12th NOVEMBER 2006.
BACK ON THE RAILS!
We arrived at the centre very early today, about 09:00 and our little leggies were already a little tired! We had started the day by checking out the Leg O’Mutton Nature Reserve in Lonsdale Road, about fifteen minutes away when walking. Neither Leon nor I had been to the reserve for many years so we thought that we would check it out! We had a fine time there and will be going back here more often. If you have not been DO go, it is a nice site with access to the towpath (views of Chiswick Ait) and some woodland along the side of the reserve.
We had overestimated the time that it would take for us to get back to the centre, so here we were, drinking coffee and giving the Entrance Lake an awful lot more attention than it normally gets from us! We had a ball watching the antics of the Coots; can they never get on with one another? It was nice to sit in the sun on this crisp morning, talking about the birds that we had seen at the ‘LO’M’ and watching others that were passing us here!
Entering the centre at 09:30, we made straight for the Observatory. This was so that we could unpack our binoculars and notebooks that we had packed two minutes before at the Entrance Lake!
It seemed a bit quiet today, both on the water and in terms of visitor numbers. Maybe it was that we had not been here this early for quite some time and were not used to the quiet!
On the way to the ‘Wildside’ hide we walked around the ‘Wildside’ area, the Summer walk being closed for the winter. Again, we could not see much and even the birdsong, so prevalent at the ‘LO’M’ earlier now seemed to be missing. We did see a flash of blue that COULD have been a Kingfisher but, as neither of could be sure, we never noted it. As we approached the hide we were looking to either side among the reedbeds and their channels. I saw some Coots arguing over a short piece of dried reed whilst scanning the beds, when Leon said, “Water rail! No it isn’t!” “No it isn’t?” said I. “No”, he said, “It’s two!”
He was right, of course, there were two Water Rail, not thirty feet away having what appeared to be a right old time! They even looked in our direction and didn’t scurry into the reeds. They just kept on leaping about! Perhaps the fact that the Coots were even closer to us and ignoring us into the bargain, made them feel safer? We watched them for some time before they eventually moved into the reeds and we moved on to the hide.
We had only been in the hide for a few minutes when a chap said, smugly, “I’ve just seen a Water Rail! “Well, we’ve seen two!” was the almost split second response from the excitable junior partner of our team! The chap left the hide, which was a shame because Leon then saw a Chiffchaff to which he immediately alerted me! We were getting some quite good views for a few minutes when Leon said, “Wish it would come out into the open so we can have a GOOD look at it!” Reader, it did! It came out of the (Willow) cover and sat on some bare branches. It flitted about then posed and then flitted about and posed some more! Then it just posed! We watched for a good five minutes until it disappeared for good. Leon. I’ve said it before …how does he do it?
Breakfast called. We made our way back to the Restaurant via the ‘Headley’ hide where we only stopped for a quick peek. We would have stayed a bit longer but ‘Hawkeye’ was really hungry and had ‘to go’.
After breakfast we strolled through the ‘Wetlife’ area, there were fewer people about than we would have expected but there seemed to be a lot more birds. There were a few birds visible from the ‘Dulverton’ hide, mostly Shovellers.
On the way to the feeding area we were surprised to see a colourful bird make a quick entry into one of the reedbeds. We both thought that it might be the Bearded Tit that had been seen about the place so we hung around for ages, in vain as it turned out, nothing showed itself for at least ten minutes.
The feeder was pretty busy, many of the usual birds were in attendance: Tits and Finches mostly. Somebody said that there had been a Water Rail seen in the feeder area earlier in the day. There was one in regular attendance last year; perhaps it was the same bird.
The ‘Sheltered Lagoon’ walk was very quiet. We would normally expect to see many Tits and finches in this area, especially Long Tailed Tits, but we were to be disappointed on this occasion.
