A QUIET POOL. Photo: Reg Norman
Sunday, October 15, 2006
A DAY FOR KESTRELS
15th OCTOBER 2006.
A DAY FOR KESTRELS
We were back to normal today as Leon was once again in attendance. The weather forecast had been for bright sunshine but it was overcast and quite chilly. I did believe, however, that it would brighten up later in the day. The wind was quite stiff but not really cold. Not having to wait long for the ‘bus meant that we arrived in good time to have a quick look around before the doors opened.
As usual our first port of call was the Observatory. This enabled us to get our glasses on and to have a quick ‘shuftie’ around the site. The day started well as a Kestrel was mobbed by a pair of Crows just outside of the window. We had a superb view, as the birds were literally feet away! There were quite a few different species about; the day looked quite promising.
Moving to the ‘Wildside’ hide we went directly rather than around the Summer Walk because we saw a brilliant flash of colour and went to investigate. It was a young Green Woodpecker. There were a good number of different species of birds on view from the hide although most were waterfowl and ducks. The migrants that we hoped to see on the Grazing Marsh just did not appear. We were treated to some good views of a young Sparrowhawk that perched on the gate of the track over the weir. He didn’t stay long as a couple of Magpies soon rousted him from his position.
We moved back to the ‘Headley’ hide by way of the Summer Walk and, although we could hear lots of birdlife, didn’t manage to see much as there were still plenty of leaves left on the trees. The wind seemed to be keeping the little birds in the centre of the bushes and shrubs. We were also disappointed at the hide as the sun was shining straight towards us making viewing almost impossible.
Breakfast was next on the agenda. We ate heartily and moved on to the Waterlife area. Whilst walking around one of the small detours Leon noticed a small, colourful bird. “Reed Bunting” he said and as it flashed past I would have agreed. It was, however, not a Bunting but a Stonechat. A chap who was passing with his wife asked what it was and we got talking. All the while the Stonechat kept putting in appearances only feet away from us and Leon was able to take quite a few pictures. It turned out that this chap was one that I had been ‘talking’ to on one of the websites (Bird Form) that I now use. His name is Terry and I was jolly pleased to meet both him and his wife. I had sent him the email address of another site and he and his wife had booked to go on the same guided tour as Leon and I were to attend next week!
Parting, Leon and I went to the feeding station by the ‘Lagoon’ which was not as busy as usual. Perhaps this was because of the wind. Walking around the ‘Lagoon’ was also not very productive; again we could hear the birds but seeing them was another story. We did see a very strange squirrel though. This little animal was both Grey and Red in colour and also sported four little white ‘boots’! Very strange.
The ‘Wader Scrape’ hide was totally full when we arrived. There were certainly birds in numbers but not many species. We only stayed for a few minutes and moved on to the ‘Peacock Tower’.
It became quite apparent that we were not to see much from the ‘Tower’ either. Although the sun was, by now shining quite brightly and it was quite warm, the wind seemed to have picked up somewhat. We were unexpectedly treated to what must be a rare sight. A female Kestrel had caught and was devouring what appeared to be some kind of small mouse. She was eating not very far from the hide and was giving some lovely ‘photo opportunities to the people armed with cameras in the hide. Down swooped a young male Kestrel who proceeded to try to take the ‘mouse’ from the female. She was having none of it! There followed quite a fierce struggle for the food that lasted only a few moments but was well contested by both parties. The female kept her prize and the male ‘sulked’ a few feet away, pretending to be pouncing on other small creatures!
We made our way back to the shop via the feeding station and the smaller hides where Leon bought some food for his bird table/feeder.
This being Leons’ birthday, we decided not to stay too long in the ‘office’ as he had a dinner engagement later in the day. After a few pints and some good discussion on what we had seen we made our way homeward.
BIRDS SEEN: Kestrel, Greenfinch, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Wood Pigeon, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Cormorant, Lapwing, Coot, Moorhen, Great Crested Grebe, Canada Goose, Tufted Duck, Heron, Shoveller, Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Black Headed Gull, Teal, Ruddy Duck, Stock Dove, Jay, Blackbird, Robin, Green Woodpecker, Mute Swan, Gadwall, Pochard, Stonechat, Sparrowhawk, Little Grebe, Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Goldfinch, Ring Necked Parakeet, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Wigeon, Common Snipe, Dunnock, Wren.
