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The good old British weather, one day fine, the next wet and so on. At least the weather forecast is more accurate nowadays and today (as forecast) was dark, overcast and wet when I decided to have a quick walk around Stanton Park. My quarry Great Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch for my year list.

Now if I'm truthfully honest I stopped doing lists years back. However I feel obliged this year, only because a few of my friends on the Swindon Birds and Wildlife Blog, have unbeknown to them, influenced me into having ago. If you're reading this you know who you are. Now it's not a challenge in seeing who gets the most birds in one year, just simply a log of what I've seen on my travels. However and it does happen, on the very odd occasion I might go and have a look at something of interest, but I won't be twitching every rarity that comes into our area.

The Great Northern Diver was a treat and when its just 15 minutes from your door, it would have been a shame not to have paid it a visit. So I have a 2016 list, which is the first one since 2006.

A few birds I would love to tick off my Life List, but not necessarily this year, are Dotterel, Rose-coloured Starling and Common Rosefinch. A few birds I would love to see again in the UK would be Golden Oriole, Wryneck, Waxwing, Red-rumped Swallow, Turtle Dove, Bee-eater and Hoopoe. Lets hope for some decent weather then.

Anyway on my walk around Stanton Park I recorded: Mute Swan, Mallard, the Chocolate Magpie x Mulard duck, 1 pair Teal, 4 female "redhead" Goosander, Moorhen, 5 Black-headed Gull, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, 16 Redwing, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, 2 Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, 1 Nuthatch, 1 Treecreeper, Wren, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch, 30+ Siskin and 30+ Goldfinch.

And here are some very poor looking images. The Canon PowerShot SX 50 HS is a lovely bridge camera but not brilliant in low-light conditions.

One of the 4 female Goosanders

Chocolate Magpie x Mulard duck

An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull

Same bird in flight

A Much Better Day

Sun again, though listening to the weather forecast it's going to short-lived. But at least I kept dry for a change, as I headed off to Liden Lagoon to see what was about.

Well for starters there were 46 Tufted Duck. There were 54 a couple of days ago, but not an easy duck to count, as they never keep still long enough, continually diving down in search of food. Today there were 9 Gadwall. There were lots of Mallard about and the Mallard x Indian Runner duck is still present. No sign of the pair of Shoveler and do we have 2 male Pochards! As I walked around the lagoon adjacent to the A419 and looked into the lagoon between the two islands, there was a drake keeping very much to himself. However as I made my way round to the path behind the housing estate there was a very "tame" drake Pochard that followed me down the lagoon. A bit of a mystery. Are there 2 birds!

The lone Great Crested Grebe was around the North Island and to my surprise there were a pair of Little Grebes along the bank of the South Island. Such a busy little bird, diving at every opportunity and then moving along a bit before diving down again. One thing I did notice was they way they always retracted their feathers just before diving. One minute all puffed up, next minute slimline. I can't believe its taken me 48 years to notice that!

A pair of Little Grebes working their way along the bank. They are also known as Dabchicks. Quite fluffy as they swim about on the surface, but if you look closely, each time they dive down, all their feathers are retracted to make them slimline for swimming under the surface. Apologies for sound quality, it might have been sunny, but it was quite windy.

Other birds about on the water were Coots, Moorhens, 70 odd Black-headed Gulls and 8 Herring Gulls.

Around the banks a few Blue Tits pairing up, Long-tailed Tits moving through the trees with a few Great Tits and Goldcrest accompanying them and overhead a Sparrowhawk spiralling above the lagoon.

Here are a few images from today:

Still just the one Great Crested Grebe

A pair of Little Grebe hastily make their way to the island, under the watchful eye of a Coot.

Now these three drake Tufted Duck have lovely mauve sheens to their heads.........

..........whilst this one has a beautiful green sheen. Same species but just a different angle to the sun showing just what an iridescent plumage the drake Tufted Duck has.

A drake Pochard. Are there two! This one is amazingly tolerant of humans, yet the one I saw just 10 minutes earlier on the opposite side to the lagoon was anything but. I'm very confused!

4 pairs of Gadwall and now another drake.

More gulls - an adult Herring Gull comes into land.

