower’; they had not seen anything unusual. The Snipe were still about and were feeding at the far edge of the ‘Scrape’. There were also a couple of pairs or so of Stonechats on one of the islands. One of the ‘regulars’ let me have a look through his ‘scope at them. Once I had their position fixed I could look at them through my glasses although with not such good results. Other people were looking through the chaps ‘scope, it really is nice of these people to let so many have ‘a quick look’. As everybody was focussed on the Stonechats I noticed a swiftly moving shape coming in from over the ‘Scrape’ hide. “Sparrowhawk!” I said. I had said it a little late for one of the Stonechats. The hawk had dropped straight on it and landed immediately. He had obviously not killed the thing as it was fluttering around in the sparse undergrowth and he proceeded to chase it all over the place! This bird seemed to have a white patch on the back of his neck/head so we thought that it might be the same one that we saw on the ‘Grazing Marsh’ last week We saw him take off but could not discern whether he had the small bird with him or not. I am of the pinion that he must be quite young and inexperienced.
Feeling quite tired I made my way back to the Centre where I got some of the new ‘Events’ brochures for some people at the hospital. Just a few ‘relaxers’ at the ‘office’ and I was on my way home to a lovely hot dinner.
BIRDS SEEN: Great Tit, Ring Necked Parakeet, Heron, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Ruddy Duck, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Little Grebe, Shoveller, Wood Pigeon, Lapwing, Carrion Crow, Feral Pigeon, Green Woodpecker, Blue Tit, Gadwall, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Black Headed Gull, Starling, Cormorant, Goldfinch, Magpie, Herring Gull, Teal, Pochard, Long Tailed tit, Robin, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Stonechat, Sparrowhawk, Common Snipe.
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