The Chase Continues

I paid a quick visit to Liden Lagoon this afternoon to see if the resident Mute Swans had managed to chase of the interloper. And the answer is no, the resident cob is still giving chase and at times able to get the unwelcome visitor airborne, albeit for a few metres. This looks like its going to take awhile.

The resident cob gives chase, as the interloper takes to the air.

He's certainly being stubborn and immediately lands, much to the annoyance of the resident pair.
Something else I wasn't expecting to see is the continuing "friendship" of the Coot, Black-headed Gull and female Gadwall. For at least 3 days now the Coot has been bringing weed etc. to the surface and the "same" Black-headed Gull and female Gadwall have been benefiting with titbits the Coot is providing.

And the "friendship" continues as these three seem to be enjoying each others company.
Quite a few large gulls here today with 10 Herring Gulls and 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull. I didn't see the Shoveler, if they were here, as I only walked a short way down the path on the west bank, as there was heavy drizzle coming down. Still a few Tufted Duck, Mallard and Canada Geese, and I saw 1 Great Crested Grebe.

Black-headed Gull to the rear and a Herring Gull which I think is more likely to be 1st-winter progressing towards 1st-summer plumage.

The other way round the 1st-winter progressing towards 1st-summer plumage Herring Gull and Black-headed Gull.

1st-winter progressing towards 1st-summer plumage Herring Gull

From L to R an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, 1st-winter progressing towards 1st-summer plumage Herring Gull and an adult Herring Gull.

L to R adult Herring Gull and 3rd winter Herring Gull

Spot the difference with these 3 Tufted Ducks, from back to front a 1st winter drake, and adult drake and a female.

Birds Recorded: 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 4 Mute Swan (2 resident, 1 adult, 1 juv), Canada Geese, Mallard, 1 Gadwall (f), Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Coot, Black-headed Gull, 10 Herring Gull, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Grey Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Chaffinch.

Also 1 Grey Squirrel

Swan Lake

It's that time of year again, where juvenile and unattached Mute Swans start to wander. And today a cob Mute Swan was trying his luck on Liden Lagoon. Even the resident pen was involved in the chase, as she and her mate chased the "interloper" around the south island a few times before all 3 had a break. I'm sure they were all at again when I left!

Highlights today were 2 Great Crested Grebes, 6 Shovelers (2 adult drakes, 1 adult drake eclipse, 3 females), 32 Tufted Duck and just 1 pair of Gadwall. I say just, on my last visit here (26 Nov) there were 33!! Well not anymore...........

Here are a few images from my visit today....

Mute Swan

The chase is on. The resident Mute Swans pursue the interloper

The Chase as it unfolded.

One of the two Great Crested Grebes here today. A pair may be!

A drake Shoveler and 2 females

A drake Shoveler

The only pair left of the 33 Gadwall here last month

My theory from L to R - Adult drake, adult female, juvenile female and juvenile drake. 

A Coot resurfaces

This Coot was diving down to collect weed and the pair of Gadwall and Black-headed Gull were helping themselves to a few tit-bits.

Whilst this Moorhen picks off bread crumbs from the rocks.

This Moorhen was up on the rocks feeding on left over bread crumbs.

1st winter Herring Gull

2nd winter herring Gull

Adult winter Herring Gull

Adult winter Herring Gull in flight 

Above a 2nd winter Common Gull and below 2 juvenile Herring Gulls

A Grey Wagtail in flight

Birds Recorded: 2 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 6 Mute Swan (resident pair, adult Cob, 3 juveniles), 12+ Canada Geese, Mallard, 1 pair Gadwall, 6 Shoveler (2 drake, 1 drake eclipse, 4 female), 32 Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Coot, 100+ Black-headed Gull, 15 Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, 1 Grey Wagtail, Dunnock, Blackbird, Long-tailed Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow.

Finch Corner

If you ever hear me say, "would you like to meet up for a bit of bird watching", be prepared for a soaking. I have no idea why I can leave my house in glorious sunshine and blue skies, and then arrive at my destination to see the clouds thicken up and the heavens open. I'm just lucky I guess........

Any way my short excursion this evening was a visit to "Finch Corner" Here, so named by myself because of the fantastic number of Chaffinch, Brambling and Greenfinch that "reside" there before they leave for their respective roosts. And its not just finches as there are also good numbers of Yellowhammer and now it appears a few Tree Sparrows.