I'm going for 2nd winter, though the saddle is quite grey!

From left to right and I am open to suggestions, but I reckon 2nd winter, 1st winter and 2nd winter

1st winter Herring Gull.

This has to be one of the smallest juvenile Herring Gulls I've ever encountered. Its not a juvenile Common Gull, though it would be perfect in size, but the beak is all wrong and is more typical of a Herring Gull. A really odd looking bird!

A lot easier to ID a Sparrowhawk surveys the Lagoon from above.

And something else keeping an eye on me, one of a few Grey Squirrels around the lagoon

Birds Recorded: 1 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Little Grebe, 6 Mute Swan (resident pair, 3 juveniles and 1 cob),, Canada Geese, Mallard, 9 Gadwall (5m, 4f),  46 Tufted Duck (25m, 21f), 1 possibly 2 drake Pochard, 1 Sparrowhawk, Moorhen, Coot, 71 Black-headed Gull, 8 Herring Gull (3 adult, 2 2nd winter, 2 1st winter and a juvenile), Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Chaffinch and Goldfinch.

Plus 2 Grey Squirrels

A Bit of a Round Robin

Cricklade, River Thames
Location

Last Monday, when Dawn and I came back from the Cotswold Water Park, we saw quite a few Lapwing and gulls in the flooded fields just north of the River Thames at Cricklade. Today I thought I'd go back and have a better look. Unfortunately the fields were even more flooded than they were two days ago, and they had moved on. However the Lapwing were still about, as 300+ came over from the south-east heading towards the water park. Also about were 2 Buzzards, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Robin, Redwing, Rook, Carrion Crow and Jackdaw.

The River Thames and flooded fields beyond. The bridge you can see is at this position Here and I was parked Here looking north.

Just a few of the Lapwing passing through.......

....with a few coming into land alongside the A419, unfortunately there was no access to see them close up.

Cleveland Lakes Nature Reserve
Location

As I wasn't that far from the water park I thought I'd have a look across CWP Pit 74 (Cleveland Lakes Nature Reserve). As I arrived at Twitchers Gate Here, the storm clouds were brewing again, but I did get views of 100's of Wigeon, Shoveler, Pintail, Gadwall, Teal and a few Tufted Duck. Other birds around were Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Coot, Lapwing, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird and Carrion Crow.

A panoramic view from Twitchers Gate looking almost south across CWP Pit 74 (Cleveland Lakes Nature Reserve)

Across the pit a floating pontoon with several Cormorants. Just behind them are CWP Pits 68a and 68b which had good numbers of Pintail,Teal and Shoveler

On CWP Pit 74 it was mainly Wigeon, with many hundreds mixed in with the Coot.

CWP Pit 9
Location
My last point of call was CWP Pit 9, alas not a Wiltshire pit, but a Gloucestershire one, but an excellent one for Red-crested Pochard. I wasn't disappointed as there must have been upwards of 20 pairs, possibly more.

This an excellent pit for Red-crested Pochard with 20, maybe more pairs.

These two were a bit closer

And here the female has a bit of a stretch.

You are never too far away from a Cormorant.

Birds Recorded today were: Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Gadwall, Wigeon, Teal,

Pintail, Shoveler, Red-crested Pochard, Tufted Duck, Buzzard, Pheasant, Coot, Lapwing, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Redwing, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow and Jackdaw.

Another Rainy Day

Sometimes you just have to get up and go, and for once there appeared to be a break in the weather. It was still raining when I arrived at Liden Lagoon at 1:15pm, but it wasn't too heavy, so with wellies on it was off around the lagoon.

So what was on the water today, a count of the Tufted Duck revealed 29 drakes and 25 ducks, a good start, there were also 4 pairs of Gadwall, the drake Pochard, but no sign of the 2 Shovelers. The Mallard x Indian Runner was still mingling with the Mallard and also in amongst them a couple of other feral ducks.

Still a few Canada Geese and the 6 Mute Swans. Not quite sure what's going on here, as one of the juveniles was with the resident pen, whilst the resident cob was with his two juveniles from last year. The interloper was, as usual, at the southern tip of the lagoon, having a break from being chased around the water.

A single Great Crested Grebe again and a single Heron on the north side of the South Island.