We had seen, from the ‘Wildside’ hide, that the water level in the ‘Wader Scrape’ was high. Just how high was quite a shock! There was very nearly nothing showing above the water, it lapped around some of the pebble trays! The ducks were having a field day but there was little else!
From the ‘Peacock Tower’ we could see that there was in fact more exposed ground than we first thought. There were some quite extensive ‘patches’, some even held the odd Snipe. They were, however, very shy and well hidden. We moved down to the first floor as the upper floor had become quite crowded. Leon soon spotted some Snipe in full view, feeding and preening. They stayed out for quite some time and we enjoyed watching them darting about (something that we had not seen before) catching some insect or other. We pointed them out to an American couple who appeared to be first-time ‘birders’. They were most grateful and the looks on their faces as they watched the birds were priceless.
There were still a huge number of Gulls about, none moving very much, it would probably been a good day to hold the ‘Gull I.D. Day’ that we were going to in a few weeks time on a day like today!
After visiting the ‘WWF’ hide, to see the Gulls at even closer range, we left the centre and made our way to the ‘office’ to discuss the day’s events. It was then that we remembered that, once again, we had not taken any ‘photos of the Rails or the Chiffchaff. How many times have we stood watching things that we may never see again without taking any pictures? Last years Bittern encounter immediately sprang to mind. We only had a couple of ‘relaxers’ and made our way home, tired but well pleased yet again with our day out.
BIRDS SEEN: Carrion Crow, Magpie, Great Tit, Ring Necked Parakeet, Coot, Blue Tit, Greenfinch, Moorhen, Herring Gull, Wood pigeon, Feral Pigeon, Pied Wagtail, Mallard, Cormorant, Green Woodpecker, Jackdaw, Starling, Mute Swan, Shoveller, Little Grebe, Ruddy Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Lapwing, Heron, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Blackbird, Wren, Robin, Water Rail, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Chiffchaff, Stonechat, Egyptian Goose, Black Headed Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Chaffinch, Common Snipe, Reed Bunting, Stock Dove, Coal Tit, Common Gull.
BACK ON THE RAILS!
We arrived at the centre very early today, about 09:00 and our little leggies were already a little tired! We had started the day by checking out the Leg O’Mutton Nature Reserve in Lonsdale Road, about fifteen minutes away when walking. Neither Leon nor I had been to the reserve for many years so we thought that we would check it out! We had a fine time there and will be going back here more often. If you have not been DO go, it is a nice site with access to the towpath (views of Chiswick Ait) and some woodland along the side of the reserve.
We had overestimated the time that it would take for us to get back to the centre, so here we were, drinking coffee and giving the Entrance Lake an awful lot more attention than it normally gets from us! We had a ball watching the antics of the Coots; can they never get on with one another? It was nice to sit in the sun on this crisp morning, talking about the birds that we had seen at the ‘LO’M’ and watching others that were passing us here!
Entering the centre at 09:30, we made straight for the Observatory. This was so that we could unpack our binoculars and notebooks that we had packed two minutes before at the Entrance Lake!
It seemed a bit quiet today, both on the water and in terms of visitor numbers. Maybe it was that we had not been here this early for quite some time and were not used to the quiet!
On the way to the ‘Wildside’ hide we walked around the ‘Wildside’ area, the Summer walk being closed for the winter. Again, we could not see much and even the birdsong, so prevalent at the ‘LO’M’ earlier now seemed to be missing. We did see a flash of blue that COULD have been a Kingfisher but, as neither of could be sure, we never noted it. As we approached the hide we were looking to either side among the reedbeds and their channels. I saw some Coots arguing over a short piece of dried reed whilst scanning the beds, when Leon said, “Water rail! No it isn’t!” “No it isn’t?” said I. “No”, he said, “It’s two!”
He was right, of course, there were two Water Rail, not thirty feet away having what appeared to be a right old time! They even looked in our direction and didn’t scurry into the reeds. They just kept on leaping about! Perhaps the fact that the Coots were even closer to us and ignoring us into the bargain, made them feel safer? We watched them for some time before they eventually moved into the reeds and we moved on to the hide.