Here are a few images from this evening:

Brambling

From left to right Greenfinch, Greenfinch, Tree Sparrow, Brambling and another Brambling bottom right.

Tree Sparrow

Tree Sparrow and Brambling

Brambling

Brambling

Brambling

Brambling

Yellowhammer

Brambling

Yellowhammer

Brambling

Before I arrived there was this scrawny Common Buzzard feeding on a carcass.

Here the same bird is in flight.

And as the light really began to fade so this Kestrel decided to hover above me.

Birds Recorded: 3 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, Pheasant, 4 Red-legged Partridge, Wood Pigeon, 3 Meadow Pipit, Robin, Blackbird, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, 25 Starling, 5 Tree Sparrow, 15+ Brambling, 20+ Chaffinch, 15+ Greenfinch, and 15+ Yellowhammer.

Mud Glorious Mud

Probably not one of my best ideas with taking two white dogs to Stanton Park, but they deserved a good run out, and at least they had a nice warm shower when they got home. And for once it wasn't raining, just a very light drizzle.

Birds of note were Marsh Tit, Kingfisher, 3 Goosander and 62 Mallard.

A few images from our walk.

One lot of Mallard

and the next lot.

The waterfall by the now closed dam.

The resident Mute Swans

A female "redhead" Goosander

Chocolate Magpie x Mulard duck

The ubiquitous Robin

Dawn, Benji and Ted

Ted. He comes in white as well.

This doesn't bode well for clean jeans...............

Birds Recorded: 2 Mute Swan, 62 Mallard (40 drakes, 22 ducks), 3 Goosander (1 pair and a female), 1 Buzzard, 6 Moorhen, No Coot seen, 1 Black-headed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Long-tailed Tit, Marsh Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, 1 Treecreeper, Wren, 1 Jay, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch, Siskin heard, Goldfinch and 2 Bullfinch.

Stormy Waters

I'm not very good at this. Yesterday I arrived at Slimbridge in the rain and today I did exactly the same at Coate Water. To make matters worse as I left Coate, the sun came out!

So braving the elements I walked anti-clockwise around Coate and stopped off just beyond the boat yard. But before I got there I watched a Great Crested Grebe catch and eat what looked like a fair sized Perch, certainly for a grebe. After a couple of "jiggles" with its beak, it was gone.

This Great Crested Grebe is just taking on its summer plumage.

To get to that stage it needs food and this Perch.....

...............was soon dispatched.

An adult Great Crested Grebe in its breeding colours.

Further along in the hedgerow by the boat yard, there was a small party of Long-tailed Tits, Blue Tits and a solitary Goldcrest that seemed quite oblivious that I was just a metre away from them. They just carried on regardless, feeding on small invertebrates in the Hawthorns.

I managed a couple of shots, but must apologies for the poor image quality. The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS bridge camera I use is really excellent in good lighting conditions, however it does have its limitations when the skies turn grey. Unfortunately even taking it out of Auto and uprating the ISO to above 800 still lends to inferior picture quality, so not very helpful when you're trying to maintain a fast shutter speed.

Long-tailed Tit

A grab shot of a Goldcrest as it foraged alongside the tit flock.

By the time I got to the bank behind the boat yard it was blowing a hoolie. The wind had whipped up the water and there were huge waves that wouldn't have looked out of place on the coast. Looking across the choppy waters there was a small flock of around 10 Herring Gulls, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 1 Common Gull and several Black-headed Gulls. In amongst them were a few Cormorants and a lot more Great Crested Grebes.

A Cormorant, a Lesser Black-backed Gull in flight and 5 or so Herring Gull bobbing about on the water.

One of the 10 Herring Gulls seemingly enjoying the turbulent conditions.

This one looks to be a 3rd winter.....

And another Herring Gull, a 1st winter.

Just to illustrate how dark it was, this Mute Swan looks quite serene against the dark waters.

As I left the waters edge and headed back to the car park, I heard a Kingfisher calling and then a few seconds later it flew across the Crazy Golf Course, over the path right in front of me and around the island. Between the island and the path all the ducks, geese and coots were taking shelter from the storm! But of course you know the rest, as I drove away the sun came out.................

Birds Recorded: Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, 100+ Canada Goose, Mallard, Tufted Duck, 2 male Goosander, Moorhen, Coot, Black-headed Gull, 10 Herring Gull, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 1 Common Gull, Wood Pigeon, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, 1 Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow and Jackdaw.