Also on the water lots of Coot, Moorhens and a few Herring Gulls. Alas no Common Gulls.

Around the banks a huge flock of 60+ Goldfinches and Siskins feeding on the Alders.

Three drake Tufted Ducks riding the waves.

Here you can clearly see the tuft on the back of the drake.

And here is a female Tufted Duck

A drake Pochard.

And a drake Gadwall

Here his mate joins him. On the lagoon today there were 4 pairs of Gadwall

A pair of Mallard, the female and the brightly coloured drake.

Everyone's favourite at the moment this female Mallard x Indian Runner hybrid. Now has she paired up with a drake Mallard!

Another feral Mallard. Almost jet black with a white breast, most like a female.

Whilst this feral duck appears to have a lot of green on its head suggesting a drake.

Other water birds today included this Great Crested Grebe.

And one of the resident Mute Swans exercising those large wings.

And now the gulls, this is a 3rd winter Herring Gull

Most likely a 4th winter Herring Gull

An adult Herring Gull

And two more adult Herring Gulls

This adult Herring Gull is about to give this 1st winter Herring Gull a bit of a shock

And to round of a grab shot of 3 Siskins feeding in the Alders. In total there were over 60 Goldfinches and Siskins. Difficult to count the Siskins but certainly a good dozen or so.
Birds Recorded: 1 Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron, 6 Mute Swan (resident pair, 3 juveniles and 1 cob), Canada Geese, Mallard, mallard x Indian Runner duck, 8 Gadwall (4 pairs), 54 Tufted Duck (29m, 25f), 1 drake Pochard, Moorhen, Coot, Black-headed Gull, 6 Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, 12+ Siskin and 40+ Goldfinch.

Mud Glorious Mud

With an hour and a bit to spare this afternoon, Dawn and I decided to have a walk around the Cotswold Water Park. We parked by Kent End Farm (CWP Pit 200) and then we followed the trail that took us past CWP Pit 74a and Pit 81, across the road and then past Pit 82 and Pit 68d down to the Waterhay Car Park. Just before the car park we took the path north-west and between Pit 83 and Pit 82. From here it was across the road towards Kentend Farm and through to Pit 66 and Pit 76 before running down back to the east end of Kent End Farm (CWP Pit 200) where the car was parked.

Start Point at top of map and then a clockwise route. (Map courtesy of Google Earth)

There was mud everywhere and still a bit of flooding in places, but all passable.

The main highlight was obviously the Great Northern Diver, which was elusive at first, before it took off to show itself before coming to land at the north-east end of the pit.

Other highlights were a Peacock Butterfly and then a Painted Lady. Well the afternoon temperature did reach 13.4°C and it has certainly been a topsy turvy winter! Other highlights were my first Wigeon, Lapwing, Meadow Pipit, Jay and Lesser Redpoll for the year.

Here are a few images from our walk.

Looking northwest along the flooded Thames path.

Further on and CWP Pit 82 is to the right up ahead.

And just the one shot of the Great Northern Diver as it flew into the northwest bay of CWP Pit 82. By the time we walked the 200 metres to get there, he had managed to swim all the way back to the north-east corner.

En route to CWP Pit 82 this male Reed Bunting...........

...........whilst in the hedgerow this Redwing stayed long enough for a quick photo before he flew off to join his mates and a few Fieldfare.

On the fence of CWP Pit 83 was this Lesser Redpoll, which I certainly wasn't expecting. Must have been my lucky day as he posed for one photograph.

Just beyond pits 82 and 83 you can bisect the fields to get to Ashton Keynes. This is looking back towards the pits.

Whilst this is looking towards Ashton Keynes to the northwest.

90+ Lapwing over Kent End Farm Pit 200

Spot the Wigeon in amongst the Pochard and Tufted Duck (its the one on the far left)

More Pochard and Tufted Duck, plus a few Coot

Birds Recorded: Great Northern Diver, Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Mallard, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Pochard, 2 Kestrel, Moorhen, Coot, 90+ Lapwing, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Redwing, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, 1 Jay, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Lesser Redpoll, Siskin, Goldfinch and Reed Bunting.

Also : Peacock Butterfly and Painted Lady