We had only been in the hide for a few minutes when a chap said, smugly, “I’ve just seen a Water Rail! “Well, we’ve seen two!” was the almost split second response from the excitable junior partner of our team! The chap left the hide, which was a shame because Leon then saw a Chiffchaff to which he immediately alerted me! We were getting some quite good views for a few minutes when Leon said, “Wish it would come out into the open so we can have a GOOD look at it!” Reader, it did! It came out of the (Willow) cover and sat on some bare branches. It flitted about then posed and then flitted about and posed some more! Then it just posed! We watched for a good five minutes until it disappeared for good. Leon. I’ve said it before …how does he do it?
Breakfast called. We made our way back to the Restaurant via the ‘Headley’ hide where we only stopped for a quick peek. We would have stayed a bit longer but ‘Hawkeye’ was really hungry and had ‘to go’.
After breakfast we strolled through the ‘Wetlife’ area, there were fewer people about than we would have expected but there seemed to be a lot more birds. There were a few birds visible from the ‘Dulverton’ hide, mostly Shovellers.
On the way to the feeding area we were surprised to see a colourful bird make a quick entry into one of the reedbeds. We both thought that it might be the Bearded Tit that had been seen about the place so we hung around for ages, in vain as it turned out, nothing showed itself for at least ten minutes.
The feeder was pretty busy, many of the usual birds were in attendance: Tits and Finches mostly. Somebody said that there had been a Water Rail seen in the feeder area earlier in the day. There was one in regular attendance last year; perhaps it was the same bird.
The ‘Sheltered Lagoon’ walk was very quiet. We would normally expect to see many Tits and finches in this area, especially Long Tailed Tits, but we were to be disappointed on this occasion.
We had seen, from the ‘Wildside’ hide, that the water level in the ‘Wader Scrape’ was high. Just how high was quite a shock! There was very nearly nothing showing above the water, it lapped around some of the pebble trays! The ducks were having a field day but there was little else!
From the ‘Peacock Tower’ we could see that there was in fact more exposed ground than we first thought. There were some quite extensive ‘patches’, some even held the odd Snipe. They were, however, very shy and well hidden. We moved down to the first floor as the upper floor had become quite crowded. Leon soon spotted some Snipe in full view, feeding and preening. They stayed out for quite some time and we enjoyed watching them darting about (something that we had not seen before) catching some insect or other. We pointed them out to an American couple who appeared to be first-time ‘birders’. They were most grateful and the looks on their faces as they watched the birds were priceless.
There were still a huge number of Gulls about, none moving very much, it would probably been a good day to hold the ‘Gull I.D. Day’ that we were going to in a few weeks time on a day like today!
After visiting the ‘WWF’ hide, to see the Gulls at even closer range, we left the centre and made our way to the ‘office’ to discuss the day’s events. It was then that we remembered that, once again, we had not taken any ‘photos of the Rails or the Chiffchaff. How many times have we stood watching things that we may never see again without taking any pictures? Last years Bittern encounter immediately sprang to mind. We only had a couple of ‘relaxers’ and made our way home, tired but well pleased yet again with our day out.
BIRDS SEEN: Carrion Crow, Magpie, Great Tit, Ring Necked Parakeet, Coot, Blue Tit, Greenfinch, Moorhen, Herring Gull, Wood pigeon, Feral Pigeon, Pied Wagtail, Mallard, Cormorant, Green Woodpecker, Jackdaw, Starling, Mute Swan, Shoveller, Little Grebe, Ruddy Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Lapwing, Heron, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Blackbird, Wren, Robin, Water Rail, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Chiffchaff, Stonechat, Egyptian Goose, Black Headed Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Chaffinch, Common Snipe, Reed Bunting, Stock Dove, Coal Tit, Common Gull.
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