Three red-head Smews on Pit 29, Cotswold Water Park
This Smew was content resting on the ice
Distant record shot of an elusive drake Smew. I scanned this water for over an hour before I saw him!
Red-crested Pochards
Red-crested Pochards with a few Wigeon
This is pit 29 at Cotswold Water Park - not exactly a pleasing name for this superb lake
Around a dozen Cormorants were perched in a tree on an island in the lake - they were very noisy too!xxxx
Well here we are in 2010. One of my main aims this year is to relax with the birding and stop chasing stuff too much – one of the reasons why, like last year, I am not bothering with a year list.
Xxxx
Anyway my first species of the year, like every year, was Blackbirds – playing on the lawn when I opened the curtains. On New Years day I quickly set off for HGF where the third species of the year was a couple of cracking Golden Plovers which flew across the path in the south field. There was nothing else of great significance at the pool with it being largely frozen – the Wigeon flock were all stood on the ice and most of the aythya ducks had departed. In the garden it was busy – the Fieldfare was still present and at least 8 Reed Buntings were feeding at the back of the garden. We were soon heading down the M6 and M5 for my brother-in-laws wedding the day after – a male Stonechat observed in a layby while we ate our sandwiches was the only other bird of interest that day.
Xxxx
2nd Jan and I managed a couple of hours at the nearby Cotswold Water Park in the morning with Billy. CWP is a series of lakes created by gravel extraction – there are over 140 of them covering a very large area. It would be easy to spend days here – I decided to wander round just one lake – pit 29. The small stretch of woodland leading to the lake was fruitful with 3 Jays, Goldcrest, Bullfinch, 2 Ravens, 40+ Redwings, Great Spotted Woodpecker and 3 Green Woodpeckers all picked up along with other common species.
Xxxx
The lake itself was largely ice free even though the temperature was sub-zero – it was a stunning sunny and crisp morning. The joint star billing on this stretch of water is shared between large numbers of Red-crested Pochards and a small group of Smews. The RCP drakes are stunning ducks – I counted at least 125 of this species on the water – local counts have often greatly exceeded this. I also finally managed to locate 7 Smew with 6 red-heads and a smart drake being present. The latter were extremely elusive – it took over an hour to find the drake and the same time to get all six red-heads together too. There were plenty of other ducks on the water – at least 12 Pintail plus three Goldeneye, 80+ Wigeon, 30+ Teal and lots of Gadwall, Pochard and Tufted Duck. I could quite easily have stayed here all morning, however a wedding beckoned!
Xxxx
Anyway my first species of the year, like every year, was Blackbirds – playing on the lawn when I opened the curtains. On New Years day I quickly set off for HGF where the third species of the year was a couple of cracking Golden Plovers which flew across the path in the south field. There was nothing else of great significance at the pool with it being largely frozen – the Wigeon flock were all stood on the ice and most of the aythya ducks had departed. In the garden it was busy – the Fieldfare was still present and at least 8 Reed Buntings were feeding at the back of the garden. We were soon heading down the M6 and M5 for my brother-in-laws wedding the day after – a male Stonechat observed in a layby while we ate our sandwiches was the only other bird of interest that day.
Xxxx
2nd Jan and I managed a couple of hours at the nearby Cotswold Water Park in the morning with Billy. CWP is a series of lakes created by gravel extraction – there are over 140 of them covering a very large area. It would be easy to spend days here – I decided to wander round just one lake – pit 29. The small stretch of woodland leading to the lake was fruitful with 3 Jays, Goldcrest, Bullfinch, 2 Ravens, 40+ Redwings, Great Spotted Woodpecker and 3 Green Woodpeckers all picked up along with other common species.
Xxxx
The lake itself was largely ice free even though the temperature was sub-zero – it was a stunning sunny and crisp morning. The joint star billing on this stretch of water is shared between large numbers of Red-crested Pochards and a small group of Smews. The RCP drakes are stunning ducks – I counted at least 125 of this species on the water – local counts have often greatly exceeded this. I also finally managed to locate 7 Smew with 6 red-heads and a smart drake being present. The latter were extremely elusive – it took over an hour to find the drake and the same time to get all six red-heads together too. There were plenty of other ducks on the water – at least 12 Pintail plus three Goldeneye, 80+ Wigeon, 30+ Teal and lots of Gadwall, Pochard and Tufted Duck. I could quite easily have stayed here all morning, however a wedding beckoned!
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