Visit Report: 17/1/11

Arrived at the reserve at around 10am. Whilst putting my walking boots on in the car park, and getting all my binoculars and camera paraphernalia sorted out, I spotted a sparrowhawk swoop across the car park, and land in the trees by the bikes stand. Watched him for a few minutes, I was about to get back to getting my stuff sorted, when a Kestrel glided across the car park, and he sat on the telegraph pole by the entrance. When these kind of things happen, it can sometimes mean I am going to be in for a good day with the camera, or it could mean, that was the highlight of the day. I am happy to say it was the former!

The weather was a bit overcast with a few spots of rain now and then. But not too bad for photography.

The first chap I encountered was a pheasant, he was by the bouncy bridge, and was total happy for me to get close and get a few shots.

I decided to wander up to the powerstation end first. There was plenty of wildfowl on the lake. I am not one for really counting numbers, but there were a decent amounts of Tufted Ducks, Gadwalls, Coots, Mallards, Moorhens and Swans.

Two of the Swans were at the top fence preening themselves. I walked up there, and watched them meticulously preen themselves for a good half hour. It was totally mesmerising how much time and effort they put into every single feather. But then, I suppose it could be a matter of life and death for them.

I walked over the powerstation perimeter in the faint hope there would be waxwings, redwings or some such hedgerow bird I have yet to photograph. No such luck. But I did encounter a small flock of about eight Reed Buntings stripping seeds from the reeds. They are notoriously tricky to photograph, they are nervous birds, so it requires a lot of effort standing very still to let them come back to the fringes of the reed beds, and then you have to switch to manual focus, as the movement of the reeds means the camera keeps of refocussing on the background. I managed to get a few though ..

And so I walked back to where I saw the Swans earlier. They had moved to the far end of the lake. I was about to walk off when I heard the tell tale "whoop whoop whoop" of the swans taking flight. They were heading straight for me across the lake. I pointed the camera .. and clicked ..

ARRRGH! I was still on manual focus from the Reed Bunting pictures. If there ever was a picture entitled, the one that got away! This was it! I was tamping! In a hump I walked along the sea wall edge, past the lighthouse, where I spotted a large Bird Of Prey swooping along the mudflats. It was almost certainly the Hen Harrier that Hannah mentions in her new blog. It was too far off, and the light was too poor to get a photo, I did get a decent view of it through the binoculars.

The copse was full of activity. A small flock of about 20 Goldfinches flitting between the branches, and Chaffinches ground feeding. The trees all now have tight buds on the branches, a sure sign that Spring will start to creep upon us in the coming weeks.

It was good to see Newport Wetlands .. well .. wet, after the summer droughts! All the farmers fields were flooded. Large flocks of Starlings, Lesser Black Backed Gulls and the odd Black Headed Gull here.

The visit ended as it begun, with a Kestrel! It was sat on it's usual perch of the telegraph pole at the top of the incline as you enter the reserve proper. For the first time it didn't fly off when I approached. I tried my luck, reeled of a few shots, edged closer, reeled off a few more. Eventually I managed to get to with a few feet of the pole, and got this one .. dead chuffed with it!

One of the best visits I have had in a while. I don't care that the sun is shining today .. I might not have seen all that I saw yesterday today!

Ant