Horsebere Penduline finally swings in my direction.....

Last Thursday and Friday I managed to engineer it at work to enable me to work close to Gloucester, my aim was to twitch the Penduline Tits at Horsbere Pools. I visited for an hour before work and an hour after work but to no avail.

I kept an eye on the bird news and was glad it was re-found so I managed to ensure I worked close again today.  I didn't have time to visit before work so I popped out over lunch.  When I arrived there was no sign of them despite about 30 minutes of scanning.  There was a flock of Long-tailed Tits flitting up down the reed bed.

Long-tailed Tits

Also in the reed beds were Moorhen, Reed Bunting, Blue Tit and a pair or Chiffchaff.

Female Reed Bunting

Male Reed Bunting

Chiffchaff

I decided to take a walk around the pool to see what else I could find, and maybe find the Pendulines.

The fields around the pool contained about 15 Magpie, a large flock of Fieldfare interspersed with a few Redwing and a Buzzard soaring and calling over.  There were a number of Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and a few Goldfinch.

Meadow Pipit 

 

Pied Wagtail

Goldfinch

 

Magpie

Around the other side of the pool I was treated to some great views of a pair of Stonechat, I followed them along for about 10 minutes trying to get a decent shot but they wouldn't let me approach any closer than about 10 meters.

Male Stonechat

Female Stonechat

Male Stonechat

 

Female Stonechat

On the way back round to where the Penduline Tits are normally seen I was treated to a lovely view of a Kingfisher flying around the reedbed trying to find a suitable perch which it failed to do.  Out on the water there were 4 Mute Swan, 3 Wigeon (2m & 1f), Mallard, Coot and Moorhen with Gull numbers steadily increasing.  When I arrived it was predominantly Black-headed Gull with a pair of Herring Gull and a single Common Gull, by now there were approx. 15 Herring Gull, 6 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 2 Common Gull and a different looking Herring Gull (Had it confirmed on the Facebook UK Gulls ID group as a Herring)

Herring & LBB Gulls

Herring & LBB Gulls

Herring & LBB Gulls

Herring & LBB Gulls

Mallard

It was another no show on the Penduline Tits so I headed up to the brook to have a look, there I heard so loud 'seeping' which I couldn't place, I spent 20 mins trying to locate them.  The sound ceased whilst I was checking another area so before I left I thought I'd have one last look and suddenly in my binoculars was a Penduline Tit :)  I spent about 10 minutes with fleeting views when other arrived, I was able to put them onto it for a bit until it flew straight up then appeared to come down by the brook.  One of those present went to check while we continued to search the reeds, he found the pair in the Willows along the brook and they gave some great views to about 10 people.

Penduline Tit

Penduline Tit

Penduline Tit

 

Penduline Tit

Penduline Tit

A worthwhile couple of hours at a small pool you would never realise was there next to a busy road across from and industrial estate gave me a lifer and a year tick, happy days....

Richmond Park

Had to spend this weekend in London so decided to take a nice walk around Richmond Park.  Richmond was busy, busy, busy.  We parked up at the Pen Ponds car park as I wanted to look for Little Owl which I'd seen around the area before but no joy.

Down on the ponds a large number of Black-headed Gulls were skating around on the ice, they were interspersed with a few Common Gull. There were Coot, Moorhen, 2 Mute Swan, Mallard and a small group of Shovelar, there were also 2 Heron in the trees on the island.

Black-headed Gull

It was really nice to see a pair of Stonechat in such a crowded place, the male looked stunning in sunlight perched on top of the bracken.  Was nice to see the Goldcrests flitting around the treetops.

Stonechat

There were the obvious vast numbers of raucous Ring-necked Parakeet, they are absolutely everywhere.  An amazing sight was seeing my first Peregrine Falcon of the year floating and circling over the park when suddenly it when into a vertical dive, it was awesome to see but no photos.

