A beautiful sunny day tempted plenty of people out onto the reserve to look for lovely wildlife and many were rewarded with sightings of a splendid selection of wintery birds.
What follows is a collection of sightings (I didn’t manage to get out myself)reported by visitors and volunteers.
The first report to come in was the exciting news that ‘our’ little owl was happily sunning itself along the hedgerow near Redstart Corner. It’s beginning to look as though it’s setting up home here regularly using the hedgerows in this area and near West Mead hide. We’ve built a special little owl box in the hope that we might encourage it to find a partner, nest and raise little, little owls.
Little owl by Graham Osborne
Up next was a merlin who was upsetting the large ‘charm’ of goldfinches who are usually so happy feeding on Upperton’s field. Despite the rain on Saturday there is still very little water at West Mead pool. This pool is not connected to the system of ditches and the river so we’re dependent on rainfall and runoff to fill it, and we’ve had very little this summer and autumn. Nevertheless, there are plenty of geese to be seen out on the South Brooks – your challenge is to find the dozen or so white-fronted geese amongst scores of greylags and Canada geese.
Around the hedgerows bullfinch are becoming more showy and are always a treat. Whilst resident year round, they are much easier to see as the leaves have fallen and can sometimes be seen in small groups. I heard their rather sad-sounding ‘peu-peu’ call at the top end of the zig zag path, and the bushes in front of Hanger View are often a hotspot.
Bullfinch by Anne Harwood
Listen also for the high-pitched call of the tiny goldcrest and for the less numerous but very special firecrest.
Goldcrest by Anne Harwood
It seems to be a good year for berries and redwings and fieldfares are taking advantage of this tasty food supply. The winter thrushes are rather nomadic so keep your eyes and your ears open for the soft ‘tseep-tseep’ of the redwing and the noisy ‘chack-chack-chack’ of the fieldfare.
Hanger view, overlooking the North Brooks, is always a good spot for wildlife watching and often the place to be to watch the fastest falcon – the peregrine – hunting for dinner. Much of the day is spent perched in the large willow tree, with a chance to preen and a chance to oversee the action on the wetlands.
Peregrine by Gary Faulkner.
And they are getting busier with wigeon, teal, pintail, shoveler and gadwall all grazing, dabbling or upending in and around the pools. Sneaky snipe can be found if you have the patience to search for them, or are lucky enough to spot one moving. We’re still awaiting the influx of black-tailed godwits and wondering whether we’ll beat last winter’s record breaking 1000, but one has arrived and has been joined by a single ruff.
Later in the afternoon a short-eared owl was seen hunting along the river bank. And a succession of other birds of prey were reported – marsh harrier, buzzard, kestrel and sparrowhawk – bringing the count to 8 for the day.
Come along on our winter wildlife watch weekend on Saturday 26 & Sunday 27 November to find some of these lovely creatures. We’re offering free nature trail entry to everyone over the weekend and will have plenty of friendly helpers out on the reserve ready to show you the best spots of the day. If you’d prefer to join a guided walk we’re running one on Saturday morning (11 am – 1 pm) and another on Sunday afternoon (1 pm – 3pm) – please contact us to book a place on one of these walks – we’ll be provided warming hot chocolate half way round so need to know numbers!
Follow the link to find out more...
http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/events-dates-and-inspiration/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-333423