We were back to normal today as Leon was once again in attendance. The weather forecast had been for bright sunshine but it was overcast and quite chilly. I did believe, however, that it would brighten up later in the day. The wind was quite stiff but not really cold. Not having to wait long for the ‘bus meant that we arrived in good time to have a quick look around before the doors opened.
As usual our first port of call was the Observatory. This enabled us to get our glasses on and to have a quick ‘shuftie’ around the site. The day started well as a Kestrel was mobbed by a pair of Crows just outside of the window. We had a superb view, as the birds were literally feet away! There were quite a few different species about; the day looked quite promising.
Moving to the ‘Wildside’ hide we went directly rather than around the Summer Walk because we saw a brilliant flash of colour and went to investigate. It was a young Green Woodpecker. There were a good number of different species of birds on view from the hide although most were waterfowl and ducks. The migrants that we hoped to see on the Grazing Marsh just did not appear. We were treated to some good views of a young Sparrowhawk that perched on the gate of the track over the weir. He didn’t stay long as a couple of Magpies soon rousted him from his position.
We moved back to the ‘Headley’ hide by way of the Summer Walk and, although we could hear lots of birdlife, didn’t manage to see much as there were still plenty of leaves left on the trees. The wind seemed to be keeping the little birds in the centre of the bushes and shrubs. We were also disappointed at the hide as the sun was shining straight towards us making viewing almost impossible.
Breakfast was next on the agenda. We ate heartily and moved on to the Waterlife area. Whilst walking around one of the small detours Leon noticed a small, colourful bird. “Reed Bunting” he said and as it flashed past I would have agreed. It was, however, not a Bunting but a Stonechat. A chap who was passing with his wife asked what it was and we got talking. All the while the Stonechat kept putting in appearances only feet away from us and Leon was able to take quite a few pictures. It turned out that this chap was one that I had been ‘talking’ to on one of the websites (Bird Form) that I now use. His name is Terry and I was jolly pleased to meet both him and his wife. I had sent him the email address of another site and he and his wife had booked to go on the same guided tour as Leon and I were to attend next week!
Parting, Leon and I went to the feeding station by the ‘Lagoon’ which was not as busy as usual. Perhaps this was because of the wind. Walking around the ‘Lagoon’ was also not very productive; again we could hear the birds but seeing them was another story. We did see a very strange squirrel though. This little animal was both Grey and Red in colour and also sported four little white ‘boots’! Very strange.
The ‘Wader Scrape’ hide was totally full when we arrived. There were certainly birds in numbers but not many species. We only stayed for a few minutes and moved on to the ‘Peacock Tower’.
It became quite apparent that we were not to see much from the ‘Tower’ either. Although the sun was, by now shining quite brightly and it was quite warm, the wind seemed to have picked up somewhat. We were unexpectedly treated to what must be a rare sight. A female Kestrel had caught and was devouring what appeared to be some kind of small mouse. She was eating not very far from the hide and was giving some lovely ‘photo opportunities to the people armed with cameras in the hide. Down swooped a young male Kestrel who proceeded to try to take the ‘mouse’ from the female. She was having none of it! There followed quite a fierce struggle for the food that lasted only a few moments but was well contested by both parties. The female kept her prize and the male ‘sulked’ a few feet away, pretending to be pouncing on other small creatures!
We made our way back to the shop via the feeding station and the smaller hides where Leon bought some food for his bird table/feeder.
This being Leons’ birthday, we decided not to stay too long in the ‘office’ as he had a dinner engagement later in the day. After a few pints and some good discussion on what we had seen we made our way homeward.
BIRDS SEEN: Kestrel, Greenfinch, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Wood Pigeon, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Cormorant, Lapwing, Coot, Moorhen, Great Crested Grebe, Canada Goose, Tufted Duck, Heron, Shoveller, Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Black Headed Gull, Teal, Ruddy Duck, Stock Dove, Jay, Blackbird, Robin, Green Woodpecker, Mute Swan, Gadwall, Pochard, Stonechat, Sparrowhawk, Little Grebe, Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Goldfinch, Ring Necked Parakeet, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Wigeon, Common Snipe, Dunnock, Wren.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Sunday, October 08, 2006
STUNNED STONECHAT
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.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
INCLEMENT WEATHER
1st October 2006.