Ring-necked Parakeet

Ring-necked Parakeet

 

Carrion Crow

 

We went to have a look at the Red Deer, there was one stag with massive antlers strutting around sniffing at his hinds, it's incredible getting such close views, not close enough for some though as the continuously disturbed them trying to get right next to them for the ubiquitous selfie shot - bloody idiots....   A few young stags were getting some practice in ready for the rutting season, not that they are going to get  a look in with the big guy around.

Big Red and his Harem

Wishfully admiring the hinds

Big Red keeping watch

Blowing a raspberry

Group of Stag chilling

A bit of gentle practice

 

Last bird of the day was a Jay in the trees back at the car.

 

Jay

Full Species List:   Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Grey Heron, Mallard, Shovelar, Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Gadwall, Starling, Stonechat, Goldcrest, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Ring-necked Parakeet, Jay, Green Woodpecker, Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel.





WWT Barnes - Bittern

After a week off work I thought I best visit the doctor yesterday, she informed me I had Flu, a Virus and a Chest Infection - nice..... Anyway, she suggested I get some fresh air so today I drove over to the London Wetland Centre in Barnes, I had seen on my Bird Guides App that a couple of Bittern were present.

The car park was empty when I arrived which to me bodes well, I'm honestly not anti-social.

My first bird was a very obliging Blackbird against the toilet wall feasting on some berries.

Blackbird

Blackbird

The small ponds on you cross over before entering the visitor centre contained Mallard, Tufted Duck, Coot, a pair of Shovelar and Moorhen.

Shovelar

Moorhen

Within the atrium area (upon exiting the visitor centre) a small group of Ring-necked Parakeet.

Ring-necked Parakeet

I walked up to the where the Bittern had been seen, on route I added Magpie, Carrion Crow, Little Grebe, Grey Heron, Lapwing, Widgeon, Wren, Robin, Blue Tit, Cormorant, Black-headed Gull, Egyptian Goose, Teal, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Woodpigeon, Herring Gull and a signing Cetti's Warbler which provided fleeting views.

Tufted Duck

Robin

I arrived at the furthest hide where I saw Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron and a Bittern which was show ridiculously in the sunshine.

Bittern

Bittern (crappy phone through the scope shot)

As I was looking out over the scrapes for waders (of which there were none) I found a pair of Stonechat quite a distance out on the fence.

14th January 2016

I returned the following day for a few hours but went around the other side of the reserve (and for some reason can't find the photos)..

My first stop was at the Dulverton Hide where I saw a gorgeous pair of Pintail.  Whilst walking up to the WWF Hide I stop to look at the buzz of Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Long-tailed Tit, amongst them was an over wintering Chiffchaff but best of all were the 25 Siskin in the top of the Alders.

I continued around to the Peacock Tower where I stopped for a bit to search for any hidden waders but nothing was found, there were plenty of Wigeon, Shovelar, Mallard and Teal.  On route back to the car I heard the seeping sound of Goldcrest and found 3 flitting along the hedgerow giving great views, I was then interrupted by a yaffling Green Woodpecker overhead.  On route back to the car I diverted back to the WWF hide as a large flock of Canada Geese had landed so thought I best check them.  In addition to those mentioned I also added Pochard and Jay to the year list.

Wood Sandpiper

I had free day so thought I'd head down to RSPB Lycthett Fields as a Wood Sandpiper had been found that morning and this represented a lifer for me, I've never heard of Lycthett Fields so had to do a bit of research first.  Turned out to be reasonably easy to find though but is one of those sites with no parking or facilities, not saying that's a bad thing...

First thing I noticed as I crossed the style were the number of butterflies about, there where loads of 'Whites' plus Speckled Wood, Peacock, Meadow Brown and Large Skipper, also saw a single Red Admiral.

Large Skipper

Large Skipper

 

I managed to connect with the Wood Sandpiper and had good but distant views so no photos, also present were Oystercatcher, a couple of Little Ringed Plover, Curlew and a number of Common Tern.  I was very happy with the Wood Sandpiper being a lifer I've been after for some time now.

 

On the route back to the car I found a large flock of Linnet and a very obliging pair of Stonechat which are always a pleasure.

 

Male Linnet

Male Linnet

Female Stonechat

Female Stonechat

Male Stonechat