Little Marlow Birding and Tree Felling

A longer than usual walk around the lake turned up many more ducks than usual.  There had clearly been an influx of Tufted Ducks and Shoveler, while there were also good numbers of Pochard, Gadwall, Teal and Wigeon.  A few days previously there were well under 100 Tufted Ducks, while today there were at least 275.

A small portion of the Tufted Duck flock.

Interestingly there about 4000 Gulls with all but a handful being Common and Black-headed Gulls.  I would normally expect a decent number of Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, but there were only about 10 in total while I was there.

A small portion of the Lapwings, Ducks and Gulls that were present.

I had a close look at the work to fell the line of Italian Black Poplar trees which stretched along the N side of the lake, between the lake and the public footpath.  Work is almost complete in felling and removing the main tree trunks but a huge amount of smaller branches and scrub has been pushed into long piles to rot.  So at present it does rather look as though a bomb has hit it!

My understanding is that work will start soon to replant with native species of trees.

The north bank of the lake.
The Poplars have been removed leaving only the much smaller trees

View along the "stream" from near the picnic table.

Branches piled in a long line along the permissive path.

View from the footbridge over the "stream" looking east.
Hard to believe this was recently woodland!

View from the footbridge over the "stream" looking west.  
The path running from this bridge to the public footpath currently runs through deep mud where the workmens vehicles have been passing. 

View from the NE corner where the "stream" divides.

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gull

A late afternoon visit to Little Marlow GP turned up a good variety of wildfowl but the only slight unusual visitor was a Shelduck which had been present for a couple of days.  As it was getting close to dusk I had a good look through the Gulls which were gradually building up in numbers.  There were good numbers of Black-headed, Common, Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, plus three adult Great Black-backed Gulls.  In among the flock were two white colour ringed birds.  One was muddy and unreadable, while the other had the letters "AJ66", which appears to have been ringed in Germany.  Details are awaited.

Black-headed Gull "White AJ66"

Red Kite Feast

This Red Kite was perched on the dead Canada Goose on the sand spit at Little Marlow GP, and defending it from other interested parties, such as the Crow.  It is not known how the Goose died but certainly not killed by the Kite.  It will no doubt provide a feast for a number of birds and mammals.

Egyptian Geese - Little Marlow GP

Despite Egyptian Geese normally preferring a nest hole, these two are a reminder that we should not leave the Tern rafts on the water until next Spring! 

Lots of wildfowl around today but not really close enough for decent photos.  My attempts at photographing a close Goldcrest failed as the little blighter typically moved around constantly and hid behind leaves and branches.  Something I need to persevere with!

Great Northern Diver - College Lake

This adult bird was found by Rob Andrews at 12:45 while trying to relocate a drake Goosander.  A great find with less than 20 prior records in the county.  The bird was on the main lake, so when I arrived it was a long long way from the main hide!  Rob returned to the site and we both walked along the west side of the lakes to get a closer view.

Showing the classic GN Diver heavy bill and head shape.

It was quite often seen "snorkelling" for fish.
A one point it appeared to swallow a fish.

Showing one of it's powerful feet

A brief wing flap which I was lucky to catch on camera.

I am not sure what the bird was doing here.  It was certainly not swallowing a fish.
We thought we heard an unusual call at one point but it was not a typical GN Diver call.

Also at College Lake were two Pintail, both 1st winter birds, but no chance to photograph in rapidly failing light.

Wooburn Green - Flackwell Heath

A walk on a very overcast morning from Flackwell Heath to Wooburn Green and back produced a few birds.

A covey of eight Red-legged Partridge were nice to see.

The next field produced these Rooks, Jackdaws and
a few more Red-legged Partridge.

The walk also produced a flock of about forty Linnets, at least two Bullfinches, calling Goldcrests, Redwings, Fieldfares, Meadow Pipit, a flyover Redpoll, a Kestrel, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and of course plenty of Red Kites!

Pagham Harbour Trip

My daughter Katherine and I decided visit Pagham Harbour (Sussex) for a day trip.  In the 1980s and 1990s we visited the site many times when Katherine was seven+ years old. So this was a trip down memory lane for both of us.

We arrived at about 10am and soon headed down to Church Norton to try and see the waders at high tide.  Unfortunately the tide was extremely high and prevented us reaching the beach, so we headed to Sidlesham Ferry and the RSPB visitor centre.

First stop was the churchyard at Church Norton.
Always worth a look around for unusual species.

Black Redstart - A pair were feeding in the churchyard.
Here perched on the roof of the church. 

Great Spotted Woodpecker - Above the car park.

Grey Plover - High tide at Church Norton.

High tide roost - Waders included Grey Plover, Curlew,
Oystercatcher, Redshank and Dunlin.

Little Egret - Plenty to be seen.  In the 1980s these were not present in the UK!

Avocet - On the pool at Sidlesham Ferry.
A species that is far more common at this site than in the 1980s.

South of Sidlesham Ferry.

East Side

Brent Geese and Wigeon

Brent Geese taking flight.

Curlew - Good numbers present

Dorney Lake

Golden Plover - Part of the flock.  The first time I have seen this species at this site.
They took off from the reserve area and flew around for about ten
minutes in typical Golden Plover style.  They left to the north.

Golden Plover - At one point they flew over the causeway.

Stonechat - Seen on the southern side of the causeway.
A female was later found along the north side

Mute Swan - Dorney Lake does offer the occasional flight shots as
birds fly along the length of the lakes

Great Crested Grebe