INCLEMENT WEATHER
I was to be alone today, Sue was having a lie-in and Leon was going to watch John playing rugby at Richmond. I decided to have a bit of a lie-in myself so did not leave until about ten o’clock. The ‘bus came almost immediately and so I was on site by about ten past ten. The weather, earlier on, had been lovely but it was now deteriorating rapidly. Vast grey clouds were marching towards me at an alarming rate. I stopped first at the ‘Observatory’, a thing that we normally do as it gives us the chance to get our glasses on and notebooks ready. It is also handy to have a quick look around to see what is about, usually we see between fifteen and twenty different birds from here in the first few minutes. Outside, the rain had started and most birds were quickly making their way to the leeward side of any available shelter. This put them on the ‘wrong side’ for me, not a very good start!
As I would probably be spending more time than usual at the site today, I decided to do everything that we would normally do twice and spend a little more time at each place. I would also do them in the reverse order. I moved off in the direction of ‘Waterlife’.
As I entered ‘Waterlife’, a literal ‘cloud’ of Finches and Tits broke cover and started to proceed along the edges of the path in front of me! They were making an incredible amount of noise and genuinely seemed to be having a whale of a time. I felt like Uncle Remus! Perhaps I should have sung ‘Zip a de do dah’! The birds stayed for quite some time but moved off as the rain started to get very heavy. I went into the ‘Dulverton’ hide, more to get out of the rain than anything else. There was not much about and to make matters worse I saw a bird, just a glimpse, enough to know that I hadn’t seen one before, but not enough to make a good observation. Although Leon and myself have learned so much in the last fifteen months or so, it just went to show how little we do know and how much more we have to learn!
The rain easing I made my way to the bird feeder. There were a good few birds there and they seem to have adapted to the noise that ‘the little darlings’ make in the new ‘Explore!’ section. I wish that I could! From the feeder I walked around the ‘Lagoon’, once again the sheer number of birds and the amount of noise they were making astounded me. I saw a young Green Woodpecker here, one that we seem to see quite frequently; He seemed very intent on something beneath one of the bushes. I watched him for a while and when some people came along and frightened him off, I went to see what had been of such interest. I could see nothing at all. There were no marks that he may have made on the ground, nor was there anything like an ants nest which I know that they love. I carried on towards the ‘Peacock Tower’, getting there just as the heavens opened again!
The ‘Wader Scrape was crammed with Teal and there were also lots of Shovellers, Wigeon and Mallard. I would say that there were probably over a hundred Teal. I spotted a Common Snipe just in front of the Sandmartin Bank amongst some foliage. I pointed him out to one of the chaps that I recognised as a ‘regular’, for which he thanked me and let me have a look at it through his ‘scope. Everything suddenly went up in the air. We looked around but could see no evidence of a raptor. The ‘regular’ told me that a Kingfisher was moving across the ‘Grazing Marsh’. Whilst tracking him I noticed a strange looking ‘pigeon’ on the ground. Going back to the ‘pigeon’ I noticed that it was way to thin but at this distance my glasses were not the greatest tool to be using. I asked the ‘regular’ if he would mind having a quick ‘butchers’ to see what it was. My suspicions were proved right when he announced, “Sparrowhawk! You did well to spot that!” Once again he let me have a look through his ‘scope, it was a male and his eyes were quite piercing. Some of his friends turned up to be told of old ‘eagle eyes’ Normans’ skill at spotting ‘awkward’ birds! After watching the large flocks of gulls that had assembled and now that the rain had once again abated, I moved off towards the ‘Wildside’ stopping briefly at the ‘Wader Scrape’ hide where I had a good view of the Kingfisher flying back and forth.
By the time that I got to the ‘Observatory’ again it had once more started to rain heavily. I took shelter there and watched both Little and Great Crested Grebes working hard for their lunch. It did not rain for long, which seemed to be the pattern for the day, so I soon moved off to the ‘Wildside’ hide.
I spent quite some time there in the hope that, as they had cleared so much ground and our sighting last week of the Meadow Pipit, I might see some more migrants. Maybe eve a glimpse of the Yellow Wagtails that had been seen on several occasions just recently. There were several very heavy showers and I wondered if this was what was keeping them away? In the breaks in the weather I watched a Kestrel drifting up and down the Thames (not in the water!) and hovering every now and then.
