Jim's Birding: Tring Reservoirs

A visit to Wilstone and Marsworth Resevoirs was the plan for the October meeting of the Bourne End U3A Birdwatching group. The idea was to try and see the Spotted Crake and Great White Egret, that had been seen at these sites in the recent days. Of course any other interesting birds would be most welcome.
We met at Wilstone Res car park and soon picked up plenty of wildfowl from the top of the bank. Most interesting were a group of Golden Plover in the NW corner, so we walked closer and got some great views. There were plenty of Teal, Wigeon, Shoveler, Tufted Duck and Pochard present, plus some Lapwings. We also managed some good view of a Grey Wagtail that was feeding on the bank below us, plus a flock of about 15 Fieldfares flying over.

Golden Plover with Lapwing

Grey Wagtail

We then moved back around the reservoir to Cemetery Corner to try for the Crake. On the way Doug spotted some American Signal Crayfish in the water below us. A new one for me. They a clearly common on this stretch of the water where there are plenty of places to hide.

American Signal Crayfish

After a few minutes of scanning the reedbeds for the Crake I was pleased to find it and everyone in the group manged to see it through a scope. I continued to scan the edges of the reeds for other species and low and behold another Spotted Crake appeared. At one time I had them both in my scope at the same time! Sadly they went a short time later and I did not get the chance to get a photo but they were a bit distant anyway.

Then onto Marsworth Reservoir, walking past Startops Reservoir along the way. No sign of the Great White Egret, so we walked along to Tringford Reservoir but no sign there either. So back to Marsworth and fortunately for us the bird flew in from across the canal and perched in some tall shrubs. A great result!