Cotswold water park Wilts.

Hi Seymouraves,

I went there last summer.  I  went to Lower Moor Farm for a bat caring course and was indoors most of the day but I did have a bit of a walk round the lakes in the vicinity of Lower Moor Farm before I went home.  It was fairly quiet that day but judging by the website the water park is a good place for birds and other wildlife and the Lower Moor Farm lakes are only a small part of the park in any case.   According to the website "the Cotswold Water Park is an area of 140 lakes, set in 40 square miles of countryside".  That should keep a birder happy for days if not weeks!  You have obviously already looked at the website but here are some links in case anybody else is interested.

Leisure guide:

http://www.waterpark.org/leisure-guide.html

Birdwatching:

http://www.waterpark.org/society/birdwatching.html

and this one links to the Lower Moor Farm page:

http://www.waterpark.org/hot_topic/society/education.html

Best wishes, SB

SB, thanks for that information. Sounds like an ideal place for a spring/ autumn break. It even advises you which lakes for different birds.

Hi SB, so glad you found this thread (I left a note on your page about it). It looks a really interesting place and one OH and I would like to visit one day so many thanks for the links.

I found the thread by accident but thanks for the note Squirrel.  Wiltshire is a big county and I rarely go "up north" unless I am going for something specific and then there isn't much time for exploring.  I really must explore my own county some time!

Hi there,

I know it quite well, as it's an area the RSPB has been doing some work in over a number of years (though we don't have a reserve there!)

It is a great birding area, though if you're coming to it fresh the sheer scale of it - and the number of lakes - can be bewildering. However, if you've got a car and a map and are willing to explore there are some good birds to be found. A guide like "Where to watch birds in SW England" would be useful too. Goodies include wintering ducks - including smew and goosander, and the occasional diver. There is a growing colony of red-crested pochards, which although introduced are very showy and still unusual enough to warrant attention. Summer brings nesting herons, little ringed plovers, and nightingales (a healthy population) and plenty of hobbies and sand martins. Migrants of almost any kind can turn up, from great white egrets to black terns. Besides birds, there are some truly exceptional wildflower meadows with snakeshead fritillaries and orchids, worth searching out from April to July.

Sites worth a visit include Keynes Country Park, Cleveland Lakes, Clattinger Farm, North Meadow NNR. But there are so many lakes to choose from you could spend all day and not meet another birder, if you avoid the visitor hotspots.