As I was scanning the ‘Grazing Marsh’ I saw a bird coming almost towards me at an incredible speed. It was a Sparrowhawk and it was making for a group of Teal that were nibbling grass not far from the bank of the lake! The birds tumbled everywhere and the strike was missed. The Teal were back in the water in just a few seconds while the Sparrowhawk looked around seemingly a little dazed. In no time though he took off again and sped away, only about a foot above the water along the length of the lake. As he approached the many Coots in his path, they dived causing quite a splash, reminding me of naval shells hitting the water! He flew at an angle to the wind which I believe is called ‘slewing’
It started to rain then, so heavy that I could see next to nothing through the glasses. The temperature had also dropped somewhat and I was glad of my coat. When the weather cleared, yet again, I made my way to the ‘Headley’ hide by way of the Summer Walk. I met a chap on the way who motioned me to stand still and then nodded in then direction of lakeside tree. After looking for a few moments I saw a small bird that I had only seen once before, on holiday in Crete about a month ago. It was my first Spotted Flycatcher. We watched it for a few minutes until it flew off. “Spotted Flycatcher, seen it before?” he asked. “Not that particular one I don’t think”. says I. Not a glimmer.
As I reached the ‘Headley’ hide the rain came pouring down yet again. So far, I had managed to stay almost completely dry! With the rain most of the birds seemed to melt away for a short time and there was not much to see. As the sun came out the Cormorants on the rafts stretched their wings out and started to dry them. I wondered how many times they had done that today?
Stopping at all of the hides on the way back to the ‘Peacock Tower’ I was amazed to see that there were still lots of the smaller birds about. The feeder was still very busy and had collected quite a crowd of small children with their parents. On the path around the ‘Lagoon’ I watched a Great Spotted Woodpecker trying to get out f the wind that had sprung up. He was desperately hanging on, perhaps looking for looking for a crevice to hide in. I wonder if he knew what was coming?
The sky was a glowering, slate grey colour as I reached the Tower. Distant rumbles of thunder could be heard and I could see the odd flash of lightning. Once again the rain held off until I was about to step through the door. Darkness seemed to fall and the heaviest rain I had witnessed for some time came thundering down. “Missed!” I said under my breath!
The storm continued for some time so, in the gloom, I read up on the Spotted Flycatcher that I had seen earlier. As the sky cleared I could see that most of the birds out on the various lakes had just sat and rode out the weather. I don’t suppose that hey had much choice really. The ‘regular’ was still there and after he asked me how I had managed to stay dry (“skill”), he told me about several sightings that they had had. One was of a Kingfisher sat on the fence with a juvenile bird whilst, on the post above them, sat a Sparrowhawk! One of his friends has a picture of it!
The sun soon came out and there was a most beautiful rainbow. I didn’t have my camera so I snapped it with my ‘phone. If the picture comes out I will post it here.
I revisited all of the hides again but the weather seemed to have put the birds off and there was not much to see. Most other people who had been there for most of the day seem to have drifted off as well so I decided to make a move homewards. I stopped at the ’office’ for a quick one. “I bet you got wet!” was the cheery comment from one of the ‘office’ staff. “Not me!” says I, “I live a charmed life!” I wish I hadn’t said that. As I left to get the ‘bus home, you’ve guessed it, I got saturated!
BIRDS SEEN: Mallard, Ruddy duck, Little Grebe, Carrion Crow, Tufted Duck, Cormorant, Heron, Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coot, Moorhen, Feral Pigeon, Robin, Goldfinch, Starling, Ring Necked Parakeet, Shoveller, Wood Pigeon, Teal, Blackbird, Jay, Green Woodpecker, Coal tit, Mute Swan, Wren, Lapwing, Great Crested Grebe, Herring Gull, Black Headed Gull, Gadwall, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Stock Dove, Common Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Kingfisher, Magpie, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Pochard, Spotted Flycatcher, House Martin, Canada Goose, Wigeon, Kestrel, Whooper Swan, Greenfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Reed Warbler.
