Staveley

 Driving to Cambridge and back tomorrow, so did not want to either drive or walk far today, so went to Staveley.

Some blue sky and sunshine when I arrived. Not much to see from the first hide.

A family of mute swans preening. Goldeneye, tufted duck and shoveler at one end of the lagoon, nothing closer, possibly because a birder was standing at the gate rather than using the hide.

Nothing at all to be seen from the next hide.

 This is a view of the feeders from the third hide. There was a lot of activity as the birds flew into feed and then returned to trees etc on a very regular basis.

Moorhen, mallard, pheasant, dunnock and blackbirds were picking up the seed that had come out of the feeders.

when 2 jackdaws arrived a lot of the birds flew into the nearest bushes.

They  had just returned when this sparrowhawk flew in and landed in a tree,

I don't know where the birds flew off to but they had all gone so I left and walked to the hide on the other side of the reserve. Catkins were a reminder that spring is not far away.

The last time that I visited the reserve I saw lots of geese, greylag, canada and pink feet, but there were none today.

Cormorants and lapwings standing on a small mudbank

a male goldeneye was busy feeding, but he did not get too close to the hide.

On my way back to the car park I saw this grey wagtail in a small stream.

A pleasant couple of hours on a warm December day.

Smew

 

Monthly pcr test this morning. After the lady had left we then went food shopping so it was nearly 1pm before I arrived at Wheldrake Ings. According to the latest reports on twitter, I might be able to see a smew or a dusky warbler. Either one would be my 200th bird of the year. Both birds had been seen at the far end of the footpath on the reserve, so off I set. When I reached the footbridge after the pool hide, there were still a few birders hoping to see the dusky warbler, so I decided to continue to the last hide in the hope of seeing a smew.

I joined other birders in the hide and as I looked through my binoculars I could see a male smew. It is not very often that I go to see a specific bird and it is the first bird I see. Number 200 for 2021, and a day to spare.

I sat next to Malcolm and we chatted about the good old days on the reserve. He was trying out a new lens and camera, as he was going on a cruise to Brazil and was looking for something light.

On my way back to the car I met John who was still looking for the dusky warbler. He was telling me how he has written a book and is waiting for it to be printed. I think that he said the title was "The history of birds on pub signs".

New Year Resolutions

 Or as my Wiltshire born granny would call them resomolutions!

1. More local birding.

2, Keep more detailed bird records.

3 Improve my photography.

4. Don't let my clothes shrink if we have another lock down.

5. Be able to identify more flowers and insects.

6. Visit at least one new RSPB reserve.

7. Walk at least 70 miles a month.

Late afternoon birding

 I received a message to say that there were Bewick swans in a field near Blacktoft, so about 1pm I left home. As I reached the reserve I could see 3 people standing at the bend in the road, looking through telescopes. I recognised 2 of the people, Carl and Ian. I quickly parked my car and got my telescope and walked to join them. The swans were a couple of fields away, but it was possible to see that they were smaller than the mute swans they were with. The wind was blowing very strongly and one chaps telescope and tripod blew over, so we decided to retreat to the reserve.

This was the view from Xerox hide. 2 mute swans, and 3 teal plus a group of snipe, sheltering in some vegetation.

 I then walked to Marshland hide were there were only 2 mallard and 3 snipe. According to a chap in the hide, previous occupants had allowed the door to slam in the wind and most of the birds flew off.

I then joined Carl and Ian in Townend hide. Carl had just found the water pipit.

It was difficult to find the water pipit as it blended in with the vegetation well. A marsh harrier was hunting close by, had it seen the pipit?

I then received a message telling me that the dusky warbler had been seen again at Wheldrake, so I left Blacktoft and drove to Wheldrake. It was 1530 by now and the light was fading. I had mis read the message, as the bird had been seen near a footbridge, not the river bridge. However I was there so I walked on to the reserve. Needless to say I did not hear or see the warbler, or any smew, either of which would have been my 200th bird of the year.

This was the view as I left Swantail hide. It was nearly dark by the time that I reached the Tower hide.

The pictures are not very good due to the light, but the white in the picture are gulls. The gull roost was very large and I wondered how many different gulls were there, any white winged ones?

2 days left to find my 200th bird of the year, will I do it?

Welney WWT

 It was 1030 am when I arrived at Welney WWT, but you could easily have thought it was 1030pm. It was dark,cold,windy and heavy rain. However the welcome from the staff was warm and a hot cup of tea soon sorted me out.

At 12 noon they feed the wild swans, so I had time to visit a few hides before then. From one hide a marsh harrier was hunting.

I assumed that it had seen something as it stayed in the area for a while.

It was using the wind to stay in a similar place. However it did not dive into the reeds, so whatever it had spotted must have gone.

Time to go to the main observatory for the swan feed. Lots of ducks were already there.

a family of mute swans swam closer

a lapwing landed on one of the islands

Then it was feeding time. The man doing the feeding was whistling to the swans.

I tried to identify some of the whooper swans by their beak patterns, but they spent a lot of time with their heads in the water.

a lot of black tailed godwits were present, but they were never close to the hide.

when the marsh harrier came near they took to the sky

Shortly after the feeding had ended, the rain started again, so it was time to drive home. On my way back to the A1, I passed several fields where there were lots of swans. However I was in a line of traffic and there was no where to stop and scan them to look for Bewick's swans.

RSPB Fen Drayton Lakes

 My family taxi service involved a trip to Cambridge, so I decided to include some birdwatching.

Fen Drayton Lakes was the first place I visited. Sadly the weather was awful, Wind, rain, and dark clouds. I has hoped to be able to add smew to my year list, but failed. It is a nice site and I will visit again when next in the area.

I might even try to get there by bus!

It is a large site so it will take a few hours to explore. On my visit the only thing I saw that is mentioned on the map is a lot of bullfinches.

1st day of summer birding.

 A thin coating of ice on the car windscreen this morning was my welcome to summer! There was no wind and it felt cold. I decided to stay local and go to Wheldrake Ings.

The walk along the path was easier than I had expected after the recent flood. The path is more substantial so no slipping and sliding about in the mud! This is the view from the first hide.

As you can see, there is plenty of water and the birds are mostly on the far side.

I used to spend a lot of time at Wheldrake in the early 1970's and this pump was used to top up the water level in front of the pool hide.

No need to pump water from the river at the moment as there is water everywhere. A young mute swan made a splash landing

 A few goldeneye were on the pool, but did not come very close to the hide.

I walked round to the last hide. This is the most sunshine that I saw today.

Looking out from the hide you can see more water

a lot of water and the birds are a fair distance away. A pair of mute swans were feeding just in front of the hide.

Gadwall soon started to follow the swans.

I have noticed before that ducks often stay close to swans when they are feeding. I am not sue if they are doing it for safety, as few predators will attack a swan, or are they close to the swans because the swans feed deeper than the ducks and disturb food.

On my way back to bridge over the river I noticed this kestrel sat on a branch. The branch was over the path so I had no option but to get closer to the bird, but I did not want to disturb its hunting on such a cold day. It let me get very close before it flew off.

I called in at Bank Island on my way back to the car.

This the view from the right hand side of the hide. Teal were coming from the water onto the grass to feed, and then flying back to water when disturbed. A jay was on the grass but started to fly as I pressed the button on my camera.

If you try very hard you might just about be able to see it. Redwing were also feeding on the grass but flew awy each the teal took off. Blackbirds were not as easily put off looking for food.

A pleasant enough day.