David and I went out to
Swithland Reservoir this afternoon and initially went to view the southern
section. There were plenty of birds
viewable from the road and we found thirteen Mandarin Duck along the western
edge of the reservoir. There was a good
selection of wildfowl on the water including Mute Swan, Wigeon, Gadwall,
Mallard, Shoveler and Tufted Duck and here were also seven Cormorants,
surprisingly thirteen Grey Herons and a few Great Crested Grebes.
As it started to rain we went
around to the northern section where we found a female Scaup amongst a small
party of Tufted Ducks. There were a few
Teal on a spit merging from the western shore and I counted thirty-one
Goldeneye and a Buzzard few over but there was little else and we moved off to
Cossington Meadows.
When we arrived at the
entrance to the meadows it was raining quite hard but after a brief wait in the
car it soon eased and we so we set off down the track hoping to see Short-eared
Owl. The track was very muddy and we had
more rain during our visit but we did see three Lesser Redpolls as we made our
way along the track. We found a couple
of photographers who were waiting for the owls but so far they hadn’t seen them
and so we continued along the track. We
continued on as far as Hobley Lake seeing a drake Goosander on Upper Marsh but
other than four Shoveler and eleven Cormorants we saw very little else and
walked back to the meadows where the owls were being seen.
When we got back the photographers
had disappeared but there was another couple waiting and hoping. We stood talking for a while seeing a Buzzard
over the Moor and just after a Reed Bunting had caused some distraction as it
flew into a nearby bush I saw a Short-eared Owl flying low over Swan Meadow,
which then perched on the northern fence.
David then picked up a second over the meadow that went and perched two
fence posts further away from the first.
After remaining on the posts for a while they both began to feed over
the meadow and eventually they both moved off but not before one settled on a
fence post again and this time much closer giving excellent views particularly
through the scope. As we scanned the
area I found another Buzzard perched in a tree and a Cetti’s Warbler called
nearby but there was no further signs of the Short-eared Owls and with rain
threatening again we called it a day.
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