I was to be alone today, Sue was having a lie-in and Leon was going to watch John playing rugby at Richmond. I decided to have a bit of a lie-in myself so did not leave until about ten o’clock. The ‘bus came almost immediately and so I was on site by about ten past ten. The weather, earlier on, had been lovely but it was now deteriorating rapidly. Vast grey clouds were marching towards me at an alarming rate. I stopped first at the ‘Observatory’, a thing that we normally do as it gives us the chance to get our glasses on and notebooks ready. It is also handy to have a quick look around to see what is about, usually we see between fifteen and twenty different birds from here in the first few minutes. Outside, the rain had started and most birds were quickly making their way to the leeward side of any available shelter. This put them on the ‘wrong side’ for me, not a very good start!
As I would probably be spending more time than usual at the site today, I decided to do everything that we would normally do twice and spend a little more time at each place. I would also do them in the reverse order. I moved off in the direction of ‘Waterlife’.
As I entered ‘Waterlife’, a literal ‘cloud’ of Finches and Tits broke cover and started to proceed along the edges of the path in front of me! They were making an incredible amount of noise and genuinely seemed to be having a whale of a time. I felt like Uncle Remus! Perhaps I should have sung ‘Zip a de do dah’! The birds stayed for quite some time but moved off as the rain started to get very heavy. I went into the ‘Dulverton’ hide, more to get out of the rain than anything else. There was not much about and to make matters worse I saw a bird, just a glimpse, enough to know that I hadn’t seen one before, but not enough to make a good observation. Although Leon and myself have learned so much in the last fifteen months or so, it just went to show how little we do know and how much more we have to learn!
The rain easing I made my way to the bird feeder. There were a good few birds there and they seem to have adapted to the noise that ‘the little darlings’ make in the new ‘Explore!’ section. I wish that I could! From the feeder I walked around the ‘Lagoon’, once again the sheer number of birds and the amount of noise they were making astounded me. I saw a young Green Woodpecker here, one that we seem to see quite frequently; He seemed very intent on something beneath one of the bushes. I watched him for a while and when some people came along and frightened him off, I went to see what had been of such interest. I could see nothing at all. There were no marks that he may have made on the ground, nor was there anything like an ants nest which I know that they love. I carried on towards the ‘Peacock Tower’, getting there just as the heavens opened again!
The ‘Wader Scrape was crammed with Teal and there were also lots of Shovellers, Wigeon and Mallard. I would say that there were probably over a hundred Teal. I spotted a Common Snipe just in front of the Sandmartin Bank amongst some foliage. I pointed him out to one of the chaps that I recognised as a ‘regular’, for which he thanked me and let me have a look at it through his ‘scope. Everything suddenly went up in the air. We looked around but could see no evidence of a raptor. The ‘regular’ told me that a Kingfisher was moving across the ‘Grazing Marsh’. Whilst tracking him I noticed a strange looking ‘pigeon’ on the ground. Going back to the ‘pigeon’ I noticed that it was way to thin but at this distance my glasses were not the greatest tool to be using. I asked the ‘regular’ if he would mind having a quick ‘butchers’ to see what it was. My suspicions were proved right when he announced, “Sparrowhawk! You did well to spot that!” Once again he let me have a look through his ‘scope, it was a male and his eyes were quite piercing. Some of his friends turned up to be told of old ‘eagle eyes’ Normans’ skill at spotting ‘awkward’ birds! After watching the large flocks of gulls that had assembled and now that the rain had once again abated, I moved off towards the ‘Wildside’ stopping briefly at the ‘Wader Scrape’ hide where I had a good view of the Kingfisher flying back and forth.
By the time that I got to the ‘Observatory’ again it had once more started to rain heavily. I took shelter there and watched both Little and Great Crested Grebes working hard for their lunch. It did not rain for long, which seemed to be the pattern for the day, so I soon moved off to the ‘Wildside’ hide.
I spent quite some time there in the hope that, as they had cleared so much ground and our sighting last week of the Meadow Pipit, I might see some more migrants. Maybe eve a glimpse of the Yellow Wagtails that had been seen on several occasions just recently. There were several very heavy showers and I wondered if this was what was keeping them away? In the breaks in the weather I watched a Kestrel drifting up and down the Thames (not in the water!) and hovering every now and then.
