When I left home this morning
I was surprised to find that it was quite foggy as it hadn’t been forecast and
thirty minutes early it had been crystal clear.
It was still quite thick when I arrived in the car park at Egleton but
there were twenty Redwings and three Fieldfares in the first meadow as I walked
towards the centre. I spent a while
observing the feeders at Egleton, where there was quite a bit of activity, with
Blue and Great Tits visiting the feeders regularly and more Chaffinch than I
had seen at the feeders for some time. A
Great Spotted Woodpecker made a brief visit and there was also a Pheasant,
Moorhen, a Collared Dove, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Goldfinches and a single
Greenfinch.
I went into the centre and
after a brief chat with Stephen headed off towards Snipe Hide on the Wet
Meadow. As I walked through the woodland
there were several Bullfinches but other than a few Blackbirds and Robins I had
seen little else as I reached the end of the wood. There was quite a bit of activity as I
continued along the path with a few Blackbirds, Fieldfares more Goldfinches and
Bullfinches and a single Reed Bunting.
As I reached the turn to Snipe Hide a party of finches flew over, which I
suspected might be Siskin but they remained quiet and were just silhouettes and
I couldn’t be sure. A bird then flew
from the area of scrub but landed almost immediately and I was surprised to see
it was a lone Lesser Redpoll.
There was very little on the
Wet Meadow from Snipe Hide, mainly Wigeon and Teal with a couple of
Gadwall. As I continued along the path
to Harrier Hide two Curlew and a Shelduck flew over and after meeting Tim
Caldicott, who was on his early morning circuit and had seen the Slavonian Grebe
from Gadwall Hide and continued on.
There were at least ten Siskin
in the Alders alongside the path but as it started to rain I made my way to
Fieldfare Hide. There were lots of birds
both around the shoreline and on the water, which were mainly Wigeon, Teal and
Tufted Duck but I also found a single Pintail and a Little Egret flew in.
With the fog now lifting when
I opened the flaps in Gadwall Hide I could see there were plenty of birds,
which stretched from Brown’s Island and round to Goldeneye Hide. There were plenty of Wigeon, Tufted Duck and
Coot and a few Great Crested Grebes and two Pintail just in front of the
hide. I eventually found the Slavonian
Grebe, which was quite close to the hide and provided some nice views and there
was a single Redshank feeding along the edge.
When I reached Goldeneye Hide
I hadn’t seen anything else and on opening the flaps there was a Green
Sandpiper with a Redshank almost in front but they both flew off towards the
point. As I scanned through the Lapwing
on the point I found another two Redshank and three Dunlin but there was little
else of note and I continued around Lax Hill before dropping down towards
Lagoon Eight seeing a couple of Red Kites as I did so. There was very little on either Lagoon Five
or eight and I didn’t see a great deal else on the walk back to the centre with
another Bullfinch and two more Reed Buntings being the highlights.
After a chat with Mike I went
into the centre before going for lunch and with the thick fog now gone it was
possible to view all of Lagoon One.
There was a male Stonechat just in front of the centre and I counted
forty-one Pintail on the lagoon but with little else of note I went to the
North Arm.
I scanned the fishponds whilst
having my lunch and found a Great White Egret on the bund in the fishponds and
I could see a second in the North Arm.
There were also three male and four female Goosanders in the fishponds
and a single Pintail. After I had
finished my lunch I went down the spit to view the North Arm. There were three Little Egrets on the bund
and a fourth and a Shelduck on the north shore and nine Pintail feeding in the
shallows. I walked towards the end of
the spit to scan the south bay and counted fifty-six Pintail and there was a
Great White Egret and a Redshank on the shoreline, although presumably the
Great White Egret was one I had seen earlier as one was no longer near the
north shore. There were quite a few
Greylag Geese on the shore and in the water and most then entered the water and
on scanning one of the groups I found the Pink-footed Goose. I spent quite some time scanning the water
for the Long-tailed Duck and the Black-necked Grebes without success but the
mist wasn’t helping, particularly towards the far shore. As I was scanning towards the North Shore I
saw several Dunlin in flight but they were extremely difficult to see once on
the ground but there were at least twenty.
I eventually gave up on the
Long-tailed Duck and Black-necked Grebes and went back to the reserve and walked
out to Lapwing Hide seeing a third Great White Egret on Lagoon One as I set
off. A brief stop in Smew Hide produced
a red-headed Smew and there was a single Little Egret from Crake Hide. There were plenty of birds in South Arm Three
but I couldn't find anything of note and I went back to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon
Three.
When I reached the hide two
other birders were just leaving but they hadn’t seen much from the hide but had
seen both the Long-tailed Duck and Black-necked Grebes earlier. I had a quick look on Lagoon Three and found
another four Pintail but with a working party in the reedbed I decided I would
go back to the North Arm as the fog was now almost gone.
I called at Grebe Hide on
Lagoon Two as the two birders had also seen four red-headed Smew earlier. There were another three Pintail in front of
the hide but initially there was no sign of any Smew. As I continued scanning I heard a Cetti’s
Warbler and three red-headed Smew flew out from the reeds near Lapwing Hide.
When I got back to the car the
fog had completely gone but as I approached the North Arm it was still
lingering and with the light beginning to fade I wasn’t too optimistic. When I got to the end of the spit there were
now masses of gulls on the water, which didn’t help looking for the grebes but
I did find the Long-tailed Duck before I called it a day and headed off home.
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