As I was scanning the ‘Grazing Marsh’ I saw a bird coming almost towards me at an incredible speed. It was a Sparrowhawk and it was making for a group of Teal that were nibbling grass not far from the bank of the lake! The birds tumbled everywhere and the strike was missed. The Teal were back in the water in just a few seconds while the Sparrowhawk looked around seemingly a little dazed. In no time though he took off again and sped away, only about a foot above the water along the length of the lake. As he approached the many Coots in his path, they dived causing quite a splash, reminding me of naval shells hitting the water! He flew at an angle to the wind which I believe is called ‘slewing’
It started to rain then, so heavy that I could see next to nothing through the glasses. The temperature had also dropped somewhat and I was glad of my coat. When the weather cleared, yet again, I made my way to the ‘Headley’ hide by way of the Summer Walk. I met a chap on the way who motioned me to stand still and then nodded in then direction of lakeside tree. After looking for a few moments I saw a small bird that I had only seen once before, on holiday in Crete about a month ago. It was my first Spotted Flycatcher. We watched it for a few minutes until it flew off. “Spotted Flycatcher, seen it before?” he asked. “Not that particular one I don’t think”. says I. Not a glimmer.
As I reached the ‘Headley’ hide the rain came pouring down yet again. So far, I had managed to stay almost completely dry! With the rain most of the birds seemed to melt away for a short time and there was not much to see. As the sun came out the Cormorants on the rafts stretched their wings out and started to dry them. I wondered how many times they had done that today?
Stopping at all of the hides on the way back to the ‘Peacock Tower’ I was amazed to see that there were still lots of the smaller birds about. The feeder was still very busy and had collected quite a crowd of small children with their parents. On the path around the ‘Lagoon’ I watched a Great Spotted Woodpecker trying to get out f the wind that had sprung up. He was desperately hanging on, perhaps looking for looking for a crevice to hide in. I wonder if he knew what was coming?
The sky was a glowering, slate grey colour as I reached the Tower. Distant rumbles of thunder could be heard and I could see the odd flash of lightning. Once again the rain held off until I was about to step through the door. Darkness seemed to fall and the heaviest rain I had witnessed for some time came thundering down. “Missed!” I said under my breath!
The storm continued for some time so, in the gloom, I read up on the Spotted Flycatcher that I had seen earlier. As the sky cleared I could see that most of the birds out on the various lakes had just sat and rode out the weather. I don’t suppose that hey had much choice really. The ‘regular’ was still there and after he asked me how I had managed to stay dry (“skill”), he told me about several sightings that they had had. One was of a Kingfisher sat on the fence with a juvenile bird whilst, on the post above them, sat a Sparrowhawk! One of his friends has a picture of it!
The sun soon came out and there was a most beautiful rainbow. I didn’t have my camera so I snapped it with my ‘phone. If the picture comes out I will post it here.
I revisited all of the hides again but the weather seemed to have put the birds off and there was not much to see. Most other people who had been there for most of the day seem to have drifted off as well so I decided to make a move homewards. I stopped at the ’office’ for a quick one. “I bet you got wet!” was the cheery comment from one of the ‘office’ staff. “Not me!” says I, “I live a charmed life!” I wish I hadn’t said that. As I left to get the ‘bus home, you’ve guessed it, I got saturated!
BIRDS SEEN: Mallard, Ruddy duck, Little Grebe, Carrion Crow, Tufted Duck, Cormorant, Heron, Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coot, Moorhen, Feral Pigeon, Robin, Goldfinch, Starling, Ring Necked Parakeet, Shoveller, Wood Pigeon, Teal, Blackbird, Jay, Green Woodpecker, Coal tit, Mute Swan, Wren, Lapwing, Great Crested Grebe, Herring Gull, Black Headed Gull, Gadwall, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Stock Dove, Common Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Kingfisher, Magpie, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Pochard, Spotted Flycatcher, House Martin, Canada Goose, Wigeon, Kestrel, Whooper Swan, Greenfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Reed Warbler.
EARLY CLOSING
28th September 2006
EARLY CLOSING
The Centre was to close at 1800 hrs today, the late opening and Barbeques finished last week. Leon and I left work and hurried to get changed before setting off. The ‘bus seemed to take forever so we decided to walk the first part of the journey in the hope of picking up one of the other buses available from Barnes Station. We arrived at WWT at four o’clock. We had a quick look in the Observatory, nothing much about. For the next two hours we were dashing about like mad things trying to fit in as many stops at hides and visiting all of our favourite viewing points. The result was that we didn’t see as much as we would have done if we had had a little more time. We resolved to take some days off as the migrant season gets into full swing. It would probably be better to concentrate on, perhaps, two hides for our shorter visits!
Having walked around the ‘Lagoon’ we entered the ‘Wader Scrape’ hide. The water level was well down and there were a good number of birds scattered around the area. In fact there were a lot more birds here than at any other time that we have visited. What was lacking in variety was certainly made up for by the sheer numbers. The maestro made his move. Having undone the catches on the window, Leon let the thing fall! In the silence, the noise of the window crashing down was like a gun going off! The scene following this reminded me of an old ‘Tarzan’ film set in Africa! The part where the huge flocks of Flamingo’s take off in panic. Within just a few seconds there were absolutely no birds to be seen, just the odd feather floating gently down. ”Whoops!” came a muffled whisper after a short pause. Why he was whispering I shall never know. There couldn’t have been a bird in earshot!
We moved on to the ‘Peacock Tower’. My day improved in leaps and bounds. We met a chap who knew EVERYTHING about the Centre and birds. He proceeded to impart his vast knowledge including his sighting of a Caspian Gull by Barnes Bridge!
After buying some stuff for Leons’ bird table, we moved on to the ‘office’ where we discussed the relative importance of approaching birds in a quiet manner and how best to locate and view the ‘Caspian Gull’.
BIRDS SEEN: Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Magpie, Feral Pigeon, Wood Pigeon, Robin, Greenfinch, Great Tit, Starling, Shoveller, Little Grebe, Gadwall, Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Pochard, Carrion Crow, Heron, Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Black Headed Gull, Cormorant, Coal Tit, Willow Warbler, Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Jay, Common Snipe, Ring Necked Parakeet, Stock Dove, Ruddy Duck, Lapwing, Canada Goose, Whooper Swan, Common Gull, Mute Swan.
The Centre was to close at 1800 hrs today, the late opening and Barbeques finished last week. Leon and I left work and hurried to get changed before setting off. The ‘bus seemed to take forever so we decided to walk the first part of the journey in the hope of picking up one of the other buses available from Barnes Station. We arrived at WWT at four o’clock. We had a quick look in the Observatory, nothing much about. For the next two hours we were dashing about like mad things trying to fit in as many stops at hides and visiting all of our favourite viewing points. The result was that we didn’t see as much as we would have done if we had had a little more time. We resolved to take some days off as the migrant season gets into full swing. It would probably be better to concentrate on, perhaps, two hides for our shorter visits!
Having walked around the ‘Lagoon’ we entered the ‘Wader Scrape’ hide. The water level was well down and there were a good number of birds scattered around the area. In fact there were a lot more birds here than at any other time that we have visited. What was lacking in variety was certainly made up for by the sheer numbers. The maestro made his move. Having undone the catches on the window, Leon let the thing fall! In the silence, the noise of the window crashing down was like a gun going off! The scene following this reminded me of an old ‘Tarzan’ film set in Africa! The part where the huge flocks of Flamingo’s take off in panic. Within just a few seconds there were absolutely no birds to be seen, just the odd feather floating gently down. ”Whoops!” came a muffled whisper after a short pause. Why he was whispering I shall never know. There couldn’t have been a bird in earshot!
We moved on to the ‘Peacock Tower’. My day improved in leaps and bounds. We met a chap who knew EVERYTHING about the Centre and birds. He proceeded to impart his vast knowledge including his sighting of a Caspian Gull by Barnes Bridge!
After buying some stuff for Leons’ bird table, we moved on to the ‘office’ where we discussed the relative importance of approaching birds in a quiet manner and how best to locate and view the ‘Caspian Gull’.
BIRDS SEEN: Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Magpie, Feral Pigeon, Wood Pigeon, Robin, Greenfinch, Great Tit, Starling, Shoveller, Little Grebe, Gadwall, Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Pochard, Carrion Crow, Heron, Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Black Headed Gull, Cormorant, Coal Tit, Willow Warbler, Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Jay, Common Snipe, Ring Necked Parakeet, Stock Dove, Ruddy Duck, Lapwing, Canada Goose, Whooper Swan, Common Gull, Mute Swan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)